Me? Shop on Thanksgiving? No thanks.

    Recently I came across this image on the internet and made it my profile picture on Facebook, which sparked quite the controversy with not only my friends but several of my other friends who re-posted said picture.

    Basically, its my pledge not to go shopping on Thanksgiving for the "Black Friday" sales. (or as some retail places call it, "Green Friday" since that sounds better, and well, they are making money hand over fist.) Before I rant, let me just say that I've never really understood the whole Black Friday fiasco. Don't get me wrong, like most people in this piss-poor economy I like to save money, especially on things I really want or need. When I want something, I will price shop, look around, see who has the best deal and if its online who has the cheapest shipping. What I don't understand is waiting in line (sometimes for hours on end, in bad weather) for something that in the end doesn't mean squat. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of crowds anyways... but I digress!

    Growing up, I didn't even know about Black Friday, and who knows maybe it wasn't such a big deal back then. The day after Thanksgiving was always about two things: eating awesome left overs (my mom was an awesome cook!) and starting to decorate for Christmas. When I was older, say, high school age, I would hear about women beating each other senseless for some random dumb thing or another (like a Life-Size Barbie) but again, it wasn't really anything I ever really cared about.

Look at these people. LET ME IN, I GOTTA GET MY CHEAP CRAP!

   My first big Black Friday experience was after high school at my first retail job. If I remember correctly, we opened our doors at about 6 in the morning, and people came rushing in looking for the deals. I was working at a rather high-end department store, so it really wasn't that bad, but it still left me wondering, what the hell was all that noise? Why do people care about some item that actually was cheaper a few months ago, but that was marked up and now the "sale" makes it look cheap again?

   My biggest and worst experience with Black Friday was the first one I ever worked at "popular electronics store franchise" where we also opened super early. I remember having to be there at 2am, since I had to leave an out of state Thanksgiving dinner with my family early so I had enough time to rest before opening. It was crazy! People were waiting outside in the cold, and as soon as they opened they began pushing each other, fighting over the most stupid things. Sure, some people got an awesome deal on something, but guess what? Most of those things they bought are now outdated. They probably ended up in the trash, at a Goodwill somewhere, or probably sold at a garage sale for super cheap.  And guess what? In the end, its just stuff. Stuff ya don't take with you.

Welcome to the start of the TRUE American holiday, Consumer-mas!

    Now this year I hear a lot of stores are opening ON THANKSGIVING. I don't work retail anymore, but am currently working with retail associates as a 3rd party vendor, and they just found out at one of my locations they will be opening at 8pm on Thanksgiving day.  People might say, "Oh 8pm isn't THAT bad! That's at night!" Well, guess what time most of those workers have to be there? 5pm if not EARLIER. That's right, just about the time that most people will be having Thanksgiving dinner.  So many people are pretty upset, even with the time-and-a-half pay that they either have to skip Thanksgiving all-together, or have it earlier in the day.  For their sakes, I hope none of them have to host a Thanksgiving meal that day. I did it one year, and it took all flippin' day just to make what I needed, and I didn't have to work at night!

    "But April," you may say "what about those people who are poor and need that time and a half pay?"  Granted, of the people I've talked to there are a few people who are excited for the extra pay, or even working on the holiday. But let me tell you a story.... my first retail management job I had at "popular video rental location" I had the choice of either working on Thanksgiving or working on Christmas.  Since I knew we were going out of town for Thanksgiving I decided to take the Christmas shift instead.  I woke up early that morning, opened presents with my family, then drove into work. Needless to say, it was not a long shift, but I hated it. People kept coming up to me with videos saying things like "Oh, I can't believe you are open today!" or "Wow, I can't believe they made you work today!"  It was really hard to bite my tongue because the reason I was there was because of people like them. If they wouldn't have been in the store in the first place purchasing things, higher-ups would not have seen that being open on a holiday still brings in the money.

    For what its worth, sure I got paid well that day, but if I would have known that would have been one of the last Christmases I would have had with my mother, I wouldn't have gone. I much rather would have spent that time with family, and not checking out some weirdo who just HAD to rent the animated Transformers movie on Christmas day. But instead I worked, and I missed out on spending one of the last holidays we would have had as a whole family.

  "Outta my way, bitch! I gotta get to Wal*Mart to get me some CHEAP SHOES!"

    "But April," you may say again, "I've worked retail and we've always known that you have to work on Black Friday. Its just part of what comes with working there."  True, true. One of the parts about working retail is pretty much everyone has to work on Black Friday at some time or another. But as I said previously, some stores didn't know they were even opening on Thanksgiving day until just a few days ago.  Many people's plans got ruined, and sadly for most people quitting just isn't an option. What people don't realize is that its not just "generic teenager" or "generic college student" that works retail. In the past few years I've come across a lot of single parents needing the money, a husband or wife who had to pick up the job to be able to pay the mortgage, retired people who can't afford to live off the $300 dollars they get from Social Security, people who have to work for the insurance or to help pay off medical bills, and a whole hell of a lot of people who are just trying to make ends meet. So when you think about the poor people working on Thanksgiving or even Black Friday, remember that they are still PEOPLE just like you. Human. Beings.

    What really grinds my gears is the people who make these hours are generally not the people at the store level, they are at the corporate level, and they don't usually have to work those hours themselves. In fact, I'm sure about 90% of the people whose wise ideas it was for stores to open on Thanksgiving will be at home eating dinner, spending time with their families when their stores open.  They see that Black Friday brings in the money (sometimes in the millions at one store alone) so they keep opening the stores earlier and earlier. All because of money, and all because of greed.  Sure, the employees (generally) get paid well, but at what cost? When you are shopping on Thanksgiving, you are basically telling the employees that your cheap crap is more important than their lives, their memories, and their family.

   I know writing this isn't going to stop anyone from shopping on Black Friday or even Thanksgiving, and I know there are some families out there that have made shopping on Black Friday a part of their family tradition. I just know that I will not be one of the people out there shopping, unless it is for some kind of medical emergency or basic necessity. I just would like people to think about if for them its really worth it. Yes, there will be stores open this year on Thanksgiving and there isn't anything we can do to stop it, and yes it still sucks. But maybe if enough people let it be known to corporate America that being open on a holiday is not worth it, perhaps next year they will reconsider when Black Friday should really start.

 I feel your pain, poorly sketched cartoon people.

   Or, knowing how things are going, a few years from now it will be a common-place for stores to be open on Thanksgiving morning. "Shop the early bird deals before you start cooking!" Or even better, "Who needs Christmas?! Come to Wal*Mart at 5am to get some really sweet deals!" I really truly hope that things don't ever come to that, because lets face it, it is already a sad enough world we live in.  Corporate America is all about greed, and we as consumers are just buying into it.  I still hold out hope though, that maybe next year, things will be better.

EDIT: I mentioned this on my most recent post but I was wrong about the store I am working with this year opening at 8pm on Thanksgiving. (Yes, from time to time I can be wrong!) Instead, they are opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving due to "having to compete with other stores opening on Thanksgiving." You know what that means? Workers have to be there to set up around 2-3pm on Thanksgiving, way before any meal time. Think thats not so bad? This store is also staying open crazy hours all weekend. Several employees I talked to said they aren't even able to have a proper Thanksgiving this year, and others had to just move it to another day when they weren't working next week or a few weeks after. Kind of defeats the point of even having a holiday, don't ya think?