[lit-ideas] Re: Black Friday

 
<<If  any subscribers of this list are one of the crazed, er, I mean,   
ambitious and eager shoppers who did such a thing this morning, I would love  
to  gain an understanding of  why....>>
--------------------------------------
(a) For fun. Some  people seem to get a real adrenaline rush from being among 
the
first through  the doors. Getting one of those $10 digital cameras by being 
among
'the first  hundred customers' is like winning any other silly prize.
(b) From need.  If you're barely making it, buying your kids' shoes and 
Christmas
presents at  65% off even at the cost of getting up early is rational 
behaviour.

(c)  To display toughness; stamina; fortitude; endurance: all the great  
American
virtues, here enfolded in the over-arching virtue of  winner-take-all
competition, are on view.

(d) To confirm the  sometimes-forgotten truth that Americans could, if they
wanted to, play  rugby, but that they just don't want to.

Okay, okay, Robert -- I  absolutely believe you could play rugby <g>. 
Julie Krueger 



========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Black Friday  
Date: 11/26/04 8:23:55 PM Central Standard Time  From: 
_Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)   To: 
_lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    
What in the world would possess *anyone*, much  less *thousands* to stand in  
line in the middle of the night to rush  into a store with the other 
thousands 
of  frenzied shoppers at one in  the morning?!  Long lines around stores at 
3:00  a.m.??  If  any subscribers of this list are one of the crazed, er, I 
mean,   
ambitious and eager shoppers who did such a thing this morning, I would love  
to  gain an understanding of  why....
--------------------------------------
(a) For fun. Some people  seem to get a real adrenaline rush from being among 
the
first through the  doors. Getting one of those $10 digital cameras by being 
among
'the first  hundred customers' is like winning any other silly prize.

(b) From need.  If you're barely making it, buying your kids' shoes and 
Christmas
presents at  65% off even at the cost of getting up early is rational 
behaviour.

(c)  To display toughness; stamina; fortitude; endurance: all the great  
American
virtues, here enfolded in the over-arching virtue of  winner-take-all
competition, are on view.

(d) To confirm the  sometimes-forgotten truth that Americans could, if they
wanted to, play  rugby, but that they just don't want to.

Robert Paul
Freud School of  Motivational Analysis
Mutton  College
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