I set my alarm for 4 AM but rolled over wide awake at 3:30. I had already scoped the ads and found the TV I wanted to buy. I wouldn’t normally do this sort of thing. I wouldn’t normally wake up at 4 in the morning to push my way through crowds of people to buy stuff. But I’ve just begun to live in the apartment where Erin and I will make our home after we are married at the end of the February, and the nights have been a little quiet. I thought if we are going to buy a TV eventually, the best time to get a deal would be the morning after Thanksgiving.
I rolled out of bed at 3:30 AM on November 26th and I made my way to Target just down the street from Erin’s parents’ house in Charlotte, where we were spending the Holiday. The TV I wanted to buy was at Best Buy, but they didn’t open until 5 and Target had a video game on sale that I thought I would pick up — if I wake up that early, I’m going to get a treat that’s just for me!
I showed up at 3:45, 15 minutes before opening. I found my place at the end of the line, which had already snaked around the building as a constant flow of more Target “guests” filed by to stand in line behind me. They opened the doors at the appropriate time and we all flooded in. People were making their way through checkout with two and three 40″ television sets (no exaggeration). I went to look for my video game and couldn’t find it at first. I was frustrated and started seeing others things that maybe I could convince myself to buy. I recognized it was silly, but I was getting caught up in the hype. Then I found it (Super Mario Galaxy 2) and made my way to the front of the store to make my purchase.
After I left Target I got back in my car and made my way across the labyrinth of parking lots to Best Buy. As I went I repeated the refrain of a good bargain shopper in my head — “Don’t be afraid to walk away. You don’t have to make a purchase today.” I made it over to Best Buy by 4:20 AM, a good 40 minutes before opening, thinking it would be plenty of time to snag a spot near the front. I was far too late. The line was already around the building and, before long, would snake around the parking lot behind me.
Standing in line outside of Best Buy at 4:30 in the morning gave me time to think. I saw the little girl in front of me who had gotten all dressed up because, more than turkey, she was excited to SHOP. I heard advice from the couple behind me who were comparing the difference big screen TVs they already owned and who encouraged me to buy the 40″ TV from Target that was actually cheaper than the 32″ I was looking to buy. I swelled with pride when I was able to tell them, “Oh, well we don’t want a TV as big as a forty-inch.”
Then I bought a coffee and a chicken biscuit from the Chick-Fil-A people who were pushing a cart and selling food to the people in line. As I bit into the buttery biscuit, something clicked. I was ready to say something about how silly America is. How ridiculous my compatriots are for lining up outside a retail store at 4 in the morning the day after one of our most relational holidays. I was ready to point the finger.
Then I realized, “I’m right here with them.” I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to buy a video game and a television set. I can say I’ve never done it before and I’ll never do it again, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did it this year. So I find myself stuck in the middle of a culture that I long to see changed. I would love to see focus shift and priority change across our country, but I still love that I got 20% off the price of a great TV. And I don’t regret that I woke up at 3:30 to get it.
Before too long, I was able to walk into the store and, after a small Black Friday miracle, snag the TV I came for. I loaded it into the truck, drove down to Wal-Mart for some shotgun shells and sporting clays and went home. i woke up at 3:30 and was back in bed by 6:30.
Sometimes we find ourselves smack in the middle of the parts of a culture we most detest. Sometimes we’re ready to tell someone they’re doing it wrong. Just as we lift our hand to point at them, we realize we aren’t that different.
I think that’s why we need people around to keep us objective. We need friends who point in love to the parts of our heart that need some refining. We need people to show us the parts of ourselves that we have a hard time recognizing. We need friends who, when we begin to rail against consumer culture, will say, “Dude, your TV costs more than what it would cost to feed an orphan for a year.” Not so much so that we’ll sell our TV and feed an orphan (though that’s an option), but so we don’t end up thinking the life we live over here is normal. To keep us humble and, most of all, thankful.
