Black Friday Bargaining

          So it’s 2am and I’m on the couch blogging….it isn’t gonna make for a great day right?  Especially since I am on call and today’s schedule leaves a lot of room for add on’s. Oh well, I’ll take it as it comes. So just finishing up a long holiday weekend and I did it without spending the first dollar on Black Friday deals.

          I’m sure you are asking yourself how can that be possible.  People that know me are aware of my reputation for Black Friday madness and that I ALWAYS go shopping and have my plan made out in advance including exit routes and emergency situations. I have been in so many Black Friday bouts that I should have some kind of title.

          One year when the bicycles were 25 dollars at Wal Mart I was actually in line by midnight for the 4am reveal. I really wanted that bike as that was all that my Matthew had ask for. The closer it got to 4am, the more that people decided that they shouldn’t have to wait in line and began piling up around the door where the bikes were at.

          I ask the security guard to do something about it as those of us who had gotten to know each other in the 3 hours we had been standing and waiting had been following the rules and staying in line. The security guard simply stated that he couldn’t do anything about it. This infuriated me. It looked like I was doomed to have stood here all night in line and still not get a bicycle as the cheaters had the advantage because of this pussy security guard.

          An idea came to me and I casually reached inside my purse and pulled out a fresh Kool 100 and lit it. Of course since I was in the store and lit a cigarette the security guard was right up my ass. He demanded that I extinguish my cigarette immediately. I reminded him that he couldn’t do anything about it anyway. Realizing that I had just referenced the situation that I had ask him to correct with the line jumpers, he knew he was in trouble. How much trouble, he had yet to find out. As he argued with me to put out my cigarette I heard the most familiar sound of cigarette cases being opened and lighters firing. I looked around and all the ladies I had been waiting in line with all night joined forces and lit their tiny guns as well.

          Seeing he was outmanned, I used this as an opportunity to bargain with the gentleman. I told him that if he controlled the line jumpers, we would be happy to extinguish our cigarettes. After pleading with me one last time, he realized what he would have to do.

          Soon the herds of line jumpers began to walk past us grumbling and unhappy as they were escorted to the back of the line just where they belonged and at the end of that line was the security guard looking anxiously as if to plead with us to please extinguish our cigs. Without even a word we all dropped our cigarettes into an empty coke can and passed it down the line.

          That year I learned the benefit of bargaining, and not just for holiday specials. I learned that compromise can be defined in so many different ways, and that friends whether old or new can tip the scales.