I hate having my alarm go off at 2 a.m. to get up for work. Hate it.
There are very few things for which such an early wakeup alarm would be welcome. To catch a flight to some Caribbean island immediately comes to mind.
Shopping certainly isnt one of those things on that very short list.
So it is with a certain level of disdain that I assign a reporter to do the annual and obligatory Black Friday shopping story each year. Reporters, generally, dont like drawing this assignment, either.
This years short straw was drawn by Tere Dunlap, whose alarm went off at 2:30 a.m. By then, there were people already standing in line to shop for Christmas presents.
When Tere reported to the office for duty, I noted how odd it was that at before 4:30 in the morning nearly half of our newsroom was working. Our sports editor, Adam Krebs, was just finishing up todays pages.
When Tere returned from Wal-Mart at about 5:30 a.m., she reported that it was a madhouse. Store manager Ron Fager reported the store was busier than hed ever seen it in his seven years there. Im watching reports on cable news right now about an expected larger-than-usual number of shoppers for the early bargains today.
Im also watching a report right now about a Wal-Mart worker in Long Island who was trampled to death by shoppers. Incredible.
How the fevered rush to stores in the wee hours of the morning fits the holiday spirit escapes me. It gives us a good lead story on the front page on a day after the holiday, but thats about all its good for in my book.
There are very few things for which such an early wakeup alarm would be welcome. To catch a flight to some Caribbean island immediately comes to mind.
Shopping certainly isnt one of those things on that very short list.
So it is with a certain level of disdain that I assign a reporter to do the annual and obligatory Black Friday shopping story each year. Reporters, generally, dont like drawing this assignment, either.
This years short straw was drawn by Tere Dunlap, whose alarm went off at 2:30 a.m. By then, there were people already standing in line to shop for Christmas presents.
When Tere reported to the office for duty, I noted how odd it was that at before 4:30 in the morning nearly half of our newsroom was working. Our sports editor, Adam Krebs, was just finishing up todays pages.
When Tere returned from Wal-Mart at about 5:30 a.m., she reported that it was a madhouse. Store manager Ron Fager reported the store was busier than hed ever seen it in his seven years there. Im watching reports on cable news right now about an expected larger-than-usual number of shoppers for the early bargains today.
Im also watching a report right now about a Wal-Mart worker in Long Island who was trampled to death by shoppers. Incredible.
How the fevered rush to stores in the wee hours of the morning fits the holiday spirit escapes me. It gives us a good lead story on the front page on a day after the holiday, but thats about all its good for in my book.
