What Was Your Worst Black Friday Experience?

I was absolutely pumped for Black Friday last year. Alarm set for 5:30am, tennis shoes laced, coffee pot ready. No one gets in between a bargain and me.

My sister, my mom and I had printed a list of stores that we wanted to hit up and noted any special deals that were going on.

Target: $15 toasters, Express: 50 percent off holiday sweaters, New York & Co.: $50 trenchcoats (who cares if it doesn’t get cold in California, this was a steal) and many, many, many more.

Share your best Black Friday deals here. 

We piled into the car at 6:02 p.m. Drats, already running behind schedule. No matter, we’d be going cruising on the highway. After all, it would be empty.

We arrive at the mall…

“What happened to all the parking spots?!”

After circling for nearly 20 minutes, our enthusiasm had dipped as the caffeine rush waned. But our resolve to elbow anyone in our way was still fierce.

We entered the mall and my sister quickly strayed from the plan as she saw the big glaring signs advertising unbeatable sales at Urban Outfitters.

“But that store isn’t on our schedule until 11 a.m.!” I protested.

Apparently 75 percent was enough reason to ditch our plan. So much for sacrificing that extra hour of sleep to devise the most strategic schedule based on the mall’s layout.

And naturally, a verbal fighting match ensued. There was no way I was going to wait in an Urban Outfitters line that would gobble up 60 minutes of our time when there were so many other deals with far shorter lines.

Our promise to not split up no matter what eventually won out, but not by much.

We both trudged to the rest of the stores, angry that the other sister was being completely irrational.

My mom’s life support of coffee in a thermos was slowly depleting and the adrenaline rush was as good as gone.

While my sister and I were in one store, my mom insisted she rest her feet while we shop in one store.

Note to self: Coach “tennis shoes” are super cute, but highly non-functional.

Again, my sister and I returned from the store empty handed as the cash register lines were enough to steer us clear of purchasing anything in that store.

When we exited, we saw a local camera crew panning that mall to depict the utter savagery that overtakes humans.

But in one corner of the mall was complete stillness: those who had fallen asleep on the benches after sheer exhaustion had set in.

The cameraman’s subject? My mom.

That was the final straw. Empty-handed with a semi-conscious mother in tow, the three of us happily left the mall to the sanctuary of my parents’ home.

And I made a beeline directly for my childhood bed.

This year, I joyously slept in and woke up to absolute peace and quiet. There is no pricetag on the preservation of my sanity. No way I was heading  to a mall until I absolutely need to--let alone on Thanksgiving due to the Black Friday "creep."

...Oh wait, Christmas Eve is exactly in one month.

So share your worst (or best) Black Friday experiences in the comment section. Maybe we can commiserate together.