Consumerism at its worst. It’s difficult to find any other words more suiting to describe a day (or an entire weekend) filled with boisterous merriment and fantastic deals.

So this past Friday, when millions were waiting in line at Walmart to be trampled by a million others, I was not at home watching a movie and enjoying some hot cocoa as I should have been. Instead, I walked out of my house and went to Sawgrass Mills Mall because my cousins that traveled from Aruba in time for Black Friday wanted to go; it was granted as the biggest mistake of my life.

I didn’t shop anyways; I spent most of the time following my cousins around and waiting for them outside, which was bad enough.

I must admit, I was extremely sad I missed out on all the deals that are not available any other day of the year, but what most upsets me is that I could have saved 30% on Friday like any other day without the delight of waiting in, at least, three-hour-long lines.

Black Friday is a religious American holiday that celebrates the joy of the shopping. I’m only, of course, vaguely kidding. To think that some people came from foreign countries to shop for Christmas gifts is more than simply disappointing.

Even more important than how Black Friday originated is what it has become. In a day where people rush to buy things they supposedly need right after giving thanks for what they have, sometimes people end up in situations far worse than what they’ve bargained for.

Now, this is not to say that everyone will get hurt or caught up in a riot, but there were several instances of stabbings and shootings this past weekend that even got the hashtag #WalmartFights trending on Twitter. That should say something to you.

But, of course, because one day of mayhem is not enough, and they couldn’t find a way to conjure up more hours in a day, the solution was to ruin Thanksgiving feasts for many families who had members working since 6 pm that day. Heartwarming, I know.

It’s fascinating to think how so many hundreds of thousands of people could go to malls expecting to find good deals. At least I wasn’t expecting to find anything but misery. You couldn’t pay me enough to waste an entire day of my life to wait in lines simply because I was in some of trance induced by masses of people. Not going to happen. I can contribute to the economy some other day (hello Cyber Monday!).  Even my cousins had enough sense to leave a while after we got to the mall.

Happy Holidays everyone.