I have an idea. I think I’ll eat more than my stomach can handle and then refuse to go to bed that night. This would describe November 24 (and 25th) for about 15% of the country. Just for a nice shopping spree.

Normal people on Thanksgiving spend quality time with family and friends, stuffing their stomachs with delicious turkey (also stuffed with stuffing). Black Friday makes you lug around all those leftovers in your belly…and maybe your old grandma who definitely should be home in bed. Now she’s complaining that it’s too late to shop and you’re stuck with her outside of Best Buy.

According to History Channel’s website, the term “Black Friday” was first used to define a financial crisis on September 24, 1869 which crashed the U.S gold market. Jay Gould and Jim Fisk were two scandalous Wall Street financiers. They bought as much of the nation’s gold that they could get their hands on. When the price went through the roof, they sold it all, bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers. The aftermath of Gould and Fisk actions dropped the stock market about 20%. They made the stock market go into a freefall, causing people to call it “Black Friday.”  With the help of some really good attorneys, the two were somehow able to not spend a night in jail.

In 1961 the term “Black Friday” really caught on. The merchants and booster unsuccessfully tried to change it to “Big Friday” to get rid of the negative connotation. In the late 1980s retailers found a way to give “Black Friday” a positive impact. They decided to focus on the “red to black” method. At the beginning of each year, businesses are “in the red,” but Black Friday begins the time when they finally earn a profit (“go into the black”) the day after Thanksgiving. Shoppers blow so much money on the holiday sales, businesses move from red (debt) to black.

According to the Daily Bulletin, more than one-third of Americans hate Black Friday. BestBlack-Friday.com shows that 35.1% of Americans disdain the idea of shopping after celebrating Thanksgiving. The same site said 50.7% of America’s population think the event is “just okay.”

The average Black Friday shopper usually spends about $300. One of the most popular items sold are TVs. If you enter Walmart, Target, or Best Buy,  you’ll see that the television aisle will be stacked with these magical picture boxes. According to Bankrate.com, other extremely popular products include tablets, laptops, basically all Apple products, games and consoles, and vacuums.

Black Friday is also known for its outrageous crowds. We’ve all seen those videos or photos where people are trampling each other to get into Target. Due to online shopping on Cyber Monday becoming more popular, the crazy hordes of people have gone down.

These amazing bargains supposedly give shoppers more for their money. Many people are left with empty wallets and full stomachs by the end of the night/morning. This shopping spree leaves most of us wondering, “Why would you ever do this?”