Topic: Black Friday around the World

[Ceric]

I was in the Sales Thread and I got to thinking.  What is the Equivalent to Black Friday around the world?  I mean most places celebrate a gift giving holiday in the December time frame.

I thought I start a thread asking are fairly international bunch;

What is your Equivalent to Black Friday? 
When are the biggest sales for you Gift Giving Holiday (GGH)? 
Does it have a name?  Any interesting Stories?

For the US bunch why not Share the Craziness.  You can't argue the Black Friday doesn't bring out the Crazy here in the US.  It can become the normally non-physical a competition equivalent of Football or Gladiatorial combat.

[Shaymin]

Sit right back, pull up a chair and let me tell a tale of Boxing Day.

There's no actual fisticuffs in Canada on Boxing Day, largely because it's happening on December 26 and as a result, it's too fucking cold to swing your fist. However, our retailers pull a lot of the same stunts on Boxing Day that the US stores do on Black Friday.

I've never partaken in it myself, partially because I'm in a place where the event happens on the 27th and partially because I don't need $9 blu-ray movies that badly. The one year I bought something around Christmas, I bought it online with Christmas gift cards. That's part of the fun of the day, though - you spend all your money on other people leading up to Christmas, and you get to go nuts on yourself the day after with those items that you couldn't check off on the list.

I did drive by a Best Buy one year at 6am on Boxing Day (as I was flying home from Edmonton) when it was -25... those people are either hardcore or FUCKING INSANE.

[Plugabugz]

Boxing Day is here in the UK as well, and traditionally the "january sales that start in december" start boxing day. However since the credit crunch in 2008 this has started before christmas.

A couple of clothes retailers have mass sales and the resulting carnage means queues backing up for 10 minutes or more. Personally i can't stand the West End at that time because its the height of crazy. You can develop a hatred of humanity at this time.

[Ceric]

Boxing Day is here in the UK as well, and traditionally the "january sales that start in december" start boxing day. However since the credit crunch in 2008 this has started before christmas.

A couple of clothes retailers have mass sales and the resulting carnage means queues backing up for 10 minutes or more. Personally i can't stand the West End at that time because its the height of crazy. You can develop a hatred of humanity at this time.

Got to Love the Christmas Associated Holiday Creep.

[Morari]

Unbridled consumerism. Corporate induced hysteria, and even murder too! Aren't the holidays great? For normal people like me, who don't buy into Judeo-Christian rituals, this is bar none the worst time of the year. It's a horror show just going to the grocery store, and the insipid Christmas music that plays everywhere isn't helping my sanity one bit.

I wish more people could stand back and see what tools they're being when it comes to this two or three month time span. Lying to children about superstition and maxing out your third or fourth credit card on gifts are not sound life decisions.

[Ceric]

Unbridled consumerism. Corporate induced hysteria, and even murder too! Aren't the holidays great? For normal people like me, who don't buy into Judeo-Christian rituals, this is bar none the worst time of the year. It's a horror show just going to the grocery store, and the insipid Christmas music that plays everywhere isn't helping my sanity one bit.

I wish more people could stand back and see what tools they're being when it comes to this two or three month time span. Lying to children about superstition and maxing out your third or fourth credit card on gifts are not sound life decisions.

A lot of people have and then looked at there own livelihoods.  This 2-3 month time period is what makes are capitalist economy work.

[NWR_insanolord]

Unbridled consumerism. Corporate induced hysteria, and even murder too! Aren't the holidays great? For normal people like me, who don't buy into Judeo-Christian rituals, this is bar none the worst time of the year. It's a horror show just going to the grocery store, and the insipid Christmas music that plays everywhere isn't helping my sanity one bit.

I wish more people could stand back and see what tools they're being when it comes to this two or three month time span. Lying to children about superstition and maxing out your third or fourth credit card on gifts are not sound life decisions.

Tonight Morari's going to be visited by three ghosts that will warm his cold, cynical heart and show him the error of his ways.

[Morari]

Unbridled consumerism. Corporate induced hysteria, and even murder too! Aren't the holidays great? For normal people like me, who don't buy into Judeo-Christian rituals, this is bar none the worst time of the year. It's a horror show just going to the grocery store, and the insipid Christmas music that plays everywhere isn't helping my sanity one bit.

I wish more people could stand back and see what tools they're being when it comes to this two or three month time span. Lying to children about superstition and maxing out your third or fourth credit card on gifts are not sound life decisions.

A lot of people have and then looked at there own livelihoods.  This 2-3 month time period is what makes are capitalist economy work.

It's what has our economy in shambles, is what you mean. Living well beyond your means and judging success strictly via possessions.

[Ceric]

Unbridled consumerism. Corporate induced hysteria, and even murder too! Aren't the holidays great? For normal people like me, who don't buy into Judeo-Christian rituals, this is bar none the worst time of the year. It's a horror show just going to the grocery store, and the insipid Christmas music that plays everywhere isn't helping my sanity one bit.

I wish more people could stand back and see what tools they're being when it comes to this two or three month time span. Lying to children about superstition and maxing out your third or fourth credit card on gifts are not sound life decisions.

A lot of people have and then looked at there own livelihoods.  This 2-3 month time period is what makes are capitalist economy work.

It's what has our economy in shambles, is what you mean. Living well beyond your means and judging success strictly via possessions.

No, I honestly mean its a large reason that a lot of companies exist today.  What you describe would not got away if the Gift Giving Holidays didn't exist in fact it may be even worse.

[Morari]

Oh, I understand that it wouldn't go away. This season is a celebration of just that, however. That's what makes it so utterly disgusting.

[Plugabugz]

Oh, I understand that it wouldn't go away. This season is a celebration of just that, however. That's what makes it so utterly disgusting.

But it's also a great time to get the things you wanted to get, but deliberately held out until the price drops that occur in the january-sales-that-that-start-in-december.

[Stogi]

Who wants to bet December 26th becomes the largest return day in history?

[Ceric]

By my understanding that has actually gone down since the Internet became a better shopping avenue.  When I was a kid those lines be impressively long.