Mini Black Monday

Is MLK Day a big shopping day and I just didn't know it? I missed the memo somewhere since I am neither a shopper by inclination or a couponista by hobby, I guess. Yesterday afternoon I decided to take the kids out for a hike at one of Maricopa's regional parks. Now it was busy there too, but I expected it to be. January is one of the few times of the year that you can go hiking in Phoenix during the day. We managed to find an empty parking spot not too far from the trailhead (major luck) and struck out on an "everyone" rated hike. M, J & B ran ahead, pretending they were on a rollercoaster. (I remember doing the same thing as a kid with my sisters.) K hitched a ride in one of those baby backpacks; I was hoping to burn a few extra calories while I was at it. Holy moly, that boy is getting heavy! Anyway we made it up and down the trail, almost 3 miles I think. The kids did great-- though M dragged all the way back downhill, finally sprawling down in the dirt just ten feet from the car and saying that she couldn't go another step. (Which of course prompted every other child to do the same. When they got in the car they were all covered head to foot in dust.) As a reward for surviving the hundred hour hike (in J's words), I decided to drop by Walmart and let them pick out a treat while I grabbed a few things I needed for dinner.

My first clue that all was not normal for a Monday evening in Walmart was nearly getting run over by two employees with a cart full of toys. What the heck??? Then I spotted a dad and son with their own cart full of toys. "Wow, they really go all out for birthdays!" was my thought. But then, while we made the mandatory bathroom stop I heard the announcement over the intercom. Apparently Walmart was selling all their clearance toys for $1 each. Supposedly all these toys were in the front of the store, so the kids and I made our way back to the front and I told them they could each pick out a toy for their hike survival treat.

Except that when we got up front there was nothing left except for a hoard of shoppers with completely filled carts. An employee was telling the shoppers that there were more clearance toys back in the toy department, and I kid you not, we nearly got run over by people rushing to get back there. I felt a bit like I had strayed into the middle of a stampede! This is exactly the kind of thing I stay home on Black Friday to avoid at all costs.

It put me in a very bad mood.

By the time we had grabbed our other things and made our way to the front of the store, the lines were horrendously long. I ended up joining the queue for the self-checkout lines (like anyone else who had less than fifty gazillion toys in their cart). Still, it took me forever to get out of the store. The poor guy in front of me in line was just waiting to buy french bread for dinner. He kept looking around in bewilderment, finally asking me if Walmart was having some kind of blowout or something.

Or something. I wish Walmart had put up a warning sign out front, letting me know that this was a shopping madness evening. They could have even done it under the guise of advertising their big sale, but at least I would have known to stay far, far away on MLK Day!