Black Friday

chrisoff · Post by **chrisoff** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:31 am

buddhu wrote:Or if his phone wakes him up at 3am about a server crash..

That was my old job, no on-call on my current job

Flogging Jason · Post by **Flogging Jason** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:42 am

Walden wrote:Who coined the term "Black Friday"?

The term was probably coined by some big business guy. Black Friday refers to the fact that practically every business in the country makes a profit on this day(Running in the Black). Of course, it means something completely different to those of us in the service industry.

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:40 am

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:18 am

never mind

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:42 am

Flogging Jason wrote:
Walden wrote:Who coined the term "Black Friday"?
The term was probably coined by some big business guy. Black Friday refers to the fact that practically every business in the country makes a profit on this day(Running in the Black). Of course, it means something completely different to those of us in the service industry.

According to Wiki:

The earliest uses of "Black Friday" refer to the heavy traffic on that day, an implicit comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Tuesday (the 1929 stock-market crash) or other black days. The earliest known references to "Black Friday" (in this sense) are from two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, that explicitly refer to the day's hectic nature and heavy traffic.

Wiki goes on to say that the assumption that "black" refers to the ink color which signifies the point at which businesses begin to operate at a profit rather than at a loss (red ink,) grew into vogue later.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:46 am

This is very interesting! Here's a chance to do some online research and lift ourselves up from the depths of ignorance. Which is a good thing, because that helps us understand the world a little better, thus reducing our propensity toward . . . well, you know.

Lovely explanation here: BLACK FRIDAY.

Here's what it says about the origin of the term:

Wikipedia wrote:The earliest uses of "Black Friday" refer to the heavy traffic on that day, an implicit comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Tuesday (the 1929 stock-market crash) or other black days. The earliest known references to "Black Friday" (in this sense) are from two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, that explicitly refer to the day's hectic nature and heavy traffic.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:27 pm

Black Day in July - Gordon Lightfoot

Black day in July
Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And through the smoke and cinders
You can hear it far and wide
The doors are quickly bolted
And the children locked inside

Black day in July
Black day in July
And the soul of Motor City is bared across the land
As the book of law and order is taken in the hands
Of the sons of the fathers who were carried to this land

Black day in July
Black day in July
In the streets of Motor City is a deadly silent sound
And the body of a dead youth lies stretched upon the ground
Upon the filthy pavement
No reason can be found

Black day in July
Black day in July
Motor City madness has touched the countryside
And the people rise in anger
And the streets begin to fill
And there's gunfire from the rooftops
And the blood begins to spill

Black day in July

In the mansion of the governor
There's nothing that is known for sure
The telephone is ringing
And the pendulum is swinging
And they wonder how it happened
And they really know the reason
And it wasn't just the temperature
And it wasn't just the season

Black day in July
Black day in July
Motor City's burning and the flames are running wild
They reflect upon the waters of the river and the lake
And everyone is listening
And everyone's awake

Black day in July
Black day in July
The printing press is turning
And the news is quickly flashed
And you read your morning paper
And you sip your cup of tea
And you wonder just in passing
Is it him or is it me

Black day in July

In the office of the President
The deed is done the troops are sent
There's really not much choice you see
It looks to us like anarchy
And then the tanks go rolling in
To patch things up as best they can
There is no time to hesitate
The speech is made the dues can wait

Black day in July
Black day in July
The streets of Motor City now are quiet and serene
But the shapes of gutted buildings
Strike terror to the heart
And you say how did it happen
And you say how did it start
Why can't we all be brothers
Why can't we live in peace
But the hands of the have-nots
Keep falling out of reach

Black day in July
Black day in July
Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And through the smoke and cinders
You can hear it far and wide
The doors are quickly bolted
And the children locked inside

Black Day in July

This song, about the race riots in Detroit, was banned on US radio as it came out about a week before Martin Luther was assassinated.

djm

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:37 pm

jinx Lamby!

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:33 pm

I had to work but the pet store wasn't very busy. My husband had his store open and just had an average day - people don't want to buy used books this time of year, even though most of them are very nice and look like new.

Some stores around here opened at 4 a.m. Ugh.

I did stop at a store after work but the one thing I kind of wanted was sold out. They were kind of empty at 7 p.m.

I looked through the ads on Thursday and there wasn't anything that I wanted badly enough to get up before sunrise and go out in the cold to get. I'll go shopping on my next day off.

chrisoff · Post by **chrisoff** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:44 pm

Charlene wrote: Some stores around here opened at 4 a.m. Ugh.

Seriously? Oh, my goodness! What in the world??

Does not compute.

Mind you some people tend to queue up outside our high street shops on the first day of the new year sales. Sometimes they camp out all night so they're first through the door at 9am in the morning.

Crazy people.

pipersgrip · Post by **pipersgrip** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:19 pm

The_Celtic_Bard wrote:Whoa, did you have fun Whistle Collector or did you want to just die from exhaustion?

it was way easier than a normal day, usually i have more.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:50 pm

chrisoff wrote:Seriously? Oh, my goodness! What in the world?? Does not compute.
Mind you some people tend to queue up outside our high street shops on the first day of the new year sales. Sometimes they camp out all night so they're first through the door at 9am in the morning.

It's the same idea. This is a big day in the US for sales and bargains, and people are trying to take advantage of these for their xmas shopping.

djm

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:49 am

The best mall in Des Moines opened at midnight last night. The two department stores in the mall opened this morning at the regular time I guess--or maybe early, not sure. The newspaper said that 35,000 people were in line in cars to get into the parking lot at midnight. I guess it's sort of a "happening" and people like going to crazy events. I just can't really comprehend it myself though. There is nothing to see at the mall that everyone hasn't seen fifty million times before. I don't like shopping much, and I especially wouldn't like doing it when I could be in a warm cozy bed!

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:24 pm

Cynth wrote:The best mall in Des Moines opened at midnight last night. The two department stores in the mall opened this morning at the regular time I guess--or maybe early, not sure. The newspaper said that 35,000 people were in line in cars to get into the parking lot at midnight. I guess it's sort of a "happening" and people like going to crazy events. I just can't really comprehend it myself though. There is nothing to see at the mall that everyone hasn't seen fifty million times before. I don't like shopping much, and I especially wouldn't like doing it when I could be in a warm cozy bed!

I agree; it's baffling. Like you, I'm convinced it's really just basically a demented social occasion.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:24 pm

I can't remember where or when, but I recall reading a short story once, about a time when some sort of teleportation device, similar to Star Trek, was developed. They were very expensive, of course, and few could afford a private device, so they were mostly put in public places, similar to any other form of public transport. The devices themselves looked very similar to telephone booths. Since these booths were placed in public places, shopping malls quickly grew up around them.

So what did people do with these marvelous things? It started out small, but quickly gathered force and size. People would come from all over the world, mob a particular shopping mall, and then disappear, literally to all corners of the world. Then they'd strike somewhere else, running rampant through a mall, destroying as much as they stole, then they'd melt away again.

I can't remember the outcome of the story - I suspect it was rather lame - but the fact that the best people could think to do with this wonderful new resource was to start riots just seemed so real to me it was rather depressing.

djm