Black Friday Thoughts

Consumers and retail workers were all eager to voice their opinions on Black Friday.

Kelley Miller, an employee of Bed Bath and Beyond in Sterling Heights, Michigan shares her thoughts.

Miller said she feels Black Friday is an overall good idea, but stores shouldn't be opening as earlier as they are. (For more information on store hours and Black Friday, click here.)

Bed Bath and Beyond opened at five a.m on Black Friday and for Miller, that was early enough.

She worked a total of 12 and a half hours on Black Friday, a typical shift for retail employees on the day, and lucky for her, her work hours did not interfere with her holiday plans. 

Miller said that the store was busier for the first few hours and then lulled for the majority of the workday. 

She said she would never shop on Thanksgiving because it is a holiday that should be spent with family, not shopping. 

Tiffany Shay, an MSU freshman said that Black Friday is all about the hype. 

This Black Friday was her first shopping experience and she said the deals were not really deals and all and were definitely not worth the hassle. 

An unofficial Facebook survey found that 54.5% of respondents agree that Black Friday is not all it's cracked up to be. 

With the negativity surrounding Black Friday, should it continue?

Black Friday is Back!

Last week, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, that meant another "holiday" was soon approaching.

Black Friday was on its way leaving consumers with feelings of glee and retail workers with detest.

Let's start out by describing how Black Friday got its name.
The most commonly accredited theory is that this day is when retailers will finally see a profit for the year, meaning they are now "in the black".
For more information on how the day got its name, and other information about Black Friday 2011, click here.

This year, many stores opened earlier than ever, with Walmart heading the pack.
According to the store's Website, the super-store opened its doors to customers at 10 p.m.on Thanksgiving Day offering limited deals. Electronics and other "big ticket" items were not available until midnight.

According to Patricia Huddleston, an expert on E-commerce, new democracies and retailing and shopping attitudes at Michigan State University said that because of Walmart's store hours, stores like Kohl's and Target opened at midnight.

Huddleston said from a retailer standpoint, Black Friday helps generate a lot of traffic for stores and that they need to be open because their competitors are open. If the stores chose to open later in the day, they would be at a competitive disadvantage.

She said it can also be worth it from a consumer standpoint because of the savings they receive.
However, it is up to the consumer if the savings are worth the hassle.

Huddleston herself does not shop on Black Friday.

For live tweets on Black Friday, click here and look for the hash tag #BlackFriday

Students Thoughts on The Keg Policy

Students all around Michigan State have opinions about Michigan’s new keg policy.

To read more information about the policy, click here and for commonly asked questions concerning it, here.

The students that were interviewed said that they didn’t feel that the new policy would change anything other than the way that students purchase alcohol.

Catherine Donovan, 21, a MSU student, shares her opinions on the new policy.

“I think the law will make people more responsible because it will give them a conscience about providing alcohol to underage drinkers,” she said.

Donovan said that people buying the kegs are going to have to think twice now before serving to minors because of the consequences they could face.

She said she thinks the law is insufficient because it will only make people avoid purchasing kegs and start buying more cans and bottles. “People will find loopholes to avoid being held responsible.”

Danita Chapman, 18, also offers her thoughts.

She said that she also doesn’t believe the law will do much for the cause of combating underage drinking.

Chapman said that she thinks the law has good intentions, but that might not be enough.

Like Donovan, she said that she thinks students will switch from buying kegs to cans and bottles.

Although students feel that the law is a step in the right direction for a community like MSU’s, this new policy alone will not be sufficient. 

New Michigan Law on Kegs

There's a new law in Michigan concerning kegs.

The policy was put into effect on the first of November of this year.

All kegs must now require a beer keg tag that identifies the purchaser, according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. 


The tag will provide information on the purchaser's ID type, ID number, and their date of birth.
For an example of what the tags look like, click here.

The tag states to the purchaser that they are subject to the liability of serving a minor.

The keg deposit WILL NOT be returned if the tag is not attached upon return.

If the tag is removed, altered in any way, or contains falsified, or fake information, the individual responsible will be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The guilty individual will be punished by approximately 93 days in jail, and/or a fine totaling $500.

Up to four kegs may be sold to one individual, permitting that they have a valid Michigan ID and are willing to sign for the keg.

The policy hopes to put an end to minors being served alcohol by giving authorities a direct identification of who should be held responsible.

It has not yet been decided, but purchasers could be criminally charged for deaths and other incidents occurring to those who consume beer from their keg based on previous court cases.

Policy makers hope that this new law will make purchasers think twice and make individuals more responsible.

The Post About the Slutty Pumpkin Returns

 Meanwhile, Robin finds out Barney’s Canadian through a Facebook status. Social media at it’s finest here, people. So she rips on the new “hoser” for his Canadian roots just as he has for the past, oh, six seasons. “You've been ripping on Canada since Justin Bieber was knee-high to a snowblower, so now this Canuck's gonna be on you like the drummer from the Youkon Blondes, high up on Timbits.” Clearly the only good thing to come from Canada is Tim Hortons.

Robin gives Barney a Mountie costume to wear to the party but he shows up in typical legen…wait for it…DARY style in the most patriotic costume of all costumes, showing up in a mist of fog while Living in America plays. Uh, I’d say that’s pretty awesome. I expect no less from Barney or Neil Patrick Harris. I kind of love that man.

Lilly’s grandparents give her their house in the suburbs so they can move to Florida and she accepts. Marshall talks to Robin about this and she says that Lilly’s got pregnancy brain and that she’s basically going crazy. They go to the house to hand out candy and Lilly ends up handing some child a stapler for a treat. Like I said, she’s insane.

Anyway, they have a weirdly sexual conversation about the house and then decide not to live there and in the end American Barney fights and epic battle with Canadian Barney. I can’t wait for the next episode. 

How I Met Your Mother: The Slutty Pumpkin Returns

Okay, so let me start out by saying How I Met Your Mother is pretty much my favorite show of all time.  I was thinking that after six seasons, the show would kind of suck, but it's as awesome as ever. For the past six season, which apparently somehow is ten years in HIMYM time, Ted Mosby has been on the quest for the "Slutty Pumpkin", yeah, you read that right, slutty pumpkin. Anyway, Ted happens to pass by a costume shop where he sees the costume in the window. He gets the girl's address and shows up at her door. I can't decide if that's cute or creepy, I guess it's creepily romantic? Yeah, we're going to settle for that. 

They go out on a date, FINALLY, and every thing seems to be going great until they kiss. Oh, did I forget to mention that she’s played by Katie Holmes? She’s such an awkward person. I feel like Ted should be jumping on couches declaring his love. Okay, Nicole, focus. 

Ted realizes that she’s basically the most f-ing awkward person on the planet and decides to break up with her. He goes to her door and accidently tells her that he’s in love. Typical Shmosby. Ted goes to the party and the gang finds out he’s “tasted her tootsie roll”. The truth comes out and we find out the Slutty Pumpkin isn’t really all that into Ted either, thank god and they pretty much break up. 

Can we just know who the mother is now? Please?