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RPG Deals 11/15 – 11/21

By Russ | November 15, 2015 at 9:26 pm

Star Wars: Battlefront release this week, so f*** all to everything else, amiright?

Not quite. Toys R Us may be holding a BOGO sale on Xbox and Playstation titles to the tune of one game full price; the lesser value game 40% off.

Some Black Friday deals have been released. Looks like quite a few systems on sale, and some of the games released earlier this year will be down in price. It’s about this time I start posting my advice for Black Friday, and this year it’s time to get personal.

I’ve worked retail and food service jobs for the better part of my adult life, and every year I’ve worked retail it has gotten a little worse. It’s to the point where Black Friday disgusts me. I believe the holiday season is bad for the US economy as a whole. I still post deals because I like to save money – but it’s pretty obvious from reading my columns my enthusiasm died down a couple of years back when I had to rejoin the retail work force after losing a decently paying desk job. Thus, my premier advice on Black Friday is simply to ignore it. I won’t tell you to ignore Christmas and other festivities here, but this whole shopping frenzy the United States has embraced is terrible. For its employees, it’s beyond terrible. Working retail and genuinely becoming sick on Black Friday weekend is immediate grounds for dismissal at many places unless you have a doctor’s excuse – and good luck grabbing one of those for a short-lived flu (especially on a low or fixed income). That’s not even mentioning the increased stress of an already stressful job.

If you must go out on Black Friday for reasons beyond employment, take care when traveling. Be sure to treat employees as human beings; barring the employee treating you as less of one. Obey any rules for obtaining merchandise and try to research beforehand how to obtain merchandise. The fault of not getting an item because you were incapable of paying attention falls squarely on you. Don’t blame the employees for not having an item in stock – this is Capitalism in action and if you don’t like it vote differently at the polls next time. It’s a busy day full of bullshit and you’ll need hip waders.

Everyone needs to take a little extra care of themselves during the shopping season, because every year I see less people doing it for themselves and others. Use extra caution, please.

Thank you,

Russell Ritchey

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