This Black Friday...
It just occurred to me that I won’t be winning any prizes this Black Friday at one of my favorite shopping places for Black Friday shopping.
The one store that I have made it too on Black Friday morning for the last few years has been my “lucky spot” and last year, while I didn’t win anything, the Papper clan did quite well there as the Mrs. won the giant FAO Swarz teddy bear and the oldest boy won one of the two $500 store gift cards.
The year before...
The year before on Black Friday I won the main prize that day as I won an employee discount card for a year and that card got me an additional 20% off on all purchases for the entire year. I don’t know how much in savings that totaled up too but I know it had to be a bunch. The Mrs. and the kids wore me out with picking up clothes that they had put in the “hold for pickup” location at the customer service booth all year long.
The Palais Royal store...
That store was the Palais Royal store in Spring, TX and I got to know the ladies who worked the customer service booth pretty well in that year. About three months ago that store closed up though and so there will be no Black Friday contest to win there.
The store was mainly a clothing store, but when you have four kids to keep in threads the expenses can rack up pretty quickly.
I think I told...
I think I told the story once on here how I won that prize but since I don’t have anything really pressing that needs to be addressed I think I will just go ahead and tell it again. It really is a good story and I like telling it, since I did win.
It was Black Friday in 2016...
It was Black Friday in 2016 and the store opened at 6:00 AM. The store is mainly, or was mainly, a clothing store but they had other departments as well including electronics and home furnishing so they had a couple really smoking hot “door buster” specials on a big screen TV and one of those knock off tablets that is similar to an I Pad. Of course, it was very limited supply of those, and people lined up pretty early in order to be able to get those items.
The first 100 people...
The other thing they had going on was that the first 100 people in line got a ticket to fill out for the grand prize drawing which was the employee discount for the year. We got there to the store right at about 5:15 AM and got our spots in line. Since it was only the adults who got tickets for the drawing only me, Mrs P, and our oldest boy went to this store and stood in line. We were somewhere in the middle of the first one hundred, I would say not any further back then number 60 or so.
They also handed...
They also handed out tickets to people who were wanting to purchase those limited quantity items, so if you got a ticket while you waited for the doors to open you were guaranteed that you would be able to purchase one of those items.
We weren’t far enough towards the front of the line to get ticket for the TV but I did get a ticket for the tablet, we weren’t in the market for a TV so that didn’t bother us and we actually weren’t in the market for the tablet either but at $49 it sounded like a pretty good deal.
So the store opened...
So the store opened and people flocked to those displays to exchange their tickets and get their items. The only check outs they had open that morning was at the front of the store so after I got my tablet I went to the front to pay and it just so happened that the lady in front of me had gotten a TV and she paid with a credit card.
So when the cashier handed her back her credit card the cashier said, “thank you Mrs. XXXX “ I can’t remember the lady’s name right now but I did that morning because it wasn’t a common name like Smith or Jones. This lady took her receipt and her TV and headed out the door.
So at seven AM...
So at seven AM they had the drawing for the grand prize and they announced the winner over the loud speaker. It wasn’t any of the Papper clan that had their name announced so the Mrs. and the boy were ready to go.
I told them to just hang on a little bit, no need to be in such a hurry. The store manager had given the person five minutes to ge to the front of the store and claim the prize. The wife said, “What are we waiting around for?” I told her that I am going to win that employee discount. She promptly informed me that they already called the winner’s name and it wasn’t me.
Well the wife was...
Well the wife was correct, that name they called wasn’t mine but I knew who’s name it was and I watched her walk out with her TV, she was the lady in front of me at the checkout line when I was paying for the tablet.
By then there was...
By then there was only a couple minutes left for the lady to claim the prize and I knew she hadn’t come back in the store, she was tickled to get the TV and she was already on the road home to show her family just how well she had done was my guess.
So another couple minutes...
So another couple minutes go by and now the wife and boy are ready to go, I said, “Just hold your horses, they are fixin' to call my name as the winner of the grand prize and no sooner than I had gotten those words out the manager’s voice came across the load speaker saying that they were going to draw another name since the first person hadn’t claimed the prize.
Ten seconds later...
Ten seconds later she read my name over the loud speaker to which I replied, “right here” as I gave a little wave of the hand in her direction.
I also started walking towards the counter, but I stopped and turned to the wife and boy and said, “I told you so.” Then I proceeded up to collect my prize.
The store even...
The store even let me return the tablet I just purchased and then repurchased it using my new discount card. In fact, the wife and boy had purchased some clothes and I also returned all of those and repurchased those as well using the discount so they were very happy that I didn’t let us leave.
Had that lady not paid with a credit card and I had not heard her name I would most likely had left when they didn’t call my name the first time. That also proved to be a big lesson learned for the Mrs. and she would have a similar thing happen last year in winning the teddy bear.
The store manager called two names prior to hers and neither of those folks hung around long enough to be there for the drawing. So the thing about these drawings, at least at this place, you had to be present to win and not everyone comes to these for the same reasons. So it isn’t over until someone claims the prize.
I ended up...
That bear was...
That bear was a big hit with Shortie as she had spotted that bear and inquired about the price on it a few weeks before the drawing. She found out then that the bear couldn’t be purchased and so she was counting on me to win it for her.
So the Mrs ended up the hero of Christmas for Shortie in 2017 and had she not been with me in 2016 and seen firsthand how people leave before the drawing she might have been inclined to leave when her name wasn’t called at the beginning of the drawing.
Well that is in...
Well that is in the past, and those are both good memories and stories but this year I am going to have to see what the other stores are offering since Palais Royal has shut their doors here. That was a lucky store for this family and I will miss being in line waiting to win there.
Do any of you...
Do any of you do the Black Friday thing and hit the door buster specials? I know I need to get some new blue jeans for work and while I only wear Wrangler 13MWZ jeans I may just have to buy whatever is on sale just so I have some jeans to work in and not care if they get guzbucked up.
I think Walmart has been known to sell some off brand of jeans on Black Friday in the past for about $10 a pair so if they have a deal like that I will be all over it like white on rice.
So between now...
So between now and early Friday I need to make a new plan, damn that Palais Royal for screwing me up on my Black Friday routine.
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