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They are already expecting extremely poor numbers in sales and the push is on. Some stores had a black friday a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if anyone noticed. I got a few ads in the mail and thought it was strange I was getting ads so early, then I found out some stores were having an early black friday. I worked at a big box retailer for a few years and at that time the retailer gave employees Thanksgiving off. I worked nights so I got off work Thanksgiving morning. We worked like slaves all night long setting the store up for black friday. Pulling overloaded pallets to the floor, managers yelling at you all night long. It was hell. At the end of the shift the manager would have a meeting at the front of store. Just when you thought you survived the night, it wasn't over. This is where he bullied employees into staying longer. He would say things like if we chose to leave we would not be considered team players, heavily implying a write up or firing. For the ones that were terrified they stayed, for those of us that knew our legal rights we left. They had a manager stationed at the time clock blocking it and you would have to ask him to step aside. Then they had a manager at the front blocking the locked door. You had to ask him or her to unlock the door for you. All the while they told you how disappointed they were in you and how you failed the team. I really feel bad for the retail employees. If retail over takes Thanksgiving then you will start hearing jingle bells right after the back to school sale. Ugh.
There is nothing, NOTHING, that I need so badly that I will fight the hordes at the mall on Black Friday. I have NEVER NEVER NEVER gone Christmas shopping on Black Friday, so needless to say, I will NOT be heading out to shop on Thanksigiving evening either!
Quote:
Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder says the decision to open earlier is due to consumer desire. "We have heard from our guests that they want to shop Target following their Thanksgiving celebrations rather than only having the option of getting up in the middle of the night," she says, adding that the store does its "best to work around the schedules of our team members."
Sorry, Target SpokesLady, but I must run around in different social circles than your "guests". NOBODY I know is itchin' to jump up from their Thanksgiving table and head out to do their Christmas shopping. I feel SO sorry for those who work in retail these days. Hate to sound like an old you-know-what, but as a boomer, I remember when stores were CLOSED on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, and people got to enjoy the holidays with their families. I know the economy is tough and stores are competing for every last one of our consumer dollars, but still...
And while I'm at it...
<Beginning of Grinch rant>...it should be a law that Christmas music can NOT be played on the radio before Thanksgiving. Same with Christmas decorations. Harrumph! <End of Grinch rant>
I work retail on overnights and I hate the holidays period, because of the all-consuming stress that seems to permeate my life for a month to two months out of every year for it. That said, I am okay with working on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and other holidays since it's an excuse to get away from a somewhat toxic family, as horrible as it sounds. Plus I knew going into it what it would be like. But I understand other retail workers who want to be with family and I'm sort of on their side that way. I just can't understand people who go shopping after eating half their body-weight in food and probably drinking even more. That just doesn't sound like a good way to end Thanksgiving but maybe that's just me.
I just can't understand people who go shopping after eating half their body-weight in food and probably drinking even more. That just doesn't sound like a good way to end Thanksgiving but maybe that's just me.
Not everyone spends Thanksgiving the same way you do. As an example, I've spent many years living away from family, and during those years Thanksgiving was little more than a day off from work and some horrible Detroit Lions football. While I'm not a shopper, I can imagine that there are many people for whom shopping (or browsing) may be a happy diversion on a holiday that may not offer them a lot. And yes, there are the people who do gorge on Thanksgiving and love to shop too. So what? That's what makes them happy and they enjoy it. I just don't get all the whining about what other people do.
Count me in as one of those people who abhors the whole notion of Black Friday. I won't go anywhere near a store on that day and no discounts are worth fighting crowds or getting up early (or staying up late as the case may be this year). I really feel sorry for the retail employees who are having their Thanksgiving disrupted by this mass commercialization of the holidays.
I do plan to support Shop Small Saturday and will head out to a few local stores to pick up a few things for family gifts.
I work for a Wal Mart vendor. I am happy it opens up Thursday night. Since I don't begin work at 6 am, I know it will be a mess, but I am hoping and thinking it won't be too chaotc by the time I start work.
As for the shopping on Thanksgiving, I don't see a problem with it. People can eat iin the early afternoon, relax with the family, take a nap in the evening, and then hit the stores for a late night of shopping. They can be home by 5 am and sleep into the afternoon. It is better than staying up for 24 hours+ or going to bed at 5 pm to get up to go shopping in the middle of the night.
I think EXTENDED Black Friday days (before or after the actual day) muddies up the whole concept.
If they are going to have these sales for days on end, then it is Holiday sales....not a special day set aside. Same is true for Cyber Monday.
To have these sales on Thanksgiving only means a whole lot of people can't be home for the holiday because they have to work. Consumers should stay home and let the stores know they don't approve.
I'll be in the woods deer hunting with relatives on black friday. I avoid the stores like a plague on black friday. Why anyone would want to subject themselves to that kind of misery to save a few dollars on useless junk is beyond me. It sickens me to see people stuck working on these holidays too if they don't want to.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Looks like we already have a violent exchange.
Black Friday fight leads to shooting in North Carolina | WHAS11.com Louisville (http://www.whas11.com/news/Black-Friday-fight-leads-to-shooting-in-North-Carolina-134485738.html - broken link)
I will not and have never shopped on Black Friday.
The best deals are the day AFTER Christmas, when the STORES are in a panic to unload all of that stuff before inventory tax time...
The whole drive to get the latest-newest-better-gotta-have-it-NOW, no matter who is standing in the way or what the item is, to me is just artificially-induced hysteria. Fortunately, my children are all rational people too, and they appreciate the days off work, by spending them with loved ones and friends. One rule at our houses and in our lives - NO DRAMA.
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I worked at a big box retailer for a few years and at that time the retailer gave employees Thanksgiving off. I worked nights so I got off work Thanksgiving morning. We worked like slaves all night long setting the store up for black friday. Pulling overloaded pallets to the floor, managers yelling at you all night long. It was hell. At the end of the shift the manager would have a meeting at the front of store. Just when you thought you survived the night, it wasn't over. This is where he bullied employees into staying longer. He would say things like if we chose to leave we would not be considered team players, heavily implying a write up or firing. For the ones that were terrified they stayed, for those of us that knew our legal rights we left. They had a manager stationed at the time clock blocking it and you would have to ask him to step aside. Then they had a manager at the front blocking the locked door. You had to ask him or her to unlock the door for you. All the while they told you how disappointed they were in you and how you failed the team. 
