Black Friday

(this cartoon is for you, Alix)

Today was Black Friday.  Technically it's still black Friday, but I'm home, nice and cozy in my warm house, with my shoes off, a diet coke at hand and the remnants of a turkey sandwich nearby.  I'm not going ANYWHERE!

My daughter, Dani works in an outlet mall, at a clothing store.  She was scheduled to work midnight to 9 am this morning.  She left for work with 40 minutes to spare.  Dani knew she needed extra time to find a parking spot.  Well, that kid drove around and around (and this is a HUGE outlet mall!) looking for a place to park.  She had to call work to tell them she was there but couldn't find a parking spot.  They told her to keep trying.  She drove around for over an hour!!!  NO spots!!  Dani finally drove home, got a friend to drive her back in to work,  it was after 1:30 am.    They asked Dani to work until 10 instead of 9, which was good because it made up for the time she lost in the middle of the night.  By morning, the craziness had eased off, and I was able to find a spot near her store and wait for her (thank goodness for audio books!  got one finished!).  A few minutes past 10 she came out.

The traffic, in the middle of the night, for the outlet mall was backed up for about 10 miles on a major highway! (Matty and Martha, this was the outlets in Sanatoga, just off 422.  I heard 422 was backed up to Oaks!)

As we were driving home, a fellow from work calls me and asks if I'm coming to work today.  "Of course I am, Greg!  Do you need a ride?"  I ask him.  He says, "No, but you're supposed to be here at 10 this morning."  OOPS!!!  So I had to get moving and go in as soon as I dropped Dani off at home.  It turned out OK in the end.  The ones who were in at 9 am didn't get tables until after 10:30 and I got one at 11, so it was all good.  Once we got past 11 am (when we normally open), it was busy all day.  I made very good tips all day (my last table gave me $20 on a $53 check!  I wish ALL my tables were that generous today!)

I did run across the hall before leaving today and I bought my daughter a pair of yoga pants she was looking at.  I RARELY go into the mall when I'm working.  I come in from the parking lot straight into our store and I leave the same way!