Kaityn Phillips, Staff Writer

Once Thanksgiving has passed and you have eaten all of grandma’s stuffing, it is now time to stuff your pockets with the greatest deals to kick off the holiday season.

Black Friday is originated by the crash of the US gold market in 1869, when two relentless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, worked together to buy as much as they could of the nation’s gold hoping to sell it for astonishing profits.

That Friday, the stock market went into free fall bankrupting everyone on Wall Street. Black Friday gets its name from selling an entire year earning very little “in the red,” while moving “into the black” on Black Friday, earning unbelievable profits, according to the Huffington Post.

Christopher Tingle, professor of marketing and strategy at Utica College, finds Black Friday to be a great event, sharing a few of his tips and knowledge in order to shop successfully.

“Using a debit card is probably the worst thing you can do on Black Friday, whereas using a credit card is probably the best thing you can do,” Tingle said. “In all of the chaos, the chances of a cashier’s mistake or a POS error are much higher than any other day. If you are paying for something and you are overcharged on your debit card, it could take a few days (or weeks) for that money to end up back in your bank account.”

Black Friday can bring out the worst in people, and it is best to keep a few things in mind when paying for items, Tingle said.

While there will be increased security at every store, carrying cash on a day like Black Friday is just simply not a smart thing to do. Anyone who has ever worked in retail, or any part of the service industry can tell you that Christmas is definitely not the most wonderful time of the year.

Junior Jenessa McCabe thinks the “holiday” is a bit selfish because Thanksgiving should not be rushed to toe the line of a department store.

“I think that Black Friday is just an excuse for a department store to get your money,” McCabe said. “Half of the time all the deals are the same for the next few days after Black Friday, so what’s the point of all the hype?”

McCabe believes that on a day where we should be thankful, we should not be rushing out the door and forget about the holiday.

“I love Thanksgiving because it’s a day full of family and friends being thankful for what we have,” she said. “I don’t think that our plans with loved ones should be cut short to wait in a line. It’s a bit absurd in my opinion because most of the time people are just buying things for themselves.”