Godfrey's Gospel: ‘Black Friday’ deals are not really bargains at all

I OFTEN complain about the fact that the ‘friendly’ tag we Irish so enjoy talking about is really a myth. Tourists come here thinking all they have to do is show up and suddenly everyone will be their best friend, willing to offer a helping hand in a crisis and go that extra mile for a complete stranger.

I know a wonderful story of a Hollywood film star who came to Ireland to get away from it all during a time of personal crisis and did, in fact, meet a complete stranger who did go that extra mile and now, nearly 30 years later, they are still best friends.

Sadly – for me – I have never had the opportunity to write that story. First, if I did, I would lose the friendship of the person who told me that story – and any money I would get for writing it would not make up for that. Second, I also have no doubt both parties to that chance meeting at an Irish airport would deny the incident ever took place.

However, whenever I am ticked off when people ignore others in a crisis or a minor inconvenience, when a helping hand could make all the difference, I think back to that story to generate a smile.

We are coming up to Christmas – God, I both love and hate this time of year: I love it because of the colour and festive spirit it brings out in all of us and hate it because of the stupid behaviour and downright inconsiderate attitude of people and, hopefully, this year I won’t be too disappointed.

By ‘disappointment’ I mean when I see people travel the length and breadth of the country in search of a ‘deal’ for a gift, when all the time the gift is on sale on their own doorstep, often at the same price. I agree it is important to get value for money, but it is also important to know what side your bread is buttered on. I am talking about all the advertisements bombarding us for the past couple of weeks about the super ‘deals’ that will be available on ‘Black Friday’.

That tradition began in America, where retailers displayed special offers at the end of November to kickstart the shopping season. Naturally, the trend has extended across the Atlantic, but as usual the marketing people on this side of the ocean have borrowed that time slot to such an extent that ‘Black Friday’ seems to be happening every weekend.

A retailer gave me a heads-up on all these so-called deals some time ago when explaining that often – not always – these special offers are really last year’s stock which they haven’t managed to shift and that the bargain really isn’t the bargain you think it is.

Shopping around is a good thing; I did it recently when it came to the renewal of car insurance. For 14 years I had insurance with Liberty Insurance, or whatever they are now called, but when the renewal notice came through the door, I decided to shop around and, guess what, I found a better policy – I didn’t, but Abbey Insurance on Tullow Street did – for a quarter of the price for me. It was on my doorstep all the time, but I was too lazy and sold on the idea of doing things on the internet to get a 10% discount and wasted several thousand euro as a result.

I’m not saying everyone will be as lucky as I was in that instance, but truly, when you take all the hidden expense of travelling elsewhere for that deal, it really isn’t as good a deal as we think it is.

Every local retailer, no matter what they are selling, deserves a shot at a sale. But remember, they also must make a profit to cover their expenses. Most will tell you that they are not out to make a killing; all they want to do is make a living for themselves and their employees.

Anyone who has ever dealt with ‘Joe Public’ will tell you there are far easier ways to make a living. The reality is that we have all become too demanding, inconsiderate and, at times, downright rude to those ‘serving’ us.

We have got too used to the faceless and emotionless laptop, acting on behalf of a faceless organisation which is probably located on the far side of the world, pays a pittance to its workforce and contributes nothing to where we live, making it easy to charge less for goods which they will not have to stand over if and when something goes wrong.

I was thrilled to see Dooley Motors celebrate 35 years in business last week. They are not the only family business in this area who have stood the test of time and continue to provide an invaluable service to the public. They and all the other family businesses have done so because their word means something. We know and trust them and, while we may not always get our way, we know there is someone we can talk to when we do have a problem and nine times out of ten they will help us.

We may not always get our own way but more often than not, these businesses we take for granted will meet us halfway.