It's on her list

Black Friday is not for the faint of heart. Early morning, mad shoppers, crazy deals...mall cops...in-store infomercials. The fun never ends. According to the t shirts of 3 frenzied women, they averaged a total of 13 hours of shopping on black Fridays for the past six years. These people are crazy.

We chose to join in with our own form of crazy - you guessed it, social activism. My friend Nikki and I paired up with the God's Child project and Breaking the Chains and went to the Mall of America to tell shoppers about modern day slavery, which meant getting up at 3:30am and to the country's biggest mall by 4:30. Technically it wasn't a protest or a demonstration, but we did have a sign, some rope, and hundreds or thousands of fliers. Department stores opened at 5am so we worked our way through the mobs of people, telling them about slavery and asking them to check out our website. By the time we had made our way to the front of the line and the Macy's doors were opening, the mall cops were there. Apparently MOA is private property and they do not appreciate protests, demonstrations, or the solicitation of information. We fell into the last category, and were escorted off of mall property, with the promise to be arrested if we returned that same day. Fortunately the camera crew from TLC was also there, making a documentary on the mall cops at MOA. We gladly signed the release form with hopes of our cause being televised. Yeaaaah social activism.

It was then 5:30am and I was in the cities. My mom and sister were about to start shopping so I took a big breath and joined the madness. I got some sweet deals on Christmas gifts but lacked the enthusiasm of the most serious black Friday shoppers. And then we went to Slumberland Furniture. I am not, at this point in time, in the market for furniture. However, this place has amazing sales. As we walked in the door we were handed tickets for $25 of free merchandise, with no minimum purchase. All table-toppers were 75% off. Therefore one could find a candle, vase, or other sweet table topper normally priced at $100, take 75% off making the price $25, and then use the coupon. Three women walked out of the store with $300 worth of items without spending a cent. I had to check my reflection in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t wearing a ski mask, ‘cause I felt like I was robbing the place. I left with these sweet urns.

Take that, consumerism.