Chapter One: First-Timer
Disclaimer: I do not own Jim, Pam, or any other “The Office” characters that may show up.
“Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get up!” Jim rolled over at the sound of Pam’s voice, and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost impossible to believe the numbers on the small screen. 4:00. In the morning. He turned again to face Pam, who was standing next to the bed not only awake, but also fully dressed.
“Jim, you said you’d go shopping with me! Come on! We’re going to be late.”
“Late? It’s 4:00 in the morning!” Jim now remembered his agreement with Pam from the day before. Before they left her parent’s house for the two hour drive back, as Jim was on the couch filled with triptophan, Pam had asked him if he would like to come shopping with her the next morning. And he stupidly said that he would, not thinking about what “going shopping” on the day after Thanksgiving truly meant. “I said I would go shopping with you in the morning. It is clearly still nighttime out there.” Jim said, trying to talk himself out of having to keep his promise.
“Not on Black Friday it isn’t! Now come on, we’re leaving in like 15 minutes.” Pam said, and headed to the kitchen.
Accepting defeat, Jim managed to pull himself out of bed and get dressed, albeit not very well. He then met Pam in the kitchen as she handed him a travel mug of coffee.
“Remind me why we’re doing this again...” he muttered as he shuffled into the kitchen and sat at the table.
“Because this is when we can get the best deals. My mom and I used to do this every year when I was a teenager.” Pam replied, without an ounce of tiredness in her voice.
“I never took you to be an “obsessive shopper” kind of girl.” Jim said. “Are you turning into Kelly on me?”
Pam playfully smacked Jim on the back of the head. “No...but everybody’s a shop-a-holic on Black Friday. It’s like being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”
“But all that does is give you a license to get drunk. This requires an extreme loss of sleep.” Jim pointed out.
Pam grabbed Jim’s wrist and pulled him to his feet. “You’ll have fun, I promise.”
As Pam drove through the dark Scranton streets, Jim’s coffee finally started to kick in and he began to wake up, albeit only slightly. The radio was tuned to a station only playing holiday music, and the peppy rendition of “Jingle Bells” didn’t seem to fit with a drive to some store at 4:15 in the morning. As Pam approached their destination, apparently the local Target, Jim was amazed to see there were already several cars in the parking lot. Their owners were currently lined up outside the store’s main doors.
“There’s no way there’s this many crazy people here.” Jim said.
“Just wait-there will be more. We’re a bit early.” Pam turned off the car and gathered up the various fliers and coupons she had brought with her.
“You think so? What time does the store actually open, Pam?” Jim asked as he and Pam headed across the parking lot.
Pam pulled out her flier again. “5:00.” she said.
Jim stopped short. “Um, Pam? If the store doesn’t open until 5, why are we here at 4:15?”
“To get a good spot in line. We have to make sure we get a cart.”
“Wait...there’s a possibility of not getting a cart at 5 am?” Jim was genuinely puzzled. Every time he had visited Target before, no matter how crowded, there was always a surplus of carts. They were bunched up outside the store and rolled through the parking lot, often just missing his car. And that was in the middle of the day. How on Earth could the store run out of carts at 5 am?
“Oh, Jim. You have so much to learn.” Pam laughed as they approached the line, which extended from the door and lasted about half the store’s length. She and Jim took their place in line, Pam waving happily to the people in front of them as Jim slumped against the wall.
“You know those people?” he asked.
Pam shook her head. “No. It’s just the spirit of Black Friday. You get to know the people in line with you.”
“Well, I would think so...getting here 45 minutes early.” Jim said.
A woman in front of them turned and looked at Jim. “First timer?” she asked, shifting her gaze to Pam.
Pam laughed and nodded, and the woman smiled. “I wish I could get my husband to come do this with me. What’s your secret?”
“She asked me right after Thanksgiving dinner. I was too full to think straight.” Jim answered.
The woman then pulled out her own flier, and she and Pam started comparing what sales they were going to take advantage of. Jim turned around and saw that about 5 more people had gotten in line behind them. He tried to count the number of people in the line, but lost track around 25 or 30 although he was certain there were many more. He was pulled back into reality by Pam’s voice. “Did you get that, Jim?”
“Get what?”
“Our plan. When we get into the store, you grab a cart and head straight to electronics and get this” Pam handed him a piece torn from her flier with a picture of a digital camera on it, which apparently was marked down quite a bit. “I’m going to get the rest of the stuff, but we have to attack electronics first! And remember, if you see anything in the aisle, grab it! We’ll decide if we need it later.”
Now it was Jim’s turn to laugh. “We have to attack electronics? Are we planning a military operation?”
“Jim, this is serious. We need a plan!”
“Why can’t we just do what we always do when we go to Target-walk around the store and if we see something we like we grab it?”
The woman in front of them laughed. “Wow, he really is a first timer.”
Jim turned around again, and noticed the line now extended the entire length of the store. Amazed at how the line had doubled in size in such little time, he turned back to Pam and said “When the hell did they all get here?”
“See why we came so early?” Pam leaned a bit to her left to see around the other people in the line. Jim noticed that most others in the line were doing the same. “I think they’re opening soon.”
“I hope so...I can’t feel my hands anymore.” As Jim spoke, the line began to move very quickly towards the doors. He had to struggle to keep up with Pam as she and the rest of the shoppers hurried excitedly to the entrance. This was going to be a very long morning.
Chapter End Notes:
Next up: Jim attacks electronics!
