Don't let the evil Grinch take over Black Friday

Call me what you will, but I have never been a fan of crowded shopping malls, long lines at cash registers or the crush of customers fighting for the last item of its kind on the shelf.

Sure, I understand the dynamics of a free trade economy that pits supply versus demand and quality versus quantity.After all, I spent more than 15 years in the retail trade, 11 in the grocery business, two years selling new and used textbooks and school supplies to college students while attending university classes and two more in high-end electronics once I graduated.

Enjoyable it was to help a customer find an item he or she sought, even if it meant searching through a jumbled storeroom or warehouse.

Matching a customer’s needs and desires to a specific price point was a challenge I accepted gladly, working hard to please the buyer without giving away too much of the store’s profit margin.

But the reports I have heard, seen and read about this holiday shopping season’s traditional kickoff, also known as Black Friday, both repulse me and make me fear for the future of our civilization.

Los Angeles Police, perhaps inured to the violence that outright greed profligates, described as a “competitive shopper” a woman who pepper-sprayed at least 20 other people — men, women and children — to prevent them from taking X-box and Wii games from a bin display at a Porter Ranch Walmart before she had time to grab an extraordinary number of sale items for herself.

Scenes of the resulting melee were captured on video cameras and cell phones wielded by incensed or merely curious customers on the periphery. These videos quickly went viral when they were posted on social media sites such as YouTube within hours of the attack.

There were also many more reports of stabbings, tramplings, crushings, outright thefts, strong-arm robberies and auto burglaries outside various big box retail chain stores as many of them rushed to open, some as early as 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, in order to entice the bargain hunters.

The midnight or earlier opening of many stores apparently drew an estimated 158 million early-bird shoppers, a full 10 percent more than the bean counters calculated for last year’s buying horde, according to ABC News.

Business Week posted online Friday a piece attributed to Bloomberg News Services with some pithy commentary.

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when a fifth of all consumer purchases are made, may just be the Western antithesis of “Ramadan, which for traditional Muslims is a month-long period of self-denial, reflection and prayer,” the BusinessWeek article begins.

“For Christians and Jews and Muslims in the U.S., the next few weeks will be a period of self-indulgence and heedless consumerism,” BusinessWeek editors Michael Kinsley and Stacey Shick comment.

Later, in the same article, the two BusinessWeek editors make another stunning observation when they compare Black Friday to Groundhog Day.

“The difference is that instead of a rodent emerging from the ground, taking a sniff and determining whether there will be six more weeks of winter, you’ve got economists and demographers going to the mall, taking a sniff and determining whether there will be six more months of recession,” the BusinessWeek article states.

This year, more than any other, however, the prognosticators and crystal ball gazers may find it a bit more difficult to make their predictions.

Our economy stands on the brink of emerging from the deepest recession since the Great Depression or falling backwards into a double-dip recession that no one can see the bottom of yet.

Also, the 2012 elections are rapidly approaching and it is anyone’s guess right now whether the Democrats will be able to hang on to power in the White House as well as the U.S. Senate or lose both to the Republicans.

That is why I prefer those who advocate buying goods and services from local merchants, those who actually give a portion of their profits back to the community by supporting youth sports, the performing arts, local crafters and skilled artisans in many fields.

It’s not hard to spot these merchants.

They are ones who join local service clubs to give back to their community or show up at youth sporting events at all hours of the day, including weekends, to cheer for our children and applaud good sportsmanlike conduct.

They are the business owners most likely to purchase advertising or merchandise of any youth organization. They purchase uniforms, supply snack items, donate merchandise and fully support community events.

It’s time we end the madness and support the merchants who support us. Once they are gone, whether from our neglect or economic travails, it will become more and more difficult for these youth activities to find willing sponsors. And for consumers to find helpful clerks who know their merchandise are willing to go the extra mile to satisfy an unusual request.