Why do people do stupid things? Some people try to walk across freeways. They get run over. Some people stand on the edge of cliffs. They slip and fall to their death. Some people think a gun is not loaded. They point the gun at a friend. They pull the trigger. They kill their friend. Some people want to watch a storm up close. They go to the ocean. They feel the wind. They see the big waves. They are excited. Then a big wave takes them out to sea. They drown. Many people drop out of school. They say that school is boring. They want to have fun. School is not fun. They hate homework. They get a job at McDonald’s. All day long they ask the customers, 'Do you want fries with that?' Is that fun? No, but it is stupid. Some people cheat on their wives or husbands. They get caught. Their marriage ends. They are alone. Many people smoke cigarettes. They get cancer. Many people drink and drive. Drinking and driving is against the law. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. But people do it every day.
Julia's phone rang at four in the morning. It was Elizabeth. Elizabeth invited Julia to go shopping with her. "We are going to the stores so early?" Julia asked sleepily. Elizabeth explained that the day after Thanksgiving in the United States was called Black Friday. Stores, which held special sales, started very early. "It's the official start of the holiday shopping season," Elizabeth explained.
Julia and Elizabeth were outside the local shopping center by five in the morning. Julia was surprised to see that not only were all the stores open, but they were crowded. Elizabeth told Julia that this was nothing. Some people camped outside the mall all night so that they could be among the first to enter and get extra special deals called "door busters". Many times these "door busters" were electronic items at extremely reduced prices. Often only a small number of these items are made available. Sometimes they are only available to the first 100 people in line.
Julia thought it sounded violent and wondered aloud if people really broke down doors to get into the store. "Sometimes there is a lot of pushing," Elizabeth explained. Some people have even been hurt, or killed, because of physical fights over limited products. At 5 a.m. though, the door busters were gone and the cash registers had long lines. Many shoppers had full shopping carts of presents they intended to give away for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa.