Each year, I leave my family and a warm meal earlier and earlier to attend to ungrateful mobs of people jostling one another for savings on holiday shopping.
Thanksgiving is an American holiday meant for people to gather together and celebrate all the things they are grateful for.
The majority of my family lives in upstate New York and I don’t get to see them often, so I appreciate any time that brings so many people close to me together. It’s important for me to recharge with all the people I love.
As someone who works in retail, I’m irritated that stores like Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s continue to open at an earlier time each year.
As if Black Friday wasn’t bad enough, now stores open the day of Thanksgiving, which is outrageous. This sick tradition out-dates me and I can’t remember a time when people didn’t camp outside of big box retailers.
This year, some stores will open from 3 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving Day. That doesn’t even give people enough time to enjoy their turkey.
This consumerist fixation detracts from the meaning of the holiday.
Through the eyes of a customer, Black Friday is the biggest sales day of the year. It also marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
Through the eyes of a sales associate, Black Friday a dreadful night. Retailers work throughout fall to prepare for it and the Christmas season.
On that fateful day, managers assign all associates to stations in different departments. For example, three associates help customers cash out, while others help customers find what they’re looking for.
Meanwhile, more employees clean the dressing rooms where people will throw clothes they don’t want on the floor. It’s our job to put all of the clothes back after the store closes, an arduous and never-ending task.
Employees have to work fast while being precise with the items they’re selling. Stores are opened earlier and close later. Lines are longer from the moment the store opens to the moment the store closes, and customers are more irritable because they all want to be attended to.
No employees are able to escape the storm that has been donned Black Friday.
But this is understandable. Black Friday is a tradition, especially for avid shoppers, and most associates know exactly what they’re signing up for when they apply.
But what I don’t understand is why not let these retailers have one day for themselves on Thanksgiving?
They are constantly working throughout the whole season, and they can’t even spend a few hours with their family to celebrate what they’re thankful for? Stores opening at 3 p.m. is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary.
Thanksgiving is not the day to start your Christmas shopping, that’s what Black Friday is for.
If people do want to shop on Thanksgiving Day, I think stores should open around 7 p.m.
Thanksgiving is a day to be around family and friends and celebrate with a feast, not shop for a holiday that is a month away.
