Black Friday - Pavlovian Humans

You'll have to forgive me, but I have always been amused by the absurdity of people. I think it's something I picked up from SumoDad, who loves to quote H. L. Mencken:

No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

Never has this proven more true than Black Friday. Out of boredom and a desire to amuse myself, I went over to CompUSA on Thanksgiving night to check out the specials--not because any of them appealed to me, mind you--just to see the spectacle. And it was a spectacle--the line to get INTO the store was 4 people wide and a good 1000 feet long. Seriously. Now think about it, people: it's not a huge store, and even if you find something checkout is going to take an hour +. Is saving $10 on a spindle of CDs really worthwhile for that?

Exhibit B: Sears handed out $10 giftcards to the first 200 people in line Friday morning. People were lining up at 4am for the 6am opening. Now even if you don't believe time is money, that's NUTS. Granted, $10 is a different priority to different people, but surely--SURELY--these people can be categorized as insane. It's as though humans have a Pavlovian response to "discount" or "sale" and forget how to think.

Don't get me wrong--if you're going to save $500 on that plasma TV, I can see the point. But to save $10 on that sweater or something else, is it really worthwhile? If you've never stepped back from the insanity, go to a mall this weekend and sit down with a cup of coffee and watch people. For a time of year that's supposed to be full of joy, there seem to be a lot of people who missed that memo (particularly the over aggressive ones...you'll see what I mean).