5 mins before hell

i dont remember the last time i was this worn out. i swear i will never go shopping the day after thanksgiving. you think you know how hectic it is… just imagine if you had to work in the store! well it all started at like 4:45 this morning. the alarm went off, and i couldn’t be bothered, so i hit the snooze till 5. then by that time i had 30 mins to take a shower and get ready. so i just flew through all of that. and went outside to start my car. trust it to be frosted over. so by that time i was kinda late, so i got water and threw it over my windows to defrost it faster, jumped into my car, and sped off. just my luck on the way to work, the water that i had threw on all the windows froze. so it was like a hazy semi-transparent film on my windows. luckily my windshield wipers kept the front window clear. so i get to work about 10 mins early. and was shocked to see a line extending about 50 yards out the door. it was a mess outside. people were out there drinking coffee in 40 degree weather. the things people do for sales. so i get in there, and everyone was there, talking, getting ready and hyped up. it was a pleasant atmosphere during the last 5 mins before hell…

when one of the supervisors shouted “the doors are open” everyone stopped talking, and focused on the stream of running people coming towards the sight and sound section. i stepped into one of the isles to avoid being runned over. people were shouting questions so fast that i couldn’t even get a chance to look anyone in the eye. my mind was in overdrive. “the 199 cameras, to your right. ps2’s straight ahead and to your left. dvd / vcr combos, in the back” etc was just flowing out of my mouth. im glad i did a quick walk through of the department before we opened. it was like a reflex, i didn’t have to think, it just came out. the line of people lasted at least 20 mins just coming into the store. it was hard to even turn around at times. after about 30 mins, someone wanted me to get a UPC code for something in another department, so i had to go outside to a tent where they kept the xmas trees and such. i noticed an ambulance outside with no one in it. i just figured they had one just in case since it was such a large number of people in the store. someone was bound to get hurt. as i was going back into the store… i saw the reason why it was out there. in the mad rush to get in, it seems as tho someone pushed an older lady over and she messed up her ankle. i felt so bad for her. it was just the greed of people that caused her to get hurt. the things people do for sales… after around 12, it calmed down considerably, even tho it was busy all day. i got in at 6, which means my normal clockout time would of been at 2. but it was so busy today that they kept me till 6pm. 12 freaking long hours of work. im hurt, hungry, and exhausted. sigh… the things i do for money…