Last Christmas, the Wii was at the top of all four of my children’s lists. Could they have chosen anything more difficult to obtain? I scoured and scoured ads, called stores, begged favors. Nothing worked. We got notice from a friend that WalMart would have a limited number of them for sale on a particular Tuesday. I was determined.
I packed a Black Friday camping kit.
- A folding chair – to sit in because the ground can get hard.
- A sleeping bag – it was 22 degrees outside and a blanket or throw just doesn’t keep you as warm as a bag. Plus I was actually able to sleep for a couple of hours on the sidewalk.
- A thermos full of hot tea – for when I was feeling extra cold.
- My iPod and headphones – I wasn’t sure how long the wait would be.
- Sunflower seeds – for energy to stay awake.
- Sidewalk chalk.
Wait, sidewalk chalk? Yep. This was actually the most important of all the items. After waiting six hours in snow flurries outside of Best Buy on Friday, only to have fifty feebayers show up five minutes before to take the places their “friends” (likely paid sitters) had been holding, I knew there had to be a better way. We lost out on the good deals that morning, and it wasn’t going to happen again.
They wouldn’t let us start lining up until 12:01 am. The five of us there early made our own line, then transferred it to the official one at 12:01. That’s where the chalk comes in. We chalked our names and our position number on the sidewalk in line. Then we passed the chalk to each person who showed up and had them do the same. The one person who said he had a friend coming was told that his friend could sign when he got there – at the end of the line. When the eight people behind you are all telling you no, peer pressure can be a good thing! A frantic phone call, and three of his buddies showed up about half an hour later. At 7:55, the WalMart employee came out to take names. He looked at the sidewalk, chuckled, went down to #29 and told her that she was the last one. He told everyone else they could go home. Having the names on the sidewalk helped maintain order. Some people were panicky about getting the system, they’d waited hours in the freezing cold, and I’m wholly confident that without something in writing, there would’ve been fights between people on the cusp of getting a system.
So have fun camping out for your Black Friday or other special deal. But don’t forget the chalk!