Wal-Mart Black Friday

At Los Angeles Times, "Wal-Mart's unhappy holiday tradition: Black Friday violence." A customer was shot during an attempted parking lot robbery at Wal-Mart in San Leandro, Calfornia. In Kissimmee, Florida, a man was arrested after a scuffle at the Wal-Mart jewelry counter. And in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a couple was attacked as they were were leaving a Wal-Mart around 1am. And, in a separate Los Angeles Times report, "In Porter Ranch, a woman pepper sprayed customers at a Wal-Mart in what authorities say was a deliberate attempt to get more 'door buster' merchandise."

I knew we'd be hearing stories like this. My wife and I took a trip with our boys over to the Wal-Mart at Foothill Ranch. I was going to pick up a Compaq laptop for $199.00, or an HP for $248.00, but they were sold out by the time we got in the store, at about 12:40am. My wife picked up some toys for my youngest and we were out of there by 2:00am. There were probably 1,000 people lined up out front. It was a pretty orderly affair. No surges. No violence. No drama. Just early morning Black Friday shopping. It's a phenomenon nowadays, a weird one: