Shop-O-Rama: Black Friday Vs. Cyber Monday?

Bah. Black Friday.

"Always bet on black!"

-- Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57

Double bah, blech, belome!

My kids are happily watching a movie right now, without blatant "buy me today or ELSE" commercial interruptions, can't stand the Black Friday hype!

i'm glad i wasn't the only one offended by the old navy commercial. i was shocked that retailers were even opening up for Christmas shopping before the Thanksgiving afternoon was over. the directive to dump one's 'boring' grandmother and race off to buy more t-shirts and cargo pants is disturbing. i had the chilling feeling that we were no longer human beings, just lab rats with credit cards being directed to the mall by an invisible remote.

The best black Friday deal I saw was buy 1 pie get one free at the Malboro Bakery. Totally negated my jog in the park though.

I wouldn't go to the stores today if they were giving it away.

Amen, walleroo.

Never have ventured out in the early hours of Black Friday. Never will.

If you were poor, and had no computer or a beat up old tv, what's the big deal with waking up and going out early to get a great deal?

Obviously, Baristanet folks of means are not the folks getting giddy over BLACK FRIDAY.

So, if you're like Roo and split above would NEVER EVER "venture" out on Black Friday, consider yourself LUCKY that $500 off a flat screen is not a big deal for you. Or a $400 laptop.

But realize, for many, it's worth the hassle.

Yes, prof, I can see why a "poor" person would get up early to shave $500 off a 60-inch plasma TV.

Mr. roo,

Remember, America is a country where our "poor" are overweight.

So yes.

The "poor" get up early so they can attach their flat screen to their cable box.

I'll take you through a drive through a poor section of Paterson (one I drive everyday) and you will see: fat people, satellite dishes, cell phones and yes, flat screen tv's (it's amazing what you can see sitting at a traffic light).

And are the poor not supposed to have computers? Celebrate Christmas or HOLIDAY? Want to buy stuff for their kids?

I enjoyed a day at home relaxing, reading, and eating leftover turkey. That's my usual plan for the day after Thanksgiving..I wouldn't dream of going near a store, unless it was absolutely necessary.

Just a different set of priorities.

Some choose to bedeck themselves in head to toe Gucci, when all that money could go to rent in a better neighborhood.

Today my priority was to nap on the couch.

Profe. you noted these: "satellite dishes, cell phones and yes, flat screen TV's"~ ~ but really how much $$$ would it take to have a Dish, a computer & a cheap(er) flat screen?
Lower you eyeballs to the driveway, to see new Cadilillacs, Lincolns, Benz, BMWs, Jaguars, Audi & Volvos. They are ALOT more costly than Dishs, Flats & 'Puters, and there are more of them in the lower income areas than there are in Glen Ridge!!

Driveways?

Poor folks live in apartments....

C'mon Sandy, don't trade in that old canard that poor folks and welfare queens drive Caddies.

A myth.

And did you really write that poor folks have better cars than Glen Ridge?

I hope this was a joke.

Clearly, you've spent NO TIME in a poor area.

As anyone here who appealed their taxes (at the County Office in East Orange) knows, poor folks take the bus, walk or get dropped off.

I saw a welfare line, no BMW's.

(Many folks were fat and talking on their cell phones though....)

When you can't afford the cable, flat screen TV, cell phone, etc., and don't have them, no job, can't feed the family or pay the rent, then we can say "POOR"! Just because someone lives in an area that's low income, doesn't make you poor.

Jo,

I have no desire to get into a sociological argument here.

But if you think that poor folks don't have cable, flat screens and cell phones, you haven't been looking.

Hell, prisoners have cable.

But you almost make my point-- what we consider poor, compared with the rest of the world or other places in the USA, ain't poor.

I am surprised though, and this isn't any new news, by the money spend on dumb things-- Air Jordans were the choice years ago- by folks who don't have much.

It's not that they don't have the cable, flat screens, cell phones .... but poor when I was growing up was welfare, surplus food and food stamps (that could only be used for food), living in the projects and never even thinking to ask for a pair of sneakers that cost as much as the sneakers cost these days. A basketball for x-mas was a great gift even if we had no hoop to shoot at. Poor people in the 60's wanted food and shelter. Poor people in 2009 want flat screen TVs, cell phones and Air Jordans. Go figure!

I saw a great documentary once about people living in a 3rd country. One man that was interviewed commented on the state of the people living in this country. He said.. "just because they are poor doesn't mean that they are not capable of being happy"
Don't know why this statement stuck out to me but...really just because people are what has been called "poor",living in lower income areas but enjoying cable and computers doesn't mean they are unhappy. Why do we judge? Who cares?

I would love to take you up on your generous offer to show me the poor streets of Paterson, prof. Living as I do on my palatial estate on Upper Mountain Avenue, I've never had occasion to venture into those rough parts of town that you are evidently so comfortable in. (Once on my way to Short Hills I peeked out from the back seat of my limo through the cracked window and saw people in West Orange driving themselves around in 10 year old Honda Civics. Hominahomina, the memory makes me shudder still.) I've always felt sheltered, prof, by my privilege, and somewhat ashamed, and I have yearned for someone versed in the ways of the street to take me by the hand and show me the world's dark underbelly. Who are these people, prof, who can afford only 32 inch LCD TVs without surround sound? Is it true that there are people who must live without HBO? Oh, prof, teach me -- I ache to learn! Either that or I ate too much stuffing.

Prof,

The poor eat a lot of potatoes and rice. The poor cannot afford things like asparagus and tofu. The poor eat a lot of cheese they cannot afford greek lowfat yogurt.

Wealthy means thin in the US and poor usually means fat because of poor diet.

So, shut your pie-hole. You don't know what you are talking about.

That’s what University of Washington researchers found when they compared the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. The findings, reported in the current issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, may help explain why the highest rates of obesity are seen among people in lower-income groups.

higher-calorie, energy-dense foods are the better bargain for cash-strapped shoppers. Energy-dense munchies cost on average $1.76 per 1,000 calories, compared with $18.16 per 1,000 calories for low-energy but nutritious foods.

If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar.

"Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/

Professor, I'll back you up on the observation that the urban poor buy expensive junk. I've been in subsidized low income housing apartments with bars on the windows outside and with huge flat screens and leather couches in the living rooms.

I got a lovely sump pump at the Hyannis Home Depot. No crowds there.

I'm a lifelong lefty liberal, and don't often agree with the Prof. (although on certain issues I certainly do).
However, he is never rude, as you were in you "pie hole" remark. The Prof certainly doesn't need me to stick up for him, but why be so nasty Voice?

A sump pump, JG? That's something you don't traditionally stick under a Christmas tree, but hey, why not.
Our toilet needs a new flapper. I think I'll get one now, and wrap it up in green and red tinsel.

Being poor is not fun. It is demoralizing - especially if you are working several jobs, raising several children (often as a single parent) and still cannot afford a single "extra".

And not every "poor" person on those lines was there to buy a flat screen TV. Many were there to buy some holiday toys for their kids at the lowest price - or maybe even some new winter coats.

(I'm sure there were plenty of solidly middle class people who were out there too.)

And Prof. I see your point,too. Although all Walleroo said (originally) was that he was staying home - even "if they were giving it away". I second that. And that's the point... We all make choices in life - some better than others.

Deborah,

Perhaps you should have lined up at Barnes & Noble for a dictionary

Main Entry: pie·hole
Pronunciation: \?p?-?h?l\
Function: noun
Date: 1993

slang : mouth 1a

Black Friday is really just a terrific illustration of herd mentality. If you're seriously interested in getting deals, you wait for the after-Xmas sales.

Just for the record, prof, I would never, ever ask you to shut your pie hole, nor would I want you to.

I got a lovely sump pump

Oh, 'gurl thanks! It's just what I wanted!

I got you a wood chipper. Do you want it wrapped?

Hey Spiro -

Maybe that's why they had bars on the windows. If I had all that stuff I'd need bars, too! (plus my drugs would be safer.) Just kidding.

I liked Ta-Nehisi Coates' and Ezra Klein's discussion of poverty and obesity from a few weeks earlier:

How Poverty Works

We Need Food

Joyce - Thank you for sharing those links. Really good articles. Lots of "food for thought".

AVoiceInTheWilderness,

Your tone and words say more about you than I could.

However, your idea that poor folks eat potatoes and rice seems counter to the number of fast food restaurants that thrive in poor neighborhoods.

(Understand, I'm talking about our urban poor- as my comment about Paterson makes clear.)

But, if eating RICE made you fat, why are poor American fatter than folks from countries where rice is a staple?

American poor folks eat a lot of expensive (per serving) fast food, cheap (from soda) and empty (from processed food) calories.

They are not sitting sharing a potato a bowl of rice and drinking water.

(Watch 6 weeks of Survivor and you'll see fat Americans losing massive amounts of weight while eating rice and water.)

Moreover, my thoughts come from experience, not some "drive-by" vision of the ghetto as Bill Cosby once described writers who know not what they write.

(Thank you Deborah, for the kind words.)

Eating rice certainly does not make you fat. My DH is on a gluten-free diet and eats rice in place of wheat products and he is far from fat. Brown, of course, is better than white.

I agree with Prof. In low-income nabes, you have a lot more access to fast foods (McDonald's) and junk foods (like chips, chocolate bars, sodas, etc.) and less access to healthier foods.

Still, it IS cheaper to buy healthy ingredients and make meals yourself, and save or freeze the leftovers. In other words, you can eat several servings for price of one if you buy the stuff yourself rather than dine out all the time.

monty,

How does your point to MM present an "ideal" world?

IF what you say is true about how hard it is to get food (and, sadly it is), what does that have to do with healthy choices?

I do not subscribe to the idea that healthy food choices are something only those of means can make.

This is something Michelle Obama has taken on as First Lady and I support her efforts to make folks, black folks know that THEY are in control of their food. And that even if you are poor, you can make good choices.

(Unfortunately, my admiration for Michelle has risen to great heights. I cannot say the same for her husband...)

As a side note...

I work as a server in a restaurant at Garden State Plaza Mall and it was interesting and unfortunate to see how the tipping went in the last two days. I worked both Black Friday and Saturday and on Friday, people tipped in the normal range; which in that area is 18% to 20%. Yesterday however was a completely different story. I've never experienced such stinginess before. It seemed as though people were regretting the money they spent on their new 'stuff' and took it out on the servers. I made around 14% in tips for the whole day. Almost all of the other servers experienced the same thing.

I'm blessed for the money that I took home, please don't get me wrong. However, I worked just as hard for that 14% as I do on any other saturday when I walk home with around 18%.

I wonder if people realize that the tips are my income and it hurts getting a bad one for no apparent reason. (Before anyone says it, of course if I give bad service, I don't deserve a good tip.)

I guess the point of this post is just a friendly reminder that those of us in the service industry (especially us college kids!) work very hard for the money you provide and don't always make a guaranteed salary.

I am worn out from cooking and hosting and FIVE nights of no homework to keep the itty bitty Mittys focused.

So I will just add two links about "the poor" in America, and you may read them at what remains of your leisure.

How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the "Plague" of Poverty in America

As You Can See From My Name-Brand Clothing, I Am Not Poor

Hi Prof, My point is that in an "ideal" world we would all make the right choices and eat/cook healthful nutritious meals. As I stated in the first paragraph many families (of all kinds) do just that.

However, the rest of my post refers to the many obstacles and additional burdens that urban and rural poor families face with regard to food choices and easy access (both financial and physical).

I am not saying that some of those obstacles cannot be overcome or that people - all people - cannot make better choices.

And...having more money is certainly not the only way to access better nutrition. But having enough to live comfortably (health insurance, roof over head, clothes for the kids) does make life many life choices EASIER.

I hope our wonderful First Lady continues her efforts.

monty,

Your post supports the idea that "food insecurity" is a proper label.

At first, I thought, what? Insecurity.

But you rightly point to the obstacles and burdens on urban and rural poor-- I think of the central ward in Newark going without a Supermarket for 20+ years.

One cannot shop by bodega alone.

Therefore, folks find themselves having to make terrible choices.

I think we are agreeing.

"Your tone and words say more about you than I could. "

Prof- now I know that you are hearing things as you are hearing "tone " on the internet.

PUUULLLEEEZE!

Monty, I thought that, too.

I go to VT every year and I am amazed at how the further you go into the most remote rural areas, the numbers of obese people increases. I would think that combined with the healthy, homegrown produce and the exercise you get from working on a farm, that everyone would be fit and healthy. But that does not appear to be the case.