I’m a fan of holidays. Getting to spend time with my family is one of my favorite things about the holidays. It’s something I look forward to every year. I enjoy getting to sit around a table with my family, talking about everything that’s happened the last few months and eating delicious food we worked hard to make. Even watching sports doesn’t make me mad as long as I’m with my family … most of the time, at least.
So the new tradition of shops and stores opening up early on Thanksgiving upsets me.
First off, it’s called Black Friday for a reason. The shopping was meant to be done on a Friday. Not 7:30 on Thanksgiving night. Retail workers don’t necessarily want to be working. They mostly want to be with their families, enjoying the time with them.
When I think of 7:30 Thanksgiving night, I think about curling up on the couch and trying not to fall asleep from all the food I ate a few hours earlier. I’m not thinking about going out and standing in the cold to try and get into a store.
Employees don’t really have a say in the hours they work. They work what they’re given or they can get fired. So if an employee is told that they have to come in at midnight, they have no choice.
Almost as bad as working late on Thanksgiving or early on Friday is working a closing shift the day before Thanksgiving. While there may not be as many people coming into the store, it’s up to the employees to make sure the store looks spotless and to make sure everything is in its proper place. All for everything to get messed up when the sales start.
There are some stores that understand Thanksgiving is about spending time with family. Some stores refuse to open on Thanksgiving, mostly citing that they want their employees to spend time with their families and even want their customers to spend time with their families.
When I was in high school, my first job was a sales associate at Carter’s, a baby clothing store in the strip mall by my house. That year, I worked the closing shift the day before Thanksgiving, worked a closing shift on Black Friday, and did another closing shift that Saturday as well. I thought working on Black Friday would be like all of my other shifts, where I’d come in and my manager would end up sending me home halfway through.
Instead, I worked a full four hour shift Wednesday night, a seven hour shift Black Friday and worked six hours the next night. While I was happy I was getting hours, I had time with my family cut down because my family drove up to my grandparents’ house early Thanksgiving morning and left early that Friday so I could work. And while I got breaks while I was working, I came home tired, hungry and upset at the way some of the customers treated me.
So, as you wait outside of a store Thanksgiving night, waiting for the managers to open the doors, think about the employees who are giving up time to spend with their families to serve you.
Respond Lauren at
