TGIF – Myth America

 As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “In Los Angeles on Black Friday, a woman pepper sprayed Wal-Mart shoppers who tried to cut in line.”  Craig Ferguson   “It’s Cyber Monday, when everyone shops online. As soon as I woke up I pepper sprayed myself.”  Conan O’Brien

Humor Break:

Bev: Al, do you know what Black Friday is?

Al: Yeah, the day a Fool and her money are soon parted.

Stat of the Week: Fools!  Some of you are Fools!!  Some of you are Fools who are losing sleep!!!  And why?  Cuz some of you are taking for granted while you are being taken.  And here it comes again.  What on earth am I talking about?  Why Black Friday of course.  That crazy Friday in the US that follows Thanksgiving Day (that is more or less a mythical holiday in itself), which is primary a food consumption day designed mainly to get us off our diets.  Anyway, after a proper Thursday meal many US residents line up at stores on Friday … hours before the sun comes up.  And why?  Because everyone wants a bargain, and “Black Friday” is the day that stores across the US MARK UP their prices.  Fools!  According to the Wall Street Journal last year the average prices of a Sesame Street Elmo plush toy was 31% higher on Black Friday.  A Samsung 46-inch TV was 17% higher. Yes, “Black Friday may be the best time to find incredibly deep discounts on some select items. But quantities are often limited.”  Ain’t marketing great?

Action Tip: Go window shopping a week in advance to find what you want and find the October price.  Make a list.  When you come back on Black Friday you can find the real bargains.  (Veteran shoppers, use ads for only the second half of your investigation.  Use shoe leather for the first round of “window shopping”.)  And if you are really searching for better deals, according to one research organization, the six best shopping days for deals are typically between December 1 and December 15.  Check it out!

Self-Development Corner: Many of our readers are heavily involved in the computer world.  For those of you seeking to further (or begin) your computer career, here are some computer tracks (series of courses) offered by Coursera, the Online, Free University: Computer Science Theory; Computer Science: Programming & Software Engineering; Computer Science: Systems, Security, Networking; Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Vision or for something different, switch over to MIT/Harvard/UC Berkeley and try one of their 4 computer courses.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.