Wild Black Friday Employee Stories That’ll Make You Go “Whoa, People Are Weird”

Picture this: waiting in line at Best Buy, and instead of chaos, the manager hands out coupons so you get your deal before even stepping inside. Then he grabs a megaphone and says, "We are civil adults here. Act like it or you’re out." They let people in five at a time, no pushing. The dude was so blunt and super clear - no trampling allowed. Best Black Friday line ever? Probably.

Working at a shoe store, this person couldn’t stand all the stolen shoe boxes piling up backstage. To make things worse, every year the store opens earlier, cutting into Thanksgiving evening. Imagine having to rush back home after turkey to be back at work! Now, they refuse to shop that night - retail workers deserve a day off too, seriously.

Early Black Friday shift, works 6am-5pm, only had a granola bar for breakfast. Hunger + nonstop register duty = light-headed disaster. Denied a lunch break at 2pm. At 3pm? Ambulance arrives. Yep, this associate collapsed and probably shocked everyone by rambling about mismatched socks. Spoiler: survived and now works as a bartender (better hours!).

Simple and brutal: someone got punched in the face because they had no clue what a Zhu Zhu Pet was. That’s Black Friday for you - shopping stress makes people lose it over the weirdest stuff.

Starting work on Black Friday in Best Buy with zero training is tough. One lady faked fainting to cut the line, screamed at the manager when caught, and blamed the cashier. Manager threatened to call cops, and the lady ran off as soon as one showed up. Classic wild Black Friday moment!

Oh, the joys of retail! A kid actually pooped on the floor because mom didn’t want to leave and stand in line again. Yep, that happened. Gross - but somehow still Black Friday reality.

Not a crazy story, just props to the retail warriors dealing with the absolute chaos of Black Friday. Hearing all these wild tales turned one commenter off shopping that weekend forever. Can’t say we blame them.

In Canada, Black Friday equals Boxing Day chaos. A sporting goods worker said the hardest thing? Telling customers we’re out of stuff and no, there are no rain checks, no magic delivery from another store for that day. Try telling that to someone who’s ready to wrestle for that last item!

Working Walmart on Black Friday is a survival sport. The store opens early, and setup means putting awesome stuff right in front of customers. One dude literally jumped the crowd into the video game display; games flew everywhere and people scrambled like it was a video game themselves. Older shoppers grabbed carts and ripped games from kids without a second thought. Yikes!

One early morning at a hardware store, a guy got grumpy because the store wasn’t open yet. He started yelling at a 6-foot tall purple cardboard cutout advertising paint. He thought it was being rude and wanted a coupon. Manager just shook their head while this guy kept losing it, demanding discounts from an inanimate object. Seriously, someone buy the guy new glasses.

Rule from the retail trenches: nothing good happens after 2 AM. That applies to shopping too. If you’re out grabbing deals in those wee hours, expect chaos and totally exhausted workers. You’ve been warned!

Target newbie working registers on Black Friday scanned a huge TV box balanced on a cart. Suddenly, the box started tipping over and smacked the customer right on the head. Embarrassing? Yes. But luckily the customer was cool about it. Oops!

Working Black Friday with one arm in a sling is hard enough. This Target worker had to deal with an angry customer screaming ‘racist!’ just because there were no black Barbies on the shelves. Turns out, no one had any, but the drama didn’t stop. Black Friday = stress overload plus wild expectations.

A buddy’s wrist got snapped during Black Friday chaos. Someone pushed him out of the way to grab something, and he went flying over a shopping cart. This wasn’t a big department store - just a clothing shop in a mall. Ouch and yikes.

Working at Walmart, this poor employee was on a massive ladder trying to bring down bikes on sale hanging from the ceiling. Then a crazy crowd rushed past, knocking the ladder sideways. With a death grip, they grabbed the bike and dangled 20 feet up! Rescue took minutes but no injuries. Talk about a near miss!

Crazy shopper food spill and fake fall alert! This guy spilled food on purpose, then slipped back to get a concussion and prepare to sue. Lucky for the store, video proved his stunt and stopped that nonsense. Trying to scam the system on Black Friday? That's dedication (not in a good way).

This lady grabbed the expensive 3D Blu-ray player thinking she could buy it at the DVD player sale price. When told no, she refused to leave the line and screamed at managers until they told the cashier to sell it at the cheaper price. Spoiler: she’s the kind of person who makes shopping unbearable.

On their first Black Friday working the floor, this employee met a guy who camped outside for days, bought tons of stuff, then returned it an hour later. When asked, he said he just does it for the thrill. Yep, weird flex but okay!

Twice this person worked Black Friday at Toys R Us and says it brought out the worst in people. Imagine zombies fighting over toys, folks cutting lines, and customers screaming because the cashier couldn’t leave their register. And all this after barely sleeping. It’s basically a horror show.

Back in college, this worker was handing out tickets for hard-to-get Furbies. Theater-style, highly organized line - until a woman tackled them, knocked them down, and ripped the tickets out of their hand, breaking two fingers! She left fighting with the cops while the manager got decked. All for a Furby, people.

This one is heartbreaking. A tiny woman literally grabbed a Blu-ray player right from the hands of an equally small man, who looked totally sad and helpless about it. Sometimes, Black Friday isn’t just about the deals - it’s all about the feels.

This person worked their very first (and only) Black Friday retail shift and calls it pure hell. Fourteen nonstop hours with a never-ending line of customers literally drove them out of retail for good. No more Black Fridays, thanks!

Imagine your first day at Sears falling on Black Friday. Confused? No coworkers? Not enough training? Now add your car getting stolen during your lunch break. Yep, that really happened. Talk about an unfortunate introduction to retail chaos.

One shopper went full Hulk and ripped a price sign off the wall to prove they were right about an item's cost. The catch? The sign was for a totally different product. Classic move: break it to win it (or just be obnoxious).

When Walmart had its first Black Friday sale, the staff brought out $400 laptops with two cops and massive managers escorting the heavy pallets. The moment boxes came off, people turned into wild animals - clawing, stealing, and wrestling like it was a wildlife documentary. Seriously intense.

Verizon store manager tells of a tough customer whose son lost phone contacts during transfer. Guy flipped out, demanded freebies, and tried to get physical. Manager was 6’2", 230 lbs, and had to warn him off before finally calling police to escort the guy out. Kid lost 8 contacts but dad lost his mind.

Last year, a woman literally went into labor right outside a busy store on Black Friday. Paramedics struggled so much to reach her through the crowd that she almost gave birth right there in the mall. Black Friday just keeps getting crazier!

Imagine leaving a cozy cabin in the mountains only to get to work and find out your boss never needed you that day. Yep, that brutal Black Friday scheduling fail crushed this person way more than any angry shopper could.

At FYE, employees got a rush of customers expecting iPod discounts thanks to a weird newspaper flier. The catch? The sale only applied to stand-alone stores, not the mall location. No one caught this until way too late, so a lot of discounted iPods flew off the shelves thanks to false hope.

Back in the day, a couple of grandmas straight-up got into a fistfight fighting over one of those coveted new generation Furbies. Even older folks can’t resist the madness - that's Black Friday for you.

Not all Black Fridays are horror shows! These shoppers went to Walmart the night before Thanksgiving and were done in 20 minutes with no fights, no camping, and stocked carts loaded with TVs and iPads. Sometimes, Black Friday is actually easy.

Two women duked it out over $10 waffle irons one year. Then on another occasion, two guys fought in a parking lot. The twist? All over a shopping cart. Black Friday turns regular stuff into battle arenas.

It’s almost 3:30 AM at a mall frozen yogurt place, and some guy pays for $10 of yogurt - then just walks out and forgets it. Free dessert for the employee? Yes, please!

At Walmart, waiting in line for one of 11 soundbars, one dude got knocked in the head a bunch during the scramble. They don’t know if he got a soundbar, but hey, Black Friday violence is real. Ouch.

In a total accident, an old lady in an electric wheelchair ran over a 6-year-old kid. The kid wasn’t hurt, but his mom totally lost it. Talk about unexpected Black Friday moments.

Back in 2004, this Best Buy crew worked an 11-hour shift on concrete floors with zero breaks. Standing the whole time. Guess who quit retail soon after? Yep, same person.

This family went all in during Target’s Black Friday. While the parents waited, the kids scattered to find big-ticket deals hidden all over the store and straight-up blocked other shoppers from getting to them. Then they regrouped and snagged the prizes with their cart. Masterminds or just crazy? You decide.

Four Black Fridays in and this worker says it’s not bad, just mentally draining prepping for a 10-hour overnight shift. After 3 AM? The store basically empties and you’re stuck standing there, super sleepy. That’s the true Black Friday challenge.

Not a wild fight, but a funny one: this girl was accidentally left behind by her mom on Black Friday. She just made herself comfy and snoozed inside a tent in the sporting goods section. Hey, gotta make the most of it!

Working the closing shift in kids shoes is no picnic. When you come in, the place looks like a tornado hit it - dozens of missing pairs here and there, leaving you to clean up the Black Friday mess while barely keeping it together yourself.

Fun fact from a firearms salesperson: when you call in background checks, you sometimes just have to guess how many you’re doing! They once guessed about 75. Talk about living on the edge.

Nothing extreme, but a Walmart worker shares being stuck between two displays cutting plastic wraps on movies for 15 minutes during the madhouse. Sometimes it’s the little things that make Black Friday memorable.

One crazy Black Friday tale: an old lady beat the heck out of a man over a $5 coffee maker and he had to get an ambulance. She then bought him the coffee maker and an apology card, gave it to the worker, and dipped out. Sweet revenge, or just wild?

A big woman slammed her cart at checkout and cut in line, then got busted trying to buy expensive items with swapped price tags. The cashier and manager busted her and cops showed up on the spot. Revenge served cold with a side of handcuffs.

First day at Bath and Body Works on Black Friday meant dealing with a tidal wave of menopausal women all having attitude (and lots of it!). Talk about an intense welcome to retail!

Not Black Friday but close enough: on Christmas Eve, a toy store opened and shoppers lost it over one hot action figure. People crowded, shoved, tackled, and even swung mail bags as weapons to snatch this toy. It looked like a WWE event inside the store. Total chaos!