Hillsboro Village Video
A cafe worker in Nashville tells me that business has been slower than expected today. Watch her in this Quicktime video clip, where you can also see a very different type of "steel guiter."
November 25, 2005
Boutique Mall Store Employee Video
Karen, a barista at a local coffeeshop, tells us how she arrived at work at 4am and expects a busy day. The link opens a Quicktime file.
Best Buy
By 9:00 AM, Princeton's Best Buy was the picture of calm, compared to the line that wrapped around the corner of the store four hours previously. Ever searching for a dramatic photo opportunity of screaming customers and violent fights, I must admit to being somewhat disappointed. Not even one fracas on Black Friday? What is New Jersey coming to?
crazy? or just motivated
"Yo, this people are crazy!" muttered a barista in Starbucks to her co-worker as she watched the stream of people heading towards 5th Avenue. A few stopped in for coffee or to grab a pastry, but most New Yorkers who aren't working today are shopping. The work-hard/ play hard motto seems to be in full-effect. Shoppers are shopping with a motivation that would put Santa's elves to shame.
6:00 AM, Princeton, New Jersey
After the insanity of Wal-Mart, the Target store around the corner (God bless New Jersey!) seems comparatively calm. Three clerks watch the sleepy shoppers with quiet amusement. Kim Austin has been at the store since 5:30, but says that some staff members have been preparing for the day since 9:00 the night before. “It’s more exciting than exhausting,” she says with a calm smile, and admits that she enjoys watching the customers shop. Ami Patel has been here since 5:15, and is working her second Black Friday, which she wryly describes as “very busy.” Heide Atanasovski notes that the crowds were very orderly coming in, and Kim adds that this Black Friday is a marked improvement over the previous year’s, when people were literally diving for DVD players and fighting as the supply ran out. This year, she says, the store put their featured product, flat screen TV’s, towards the back of the store to avoid congestion.