Surviving my first Black Friday experience

By  Lindsey Todd
       Central Bucks West High Schol

                   Last Friday, I took part in a national phenomenon for the very first time.
                  You guessed it.  Black Friday.
                  Before last week, I had never gone Black Friday-shopping.
                  You're probably staring at that last sentence and thinking: Is she being serious?  Every girl has gone Black Friday-shopping at least once by the ripe old age of 17.
                   I'd always wanted to go, except I'd previously been warned by my mother and grandmother that I would get stampeded by a mob of angry shoppers, jumping through the glass displays in front of stores and flailing their shopping bags around, hoping to give competing shoppers bllack eyes.  I kid you not: The women in my family are stricken by paranoia when it comes to Black Friday.
                  However, despite the big risk I could've been taking last Friday, I braved it and hit up the mall around 1 p.m.  What I discovered were very nice, civilized people (who by no means looked like they were about to leap through a glass window in a sudden frenzy), exciting Christmas decorations and some really great sales.
                   I started my Christmas shopping that day ---- and I scoured some great new items for myself, as well.  The number of people shopping along with me was refreshing ---- usually, the mall is dead, even on weekends.
                   I will admit, however, that the food court was a bit overwhelming (not one seat was empty --- we had to stand and wait for a good 10 minutes for people to get up), and Bath & Body Works was the busiest store that I stepped into.  Seriously.  I was about to punch someone because the store was so tiny and there were about 50 of us inside.
                   Otherwise, I enjoyed my Black Friday experience and fully intend on going back next year .... when I actually have some money to burn!