My mom works at Target. Overall, the crowd there does tend to seem less obnoxious, I agree. But she still has some stories of some idiots that come into the store. Most of them involve parents whose kids run all over and nearly get plowed into or nearly run into other people with all their rambunctiousness, or kids that scream bloody murder and throw temper tantrums and such and their parents seem completely clueless as to how to stop them
.
My mom and I went to Wal-Mart at midnight on Black Friday because our relatives wanted to go (we had nothing there of importance we needed to buy but we did want to maybe stop into Best Buy when it opened up and go to breakfast with our relatives. Never wound up doing that, though, 'cause our relatives didn't want to go to Best Buy and we got tired, so they just dropped us off at home in the end). It was a zoo. Lines for the checkouts as far as the eye could see, people milling all over, areas a total mess, clothes on the floor, people's coffee cups from gas stations or wherever sitting on top of the jewelry area (which wasn't open yet at the time)... Didn't see any shoving or trampling, nor did I see people beating each other up, thankfully, but still, what a mess. I felt so bad for the employees that were there, and I really never want to do that midnight excursion again.
I usually try and avoid shopping on Black Friday in general because I don't want to be in the insanity and add to retail workers' hectic activity. My mom's worked in retail for years, and I have a huge amount of sympathy for retail workers in general after hearing all the horror stories she's shared that she and other employees have dealt with. It never ceases to amaze me how obnoxious and rude and, quite frankly, downright stupid some customers tend to be. If only they could work in retail, even if just for a day, or a week.
Sounds like it was pretty busy at where I work last Friday, too, but I haven't heard any stories of nasty experiences, thankfully.
Angela