Photo courtesy Mall of America

Huge crowds. Lots of waiting. Tight spaces. Little sleep. Impatience.

I don’t know about you, but Black Friday doesn’t sound like fun to me. It sounds more like a giant headache.

Even so, I’ve been telling myself for years that I should wake up early to join the Black Friday madness and get the full experience of it all. It still hasn’t happened. I absolutely LOVE to shop, but so far, Black Friday deals have not been attractive enough for me to put myself into a nightmare when I could be sleeping instead.

I did end up braving the crowds Friday, but not until lunchtime when I was fully charged up on sleep and patience. I started off at the mall where I almost left without setting a foot inside thanks to my discouraging 45-minute drive around the entire mall before I finally found a parking space.

Once I made it past this, the mall was a breeze. I was surprised to find the lines weren’t bad at all. Sure, it may have looked like a tornado went through some of the stores from the early morning madness, but I was still able to find what I was looking for and get in and out quickly.

Next stop was a well-known department store. I think even the most patient person in the world would have lost it here. Even when the doorbuster deals had ended and it was creeping up on dinnertime, there were so many people in the store still I could hardly move.

If they would have had 500 cashiers, I still don’t think it would have been enough to handle the lines that were everywhere. The shoe department didn’t have any shoes left on display as they were all strewn all over the floor. There were half-eaten bagels and coffee cups lying everywhere I turned. People were even getting in accidents in the parking lot. It was absolute madness.

It’s safe to say that Black Friday isn’t for me. With a few rare exceptions, I actually think it’s a day that brings out the worst in people. Everyone is rude, tired, hungry, impatient and only seeming to care about themselves as they push people out of their way, cut to the front of lines, leave their garbage wherever they please and throw everything they don’t want on the floor for someone else to clean up.

The sales online are just as good as they are in the store, so why not avoid all of this and just shop online? If you’re not a fan of online shopping, why not wait until Sunday when there are equally as good deals as Black Friday, but without the madness? Unless there is that one, amazing doorbuster deal you absolutely have to have, I don’t understand why anyone would ever choose to participate in the Black Friday madness.