Here at The Neighborhood Crime Map, we want to keep you safe over this Thanksgiving holiday. Not only do we want to make sure that, if you are traveling, you secure your home before you leave and take other precautionary measures (as outlined in this nifty Prevention Works blog post), but we want to make you will be safe on the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.
So here is a list of things you can do to ensure that you can stay safe and unhurt as you battle the hordes of deal-hunting shoppers lined up outside the mall at 3am.
Cardio
If you haven’t already been training for the last few months, this advice may be lost on you, but make sure you’re in shape for the big day. That 70-year-old in the walker may look slow, but when it’s you against her in a battle over the last talking, Disney Princess, Sleeping Beauty doll on the shelf, for your daughter or her granddaughter, you better have the speed, agility, and stamina to be the victor when the security guard finally peels the two of you apart.
An intensive running and aerobics routine might just give you the edge you need. Accompanied by strength training and a good ju-jitsu course, you’ll have the trifecta for Black Friday Success.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Sleep deprivation is the silent killer, folks. A marathon day of shopping and battling the consumer hordes takes a toll on the system and the last thing you need is to be trampled by a mall stampede when the doors open at 3am just because you didn’t have the foresight to take a tryptophan-induced nap after dinner the day before. You’ll need all the energy you can get, get some Zs before you hit the linoleum.
Practice Makes Perfect
You’re less likely to be injured in a shopping cart collision while making an unsafe u-turn if you’ve made a plan and you know where you’re going. Visit the stores you want to hit a few days before and map out a route. Some stores like WalMart even provide individual store maps just for Black Friday.
Practice your route a handful of times so that the route becomes second nature, thus lessening your chances of a collision or missing that Miley Cyrus salad bowl your 11-year-old girl has been dreaming about.
Implement Shopper Awareness
Too many shoppers are injured each year because of timid shopping cart driving. Just like they taught you in drivers-ed so many years ago, timid drivers cause just as many accidents as aggressive drivers. Know where you are going, beware of shoppers around you, and make sure you are signaling properly and often.
Make your intentions known to other shoppers by calling out “dibs” once you are in sight of the nose hair trimmer you’re getting for Uncle Louis. And as always, don’t let other shoppers box you in or elbow you out of the way. If you are confident and take control of your cart, others will respect you, and get out of your way.
Strategy
There is nothing that will stir up more shopper-rage than waiting in a long, slow-moving line at the checkout. Channel your anger instead toward a strategy to avoid those lines.
If you’ve brought children along (preferably in the 12-18 age range, thus avoiding diaper changes and short legs) send them to multiple lines with one item each. Whoever gets to the checker fastest is the winner, and everyone else can converge on that spot. This is both an economical use of time as well as a fun family activity that will abate your frustration and get you out of that store and into the next as quickly as possible.
Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving 
Search your neighborhood crime map at CrimeReports.com
