Black Friday... Adventure

It's only 7:30pm and I am officially saying Black Friday is over. For those unfamiliar with today, it is the shopping day that the stores drop the prices. Some stores open as early as 4am and let the deals rip right in time for Christmas. It's called "Black" Friday because it is the day the proverbial arrow leaves the red and heads North to the Black. I guess the arrow is not completely proverbial, it was and maybe still is an actual arrow used at staff meetings.

Having said that...

I walked to Target today. I'm not a fan of shopping by the way, at all. The reason I went to Target is because my girlfriend and I live close, we got out of the house and took a walk. We went to the "West Hollywood" Target located on Santa Monica Blvd. While walking I reminded myself I am person whose claustrophobic around too many people. It's similar to being in a elevator that just decided to stop out of the blue which has 43 people trapped inside. Heading into Target I prepped myself and dove in headfirst.

We walked in... Dirty....Coughing People...Kids.... Strollers...Mindless Individuals....People just "roaming" with no purpose. Misery. At one point I felt as if I was going run out of the store, but I didn't. I focused, I focused hard and I willingly became engulfed from the sea of bodies.

Walking around was a miserable experience, I just kept thinking that the majority of the people didn't know what they were doing. As soon as my girlfriend turned her head I walked away and had to find solitude in the halls of Target.

My main thought: How can I turn this into a positive? Maybe I can't turn this shopping into a positive but how could I make the store better?

Then it hit me! Greeters at the door. I thought a Greeter at the door would have made me enter a little more delighted, they needed to loosen the mood. Then I ran to my girlfriend to explain the thought of Greeters. From there on the Greeter is optional, if you want the help you can get greeter help around the entire store and answer all questions. However if you don't want the help a universal sign of "no thanks" should be accessible. I think this alone would make someone appreciate the store, and maybe make it a little lighter.

THEN:

The man or woman who is checking out should be required to make conversation and jokes with the individuals checking out. It's called CAJ (Conversation and Jokes). No matter what, make observations and jokes. Even if the customer is angry, permission to joke with the customer is available. This would always keep the store LIGHT and EASY and EASYGOING.

Shopping must be a easygoing experience. Black Friday has a rough connotation, it's hell in Major Stores.

BUT, maybe people are inspired by the Black Friday challenge, Personally I'm not, I need light shopping.

Moral of Black Friday... I want to own a superstore to test these things.