Dear Target,
You know I love you. You know I shop there a lot. We have a family of 10, and that means we frequently stock up on life’s many essentials with you perched at the top of our list. Also, all of our prescriptions are filled by your pharmacy.
We are not casual customers. We know many of the employees by name and they know ours. I love walking through the doors expecting to see familiar smiling faces and great quality for the price.
But it was with huge disappointment I learned you will be opening at midnight on Black Friday. Your employees must report to work at 11pm on Thanksgiving Day. This seems like such a Wal Mart move to make. It’s ugly. It’s trashy. It’s calculated to encroach on a day of rest, tradition, family, and reflection. Your employees will have to leave their celebrations and observances to sleep so they’ll be able to work an ungodly hours their bodies aren’t used to working.
I noticed one of your managers stated in a news story: “I don’t like the fact I have to come in on Thanskgiving, but when you work in retail it’s the nature of the beast,†Schuknecht said. “I understand the value of it. Our traffic has been tremendous.â€
But he’s wrong. It isn’t the nature of the beast. There isn’t some mighty evil retail monster forcing any store to open on Thanksgiving or at midnight on Black Friday. Admit you do it because you have dollars in your eyes and they are more sparkly than gratefulness, humility, rest, and family. I’m especially disappointed in you, Target, because you are a leader in many areas like fashion, food, store layout, cleanliness, innovation, convenience. But in this case, you are proving to be just another slack-jawed behemoth succumbing to peer pressure.
You are being led around by your nose.
There are people who note police, fire, hospital, transportation, and travel employees must work on Thanksgiving, so we shouldn’t feel terrible for retail workers. I contend there is a huge difference between stopping crimes or heart attacks or house fires and scanning socks at 2am. One of the above can wait. For real.
You must not feel terribly confident about your Black Friday offerings. If you did, if the deals were so fantastic, if the quality is out of this world, guess what? People would wait for you to open. You could open at noon on Friday and still have your massive crowds if there was something worth waiting for.
Do you have a low opinion of the American consumer? The rubes are willing to shop at midnight! We are just your drooling fools who are lured through doors by toys and electronics that will be broken and/or forgotten by mid-January.
Americans should feel offended by Black Friday. Not only because it’s continually encroaching on Thanksgiving but because it’s really, really insulting. 3-packs of character underwear for $4 and DVDs of mediocre movies for $5 are dangled like carrots and all of a sudden? Rioting rabbits lining up 30 people deep in check-out lanes manned by people who left the sides of those they love to scan and stock and restock.
Not only do I refuse to shop on Black Friday (and have not for the past several years), I am starting to think about things like:
~Transferring all of our prescriptions from Target to a different pharmacy. Remember, we have a family of 10. That amounts to a lot of money.
~Doing more of my necessity shopping at local grocery stores—they have diapers, too (and I have 2 in diapers!)
~Shopping online
~Checking out small businesses in my community on Small Business Saturday
~Making our own gifts/DIY
Target, my opinion of you has taken a nosedive this past week and it’s all because of your decision to open at midnight on Black Friday. I expect that from K-Mart or Wal Mart. It’s a little like Coldplay being worried about Loverboy playing a set in the bar at a bus station and demanding their manager book them, too. I suppose it’s just another sign that our world is growing increasingly more trite, flimsy, cheap, ungrateful.
Sincerely,
Gretchen
(UPDATE: thanks to Target for their quick response in the comments!)
Fantastic post, Gretchen. I wholeheartedly agree. I do not shop on Black Friday because it IS offensive. I am not a sheep, I do not go where I am told, I do not follow. I am a leader, a trendsetter, and independent thinker. I will gladly pay $5 for those underwear, during a regular sale, when *I* choose what and when and how I shop.
And it is awful that those employees have to go in and work these atrocious hours. I don’t understand it. Wouldn’t the items still be on sale if they were opened at regular hours?
Thanks for saying this. It needed to be said.
Yay! I totally agree. I’ve never shopped “Black Friday” sales, because, quite frankly my sleep is more important. Ha. I hear the new mondo King Soopers is open now. I wonder if they’ll be open at Midnight?
Thanks for taking a stand. I choose not to shop black Friday sales and to spend that time with my family. We have been making gifts at craft fair and buying small from local businesses whenever possible. My in-laws get up at ungodly hours and go shop these sales and I never understand what motivates them. There is no sale more valuable than family time.
YESYESYES!! We will be at the park with some hot chocolate- and then go home to craft a bit for Christmas
Well said, Gretchen. Can’t disagree with you one bit. There are some industries you go into knowing you’ll have to work holidays, like the police force as you mention. And other service industries like the airlines and hotel/restaurant. Unfortunately, as a pilot, my husband is doomed to work the holidays, so we make plans to celebrate on alternative days. But, like you point out, there is no reason to be open before Friday. It seems the name “Turkey Day” will start to be more appropriate than Thanksgiving, to describe the people who actually line up to participate.
I don’t have words for how much I resonate with this. BRAVO! I doubt I’ll stop shopping Target. But I will NOT step foot in their doors – or any doors – on Black Friday. It’s completely out of control. Time for someone who’s not a rube to say, “We’re not playing anymore.”
(Also? The line “This seems like such a Wal Mart move to make” make me snort. For real. SOL?)
While I do appreciate the atmosphere that Target offers (and I live in a town with ONLY a Wal-Mart so Target shopping is LUXURY to me), I have to say I think you will be pleasantly surprised if you relocate your business to small businesses. We’ve used locally-owned pharmacies for years and the customer service is incomparably better. Locally-owned groceries are often more than happy to special order something that isn’t stocked, and there’s a lot to be said for reinvesting revenue in the community.
I HATE Black Friday and boycott it for many reasons, and I am definitely joining you in being so, so disappointed in Target’s choice. Such a bummer.
So, so good! I hate Black Friday. Even more, I hate what it reveals about us.
Saw your post via @canbeafunnygirl on twitter and now sharing it on FB!
Amen. Your words perfectly captured the sinking feeling I experienced when I first heard about their decision. I too boycott Black Friday shopping and am making/baking the majority of my gifts this year. I’m just so darn tired of the crass commercialism.
I think 5am is plenty early to start scanning socks personally :), but I’m also glad Walmart is opening at 9pm on Thurs so I don’t have to get up at 5am to get the big ticket item for my kids that is $150 less that day than any other during the year… so I guess I’m a hypocrite. Yes, I think we should go back to reasonable hours of operation and yes, I will be supporting black friday practices to shop for my family. Guess I’m a firm fence sitter…
Thank you Daria,
I was feeling like a total loser reading all of these posts. I too am happy that some stores were opening late Thanksgiving night so that I could go then rather than get up early on Friday. I understand and agree with the thought that it is ridiculous to open early when the same sales could be offered at a normal business hour, but no one is forcing anyone to go and shop. Maybe they are taking advantage of employees by asking them to work these crazy hours, but they have the freedom to choose another profession. I liken the attitude of many of these people posting to that of some girls at my daughters slumber party. They wanted to go to sleep at 9pm and wanted everyone else to do the same so that they didn’t miss out on anything. The bottom line is, if you choose to sleep, accept the fact that there are others who choose to stay up.
I admire you letter to Target. It is awful that the almighty dollar stands in the way of family time. These employees only get two days a year with their families, why not let them enjoy it? Are we that driven by greed that we can’t let them stay home a few more hours? It is shameful. Also, I personally have NEVER and will NEVER stand in line for anything on Black Friday. It is ridiculous. I am willing to pay a few extra dollars not to have to fight the crowds and the insanity. But for those of you that do, why? You have your family there with you, why waste it being mauled to death by people and fighting the chaos that is Black Friday. I don’t understand it.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Personally I don’t shop on Black Friday because I just can’t tolerate the crowds; however, this year we are either making donations in honor of friends and family members, giving homemade gifts, or making our purchases from locally owned businesses.
Well done Gretchen. I agree. I HATE black Friday. I’d prefer to spend the day with my family and loved ones rather than fighting the masses off. I have been disgusted this year with the early openings and encroaching on the Thanksgiving holiday. It just shows that we Americans are driven by sales, shopping and acquiring more than what’s really important. The one problem – they open because the people will be there and ready to spend. If people stayed home and didn’t get whipped up by low prices and crazy shopping hours, the stores wouldn’t drag their employees in at 11pm on Thanksgiving.
I’m going to disagree.
I’m not going shopping on Black Friday, either, but not out of some sense of righteous indignation; I just hate crowds. Plus, we do our Christmas decorating that day. It’s a lifestyle choice. Other people, however much I don’t understand it, love Black Friday. If they want to line up at a store at midnight that’s their business.
But I think it’s interesting that you call out Target but not other stores like Walmart or Best Buy. The assumption, it appears, is that Target is somehow morally superior to other stores and therefore a higher standard of commercialism is expected.
Clearly, Target’s marketing strategy is working, then. Because while they certainly have better stores, better products and a better overall consumer experience, the fact is, their primary competitor IS Walmart.
I think it’s interesting that Target is being expected to not require midnight hours of their employees while Walmart or Best Buy is not. Do you, then, disapprove of 24-hour stores in general? Including the grocery stores where you will now be buying diapers (at a good 20% markup)? Or just in this case? I’m a little confused.
This may surprise you, but Target is a retail store with its eye towards making a profit. They don’t do anything that is not good for business. Even their 5% back to the community pledge is all about improving their image, which in turn improves their business. Same with their commitment to a positive shopping experience–it’s good for business. It should not shock anyone that they are attempting to compete by opening their doors on Black Friday the same time as their competitors.
Now let’s talk about the employees. Sure, shopping is not necessary on holidays like nursing are, but nurses, fire fighters, police officers, etc., go into their fields understanding that they will be working some holidays. Retail workers are quite aware of this as well. They are paid time and a half for working holidays. Therefore, some workers TRY to work holidays for the extra money. Also, remember that if a worker goes in at 11pm or midnight, they are leaving at 7 or 8 am, at which time they can catch up on their rest. It’s not like they’re working all day.
How do I know this? Why, I worked at Target for a couple of years. There are folks who work in the wee hours of the morning EVERY DAY–and for some of them, it’s their second job. While I didn’t work at midnight on Black Friday, I did work quite early that day, and while it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, I did survive. And because every employee worked that day, the mood was rather festive and fun, and the management provided catered food for us, and … well … treated us right.
If Americans are truly offended by this trend, they will vote with their wallets, as you intend to do. And good for you for exercising your rights. But last I checked, this is a free society, and if a company whose existence revolves around making money chooses to keep hours to help them do that, then I don’t see the harm.
This is a really great comment — as thought-provoking as the post itself. We have to question how far we buy into marketing strategies and what’s really true about our beloved companies. It’s also interesting that most employees would rather open at midnight than 4 a.m. Exactly who are we defending here? And do they want to be defended?
Hello teaandbonbons! I like your screen name.
Like you, I am glad we live in a free society where retail stores can set the hours they wish, in most cases. In some places, like Colorado where I live, certain businesses can’t be open on Sunday. Target, Wal Mart, and Best Buy are free to be open 24/7/365 a year if they chose, but they wouldn’t stay in business very long. The demand for slippers and headphones at 3am is not high, unless there was a terrible midnight snack trip mishap.
Our local Kroger is open 24/7 but isn’t staffed by hundreds of people who are there under the threat of being fired. I’ve been there for midnight runs for medicine for a sick kiddo and there are maybe 1 or 2 employees around and a cleaning crew. Of course, I’m glad they are there at that moment because of the nature of the situation, an emergency.
Businesses are not required by law to pay employees time and a half on holidays. The only circumstance where employees must be paid time and a half is when the employee has exceeded 40 hours. Working on any holiday does not guarantee a higher wage. Many stores do it to be nice, but they are not obligated under law to do this. http://www.ehow.com/list_6064933_federal-labor-laws-working-holidays.html
I worked at Target my senior year of high school. I have ~really~ fond memories of my time there and the people, too. I realize there are employees who came in the wee hours of the morning to unload trucks and stock the storeroom, but those were their regular hours. And although my memory is a little fuzzy, I guarantee I didn’t work on Thanksgiving and if I worked the day after, it wasn’t at 5am! A 17 year old would remember that sort of thing. Black Friday wasn’t even a concept back then. What changed?
Now, it is okay to ask people to give up their holiday so that other people can satisfy their hunger for pajama sets and fire bowls at 1am. These are things that can be purchased at 6am, 10am, 3pm. To me, it sends the message that Target, and yes Wal Mart, have lost sight of something really important—restraint and a sense of caring for each other. Many of the businesses open early do not give employees a choice about working. It’s work or be fired, which is a horrendous position to put someone in.
Personally, I’d feel as guilty as hell going through the check-out lane of a mom or dad who regretfully left family at home ~under threat of being fired~ so I could buy a griddle at midnight, saving $3. It’s ugly.
We’ll be doing some Christmas decorating and maybe cookie making on November 25th. Enjoy your time with your family, and I thank you for jumping in with your opinion.
AMEN!
.THANK YOU, voice of reason! I agree, and I have to say, I’m getting sick of Target being targeted! Where I live most stores are opening at midnight if not sooner. Kohl’s is opening at midnight. Where’s your letter to Kohl’s? The outlets here are opening at 10pm. And ohmygoodness, my local grocery store is open all day until 5pm. HORRORS!!!!! You have a problem with Target being anti-employee for having them leave their holiday celebrations (who exactly is celebrating Thanksgiving at 11pm?), then let’s be consistent. Have a problem with all retailers who are doing this. I may or may not agree with you on that front, but it’s beside the point. You’ve singled out one retailer for no apparent reason other than that you do business with them. You need to rewrite you letter and address it “Dear Retailers Who Are Operating Outside of Normal Business Hours over the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.” I’d love to know if you DON’T find a retailer to send it to.
Hi Lindsay! I agree that the entire Black Friday phenomenon has gotten out of hand. I do have a problem with all retailers encroaching on Thanksgiving. But writing a letter to Target and writing a letter to, well, everyone is easier. Focusing my thoughts on the store where I spend the strong majority of our grocery/clothing/shoes/prescriptions/gift money made more sense to me. I used to work there. I know employees by name.
I don’t recall the last time I shopped at Kohl’s. They are so far off my radar, I didn’t even know they were opening at midnight. I knew Wal-Mart was opening at 10pm on Thanksgiving, which to me is awful, but I sort of expect them to do the shoddy thing. I made the mistake of holding Target to a higher standard than Wal-Mart. One thing this episode has taught me is that you can put a lot of red lipstick on a pig but it’s still just a pig.
Our local grocery store is open 24/7/365. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. I think there is a distinct difference, however, in big box retail opening on Thanksgiving and a place like Target. In the wee hours of the night, the grocery store is staffed by a few unionized employees (who make far higher wages than Target and Wal-Mart’s minimum wages, plus benefits).
I don’t think anyone is actively celebrating Thanksgiving at 11pm. If they are, they sorta rock. But people who have to report to work at 9, 10, 11 pm have to get sleep/rest somehow. If not, here’s reason #4837 to not shop Black Friday: Fatigued drivers are just as dangerous as drunk drivers. I never really thought about this, but I wonder if there is an increase in car accidents on Black Friday and/or if it will be made worse by earlier operating hours? Huh. (sorry for the tangent).
I know who I can’t send a letter to. Small, locally-owned stores don’t get a letter. Etsy shops, Amazon, craft bazaar ladies, Hobby Lobby. They open at 8. No letter, unless it’s a letter of congratulations.
Hi Gretchen,
I work for Target Corp and appreciate your sentiments. I just wanted you to understand why Target decided to open up at midnight instead of 4 a.m.
• As you know, the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as “Black Friday,†is one of the busiest and most competitive shopping days of the year.
• We have heard from our guests that they want to shop at Target following their Thanksgiving celebrations rather than only having the option of getting up in the middle of the night. We responded to that guest feedback by opening at midnight this year versus 4:00 a.m. last year.
• After the midnight opening was announced, the initial feedback we received from team members was overwhelmingly positive, as many team members expressed a desire to start the Black Friday shift earlier and/or to pick up extra hours at the holiday pay premium.
• Unfortunately, as with most decisions, it is impossible to please everyone and we saw that this week when one of our team members in Nebraska started an online petition opposing our midnight opening. While we certainly respect differences in opinion, the feedback we continue to hear from our guests and team members is that they would rather stay up late and start Black Friday with a midnight opening as opposed to getting up early for a 4:00 a.m. opening.
• However, we want you to know that we always value and respect feedback from our team members and that does not change during our busy fourth quarter. As you know, we always do our best to work around the scheduling preferences of our team members and we have made every attempt to do so with respect to Black Friday. Scheduling around holidays is always a volunteer first basis sytem.
• We appreciate our team members at every level going the extra mile to make this a success. By working together, we’ll do our best to make this holiday season a success. We can’t thank you enough for your commitment.
Thank you for responding so nicely and thoroughly. I personally am liking the 9pm opening of Walmart so I don’t have to get up so early – I MAY be up at midnight to hit Target too, not positive, but it’s easier for me than 4am. So thank you :).
Hello Jenn,
I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and share Target’s point of view on this matter. I believe there are employees who do appreciate working on holidays to make some extra money, especially this time of year. I also commend Target for paying employees time and a half when you technically don’t have to, according to Federal law. State laws differ, though.
My concern, aside from what I expressed in my letter, are those employees who are made to work under threat of being fired. I just see this as something that further erodes the line between private time and work time. There are industries where it’s critically important that people remain on the job every hour of every day of the year. Retail? For gifts? When there is still an entire month to shop? Not a reason to be open in my book.
The deep discounts Black Friday is famous for can be spread out through the season. It seems like retailers put all their eggs into the Black Friday basket and I don’t know why.
But there is something deeper and more philosophical at work. Black Friday is like a mirror held up to our society. I really like what Sarah of the Parsonage said above: “So, so good! I hate Black Friday. Even more, I hate what it reveals about us.”
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I was surprised to hear from Target and I appreciate your thoughts and points.
Awesome post. And I agree completely. Black Friday brings out the greediness in all of us. Suddenly we NEED things we didn’t need all year long. Just as we could wait for the doors to open at noon on Friday, I’m pretty sure we could wait until January, February… or never for some of the crap we get hypnotized into buying. It makes me feel sick. I get swept away in the materialism of the season too (and it grieves me to admit it), but I’ve never shopped on Black Friday. I have, however, WORKED on Black Friday. AT TARGET. And it was my favorite day of the year to work. Twisted!
I don’t do black friday either. Sorry, too much hassle to save $.50 on something I probably don’t want anyway.
Friends, save your money for Small Biz Saturday. None of us will ever completely stop shopping at the larger stores, but when you can, try to buy locally.
I wrote a little ditty about it – http://www.launchher.com/2011/11/5-reasons-to-support-small-business-saturday/
Well put sister.
I love the last line. When I first heard abou this, I was nothing short of appalled. It feels completely cheap and overwhelmingly greedy.
I’m with you Gretchen. I don’t get “Black Friday” and I was disappointed to see more stores joining the dark side. Consumerism masks a deep cynicism–that we need things to make us happy, that more money will make us happy, that our worth can be measured by our possessions. When I was in college I spent my Christmas breaks working at a local Hallmark store, and I was always disgusted with the women lined up for the “1/2 off Christmas goods” sale on Dec. 26th. “Go home,” I wanted to tell them. “Be with your families. Relax. Eat leftovers, play with presents, look at lights.” But no, they were there to stock up for NEXT year! When, who knows what fire or flood could destroy their stockpiles of wrapping paper and ornaments? I just don’t get it. And I don’t want to. I may be in the minority, but I do vote with my wallet, and Target and other big box stores aren’t getting much of it this year!
Gretchen, I couldn’t agree more. (Although I’ve been buying my kids’ winter wardrobes on Black Friday for years–SUCH good deals–but I’ve done it online, from home, with coffee and my slippers on. And certainly not at midnight! Or 4am!)
I hate that Target is doing this. I like my Target. But I also think Jenn Carlson’s response above on behalf of Target is classy.
Thanks for a great post, and great conversation.
Yes. And Amen. Thanksgiving is getting enveloped from both sides. It almost doesn’t exist anymore. Which is sad. And telling.
I just pretend Black Friday doesn’t exist. I shouldn’t have even put it in capital letters there. I am pretty darn thrifty and I have yet to read a black Friday ad that enticed me to forego my regular old traditional Thanksgiving plans.
Me too Erin ^. I don’t like it. I don’t believe in that rush of mass consumerism. I like this letter a lot Gretchen. This year, our family is making every effort to shop local… buy from locally owned stores, purchase restaurant gift certificates to local pubs and breweries and order chocolates from start ups who are struggling to make a name for themselves. Yes, I will buy some things that are “manufactured”… but I am really trying to be mindful and help our local economy instead of giving it all up to the mass chains of retailness.
Hi Gretchen!
I think the most awesome part of this post is that it is making people think and stirring the discussion. So often, too often, people forget to look at the whole picture. I think people actually assume you think it is okay for Wal-Mart to open on Thanksgiving at 10pm as well. I’m assuming you do not, but you focused on Target because YOU shop there.
At any rate, I stopped by again, not to leave another lengthy comment, but to ask if you had seen this. It is one of the headlines on Yahoo! News today…
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/black-friday-backlash-early-openings-112000843.html
It’s an interesting perspective from an employee in the exact situation we’re talking about. Thanks for spurring the discussion!
Hello Livlife!
Yeah, I can see why someone would think I am letting Wal-Mart or other stores off the hook for their encroachment on Thanksgiving, but I’m really not. There is no reason to hijack Thanksgiving for gift shopping. As I said earlier at Twitter, Thanksgiving isn’t a roadblock standing between people and Christmas. Waiting one day will not kill the economy or make anyone’s Christmas less merry.
I focused on Target because I shop there. I go to Wal-Mart maybe twice a year, usually to get school supplies. If anything, Wal-Mart is a worse offender for opening at 10pm…but it doesn’t surprise me. My focus on Target came about because I’ve respected their company for a long time. I know employees. I worked there my senior year in high school. Their decision to open at midnight on Black Friday opened my eyes. It was foolish of me to expect a higher standard from a store just because I like to shop there.
I keep writing more, ranting more, in my reply to you. Thanks for the link to the Yahoo article. It’s refreshing to see that people are fighting back. I hope stores will band together and call for the restoration of sanity in shopping.
Thanks Gretchen,
Thank you for making some great points. It does seem very greedy for the coorperations. I will be shopping on black friday, after I get off my shift at DENNYS. Yes, I will be stuck at work, except I have to work for 2pm to 10pm, so no Thanksgiving dinner for me! I have been with Denny’s for 12 years, and have not had a holiday off yet. Just to make things worse, and I kid you not, holidays are the worse tip days of the year, especially Christmas.
So I beg you, for all of you that choose to eat out on holidays, remember, we wouldn’t be open if you would not come in, and please tip well (at least 20%) and be extra polite to staff. The last place any of us wants to be is at work, we all have families too.
Happy Holidays!
Instead of looking at Black Friday as an ugly consumerist-driven event – I want to encourage people to use Black Friday for the good of society! Last year I was able to go to several stores on Black Friday to load up on essentials needed for the 2 families that my organization was “adopting” for Christmas. I got coats, socks, underwear, toys, and so much more at deep discounts and we were able to stretch our dollars much much further in order to get these families what they so desperately needed. I LOVE Black Friday and the opportunity that it gives us to look beyond ourselves. It is truly an amazing experience to be able to wake up that early to do shopping that doesn’t benefit you in the least, and I encourage more people to do it!
Hi Andrea! First, I totally commend you for your service in adopting families for the holidays. They are certainly benefitting from your ability to stretch dollars. I think you are doing a beautiful thing by reaching out to others and sacrificing.
It’s too bad corporations can’t extend those deep discounts to normal operating hours, spread throughout the month leading to Christmas. Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy could, but they chose not to for some reason. There is no reason for those discounts to be relegated to Thanksgiving and the wee hours on Black Friday. Encroaching on Thanksgiving is the last straw, for me. Also, many of the employees who have to work on Thanksgiving and Black Friday do so under the threat of being fired, a prospect they can’t afford. They aren’t paid much in the first place.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the family you are serving, anonymously, was headed by the single mom ringing up the items?
I have mixed feelings about Black Friday. If I think about it in a certain way, I feel sick from the consumerism, materialism etc. of our society…on the other hand, Black Friday was a holiday tradition for my family growing up. The whole family would go out (not early in the morning) and start Christmas shopping at the mall and Wal Mart. My parents are probably the least materialistic people I know, but we always did buy Christmas presents. I have good memories of spending time together on Black Friday, it was always so much fun. So I guess sometimes I get tired of what can come across as self-righteousness of people who don’t like Black Friday…I get why you don’t like it, it’s gotten crazier and crazier and less and less fun to me, too, and I don’t usually buy anything. However, it’s up to people to decide that’s not how they want to spend their holiday, not Target or any other store. If people are too busy doing other things on their holidays and don’t care to shop, then stores won’t open and make their employees work there. If families don’t care to “protect” their holidays, why should a corporation? I feel bad for anybody who has to work on a holiday, or weekends, or nights but I know lots of people who have to do all of those things, and they’re not all in retail or in life-saving occupations. I think more and more people will give up on extreme Black Friday shopping and it will be scaled back…at least I hope!
Hello Tara ~ Thanks for presenting another opinion. You bring up another great point. I know families who treat Black Friday as a family tradition, as important to them as the traditions of Thanksgiving. I have extended family members who plot out their attack and have scored some great deals.
And yes, a lot of anti-Black Friday attitudes are self-righteous. For sure. But I think that’s how things will get changed. If enough people get a little snooty (ha!) about it and plan alternative activities with their families, it could fade away or at least leave Thanksgiving alone. That would be miraculous, though.
Also, I think people simply don’t realize they can still find great deals and discounts by shopping small businesses or online. They feel like if they don’t shop on Black Friday, they are being dumb with their money and that ship will sail without them. They don’t take into account meals out and extra fuel, which could come close to negating some of those awesome deals—especially if they drive all over town and stay out all Friday.
I find it quite ironic that on one hand we have thousands of people supporting the Occupy Wall Street protesters condemning big business and the other hand, millions of people (any of these the same people?) are shopping on Black Friday supporting these big businesses. What’s the disconnect? I personally see it as hypocritical. We either are for small business and support them with our wallets and our actions — ie. not shopping at Walmart and on Black Friday, or we are for big box businesses. And, frankly, I’m sick of reading about people holding up signs and wasting our police resources when I see the better option as changing our behaviors. Like you write Gretchen, move your business to another store. (Granted, most of us don’t have a family of ten, but we all can make a difference, and show others that we stand strong in our beliefs.)
Or all we only concerned with our own bottom line?
Wow! Thank you so much for posting this and for standing your ground in your reply to Target’s point of view. You did that very nicely. I, too, hate Black Friday and refuse to shop *anywhere* that day. I hate that it draws out the very worst in us as a society and as human beings. Greed, lack of concern for others, and slavery – think about it: what else do you call it when an employer feels s/he *owns* your time 24/7 – it does not speak well for humans that we practice this things, and perhaps worse, that we encourage these things by participating in them.
In a similar vein, I refuse to use self-checkouts. I’ve had people offer to show me how, assuming that because I’ve got gray hair and am obviously over 25 (I’m 61), I must be afraid of the technology or uncertain how to use it. That’s far from the truth. I have a MS in computer information systems and am a former government contractor providing security for the Missile Defense Agency. I know how to use the technology, could perhaps even “field-strip” and re-assemble the hardware. So why won’t I use the quicker self-checkouts? Because I look at them and see a single mom’s job taken away, a teen’s hope of being able to afford that special pair of jeans, a retiree’s means to pay for outrageously priced necessary medication. I will not be a party to this practice, especially since the sole reason for replacing single moms, teens, and retirees with machinery is to increase corporate profit. Nope. Not playing that game. I also make my feelings known – sometimes rather loudly, I admit – when a front-end supervisor suggests that I might want to use the self-checkout rather than remaining in line behind the folks with overflowing carts and whiny toddlers (no offense intended to the parents of toddlers – been there, had to deal with it myself). I’ve protested to store managers and been told my comments would be passed on to corporate, but always with that “sure I will, lady” look. I can’t reason with the corporations, so I protest the only way I can: I will not use that technology and do as little shopping as possible at stores which use it. If more of us would do the same, perhaps corporate America would get the message that rather than increasing profits, their inhumanity is actually costing them.
It’s time we returned to being a society of *people* rather than robotic profit-factories for the greedy. Just my two-cents, though today it’s probably more like three-quarters of a cent.
I hadn’t given much thought to using the self check outs and how that puts someone (or maybe multiple people) out of a job. I like to use them because it’s often faster than waiting in a line with a cashier (I think a lot of people don’t like the self checkouts, which means they are often available when I am shopping), I can make sure each item rings up at the right price, and I can make sure my coupons go through properly. It’s harder when you go to a cashier and can’t see the screen full on, don’t know if a coupon beeped and they just take your coupon and don’t tell you that it didn’t go through, and/or have a line of people waiting behind you and feel rushed to complete your transaction and not cause any trouble.
it really doesn’t make any sense to me to stop shopping at target because they are open late and ask their employees to work late hours. there are MANY retail/food companies that ask this too. ultimately, in this exercise i think you’ll be causing yourself a lot of trouble in shifting scripts and finding other places to all-in-one shop than sparing poor ‘judy’ in housewares from thanksgiving sleep. enjoy walmart! i don’t black friday shop, i don’t like long lines. but i will still shop at target.
But, if people don’t take action/sacrifice because it’s too much “trouble” how will attitudes change? Doing nothing sends the message it’s okay to encroach on a holiday created to stand for everything Black Friday is against. I am not shopping anywhere on Black Friday.
Maybe I’m a sentimental fool, but I don’t want Judy in housewares to have to come (under threat of being fired) in to work on Thanksgiving so I can buy things at 1am. I will not be a part of it. I’d be happy to buy those same things from Judy at 2pm on a normal Tuesday.
It will be easy to change pharmacies. Once the scripts come up for renewal, I can just give the doctor’s office a different phone number. No biggie. If I were afraid of causing myself work, I wouldn’t have 8 children! 😉
Gretchen,
You have written your letter very well and I totally agree with you. Americans are now trained when to shop. I work as a cashier in a grocery store and also work until 4pm on Thanksgiving. If, like the old days, people did not procrastinate on buying their holiday food we could also be closed on a holiday. Do not forget to be gracious to your cashier at the food store this week also. We are under a lot of pressure and deal with all sorts of broke, stressed out, angry people. Holiday time has changed so much since I was younger. We all need to step back and take a deep breath and thank God for all our blessings. Blessings to you and yours. Kim in IL
Hello Kim,
Thanks for the great reminder to be extra-kind to the clerks and workers at stores this holiday season. It’s not the fault of the cashier when people forget to buy turkey gravy and only beef gravy is left (a story I heard once).
There’s a strange dynamic of poor-planning, procrastination, bad luck, and being conditioned that stores will rescue you. I think you are right that massive retail corporations have conditioned people to shop on Black Friday. At first, they opened at 7, then 6, then 5, then 4, and now midnight or ON Thanksgiving. It’s like conditioning an animal to perform/do tricks.
I can’t help but picture Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy enjoy holding up their cheap TV carrots and cheap “cashmere” sweater carrots, knowing American consumers will nibble, nibble, nibble their way into making Thanksgiving Black Thursday.
@Kim. I would guess that many of the people who work at Target don’t have the freedom to choose another profession in this economy.
I came here from The Simple Mom’s blog. I have never shopped on Black Friday. I love deals, but not when it means leaving the house at ungodly hours and/or dealing with huge crowds, long lines, etc. I do my best to avoid the stores starting around Thanksgiving until after Christmas. I do have to go to the grocery store during that time, but I do my best to avoid Walmart and the like because, again, I don’t enjoy the crowds or the long lines.
Great post, my sentiments exactly. I think it’s not only disgusting and sad for our culture to be so caught up in the commercial and retail “hype” surrounding this season, it’s also sad that we’ve forgotten the tru reason behind this “holy day.”
Thanks for reminding me of why I won’t be venturing farther than the kitchen on Thanksgiving, and for not supporting the Black Friday tramples.
Nick
My daughter is a Target employee. She doesn’t have to report to work until 4 am on Black Friday. She doesn’t have to work Thanksgiving. She WOULD have worked Thanksgiving if they had asked her to, in order to allow other employees to be home, BUT they had enough people REQUESTING to work the Thanksgiving hours, that she didn’t need to volunteer for them.
We live far from family so Thanksgiving is usually just our family of nine… just as every other evening meal… it’s no biggy for us to celebrate it on another night. There are other people like us who value being THANKFUL (for a job!!) more than the day itself.
Hello Heather! Thanks for sharing your point of view as the mother of a Target employee.
I believe anyone employed in this day and age is thankful for his or her job, no matter where they work. People who don’t mind working on Thanksgiving or the wee hours of Black Friday aren’t any more thankful for their jobs than anyone else, however. I resent the implication that anyone wishes to harm seasonal employees because of a call to not shop on Black Friday or Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was established as a national holiday by Lincoln. For well over 100 years, seasonal employees and gift givers somehow survived and even thrived without working or shopping that day—or even the day after. What changed? My letter to Target basically decries the fact our society has deteriorated into a collective swallowing mass of consumerism above all else.
People will Christmas shop. I Christmas shop (and have been since September, mostly online). But I will not, ever, shop on Thanksgiving or on Black Friday.
And I didn’t imply that Target employees are the ONLY ones thankful for their jobs, and I also did not imply that ONLY those working on Black Friday are thankful for their jobs, but your response seems to imply that you misunderstood me on that, and I wanted to clarify that I believe anyone who has a job anywhere is thankful that they have one.
Hello again, Heather! I think it was when you wrote, “There are other people like us (emphasis mine) who value being THANKFUL (for a job!!) more than the day itself.” It read like you were saying there are people *like you* and then there are people unlike you, i.e. those who hold some holiday in higher regard than employment.
But I may have been missing your intention, and if so, I’m sorry.
I suspect we have more in common regarding this issue than not.
Also, it’s interesting that your daughter notes her store isn’t opening until midnight. Here in the Denver metro area, Target is doing a little test marketing. They are opening 29 stores from 8am – 2pm on Thanksgiving Day. http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19216578 If it’s a success, guess what will be coming to her Target next year, and probably every Target in the nation? This is why I feel we need to speak up!
It’s like parents who look around at their trashed houses and say, “Can’t we have anything nice?” It’s almost as if Thanksgiving is a big zit on the face of corporate America and it must be popped.
(Also, a store that will fire you if you don’t work Black Friday is Best Buy. My husband worked there in 2009—a very rough year for us. It was policy that not working on Black Friday was a fire-able offense.)
Like “us” as collective… all of humanity, not just me, who thinks the sentiment of being thankful.. (for anything, not just a job, but a job included) is not tied to a specific date.
There are people who think the practice of peace, joy, and love is something for the entire year… not just Christmas. Right? That doesn’t negate Christmas, but it also doesn’t negate that you can’t spread joy the other 364 days a year.
Just because one works at midnight on Black Friday does not mean their Thanksgiving celebrations were infringed upon or that their families suffered some permanent damage.
My sister and her husband prefer working nights.. they only accept jobs that offer night hours. They would be thrilled working Black Friday at midnight if they worked in Retail. There are people working from midnight to 4 am on Black Friday who like having a free day to go home and sleep in and eat Thanksgiving leftovers.
There are people who are usually up until 2 or 3 am who don’t want to get up early to hit a 4 am sale, who are glad they can just go shop and midnight and go home and go to bed.
Just because you value things a certain way, does not mean others are inconvenienced not doing it your way. No one is forcing you to shop Target on Black Friday, least of all Target. I’m just not moved by your post at all. Sorry. If you only want people who agree with you to respond, then let me know, and I will refrain from making comments unless I wholeheartedly agree with what you wrote. )
Well, my daughter just got home and said NOBODY is working on Thanksgiving. No one is scheduled to come in until midnight and only the manager and the team leaders will be there a few moments before. She thinks the big fuss is that the people shopping don’t want to have to come in that early to get there before everyone else.
I am not implying that people who boycott wish to harm seasonal employees. I’m implying that it *might* harm them, whether one intends to or not. Many seasonal employees WANT the hours.
I have never shopped on Black Friday in my life and have done all of my own holiday shopping online for the past nine years, so I’m certainly not one who understands what the fuss is about. But I do know that no one is working Black Friday at Target against their will, and most working need and want the hours.
And realize that many of the Black Friday employees are seasonal employees who were hired just for November/December and would be out of work otherwise! Results from boycotting would only cut their much needed job hours!
Can’t agree more! thank you for the post. I was more disheartened to see that other stores in our area including Wal-Mart are opening in the late afternoon of Thanksgiving. How long until stores are open on Thanksgiving and it is no longer really a holiday? I can remember growing up that some gas stations were closed, all fast food restaurants etc. Thanksgiving was a time to be at home with family and the friday after was a time to decorate for Xmas and to sloth around after eating way too much. I have never done Black Friday, nor will I. For us – Family not “stuff” first.
(copying and pasting Heather from Ohio’s comment post here because it will not let me reply to a reply of a reply)
Where did you get the idea I only want people who agree with me to respond? Did you read the other 45 comments, not all of which agree with me? If they’ve never commented before, they go to moderation. I approved those comments because I do value dialogue and discourse. I left your comments up when I could, easily, delete them. Instead, I think it’s great for people coming here to read your thoughts and your perspective.
I never contended anyone’s families are permanently damaged by having to work on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. If they were, the kids of nurses, police officers, and airline pilots would be obviously effected.
I see the encroachment of consumerism on Thanksgiving as a bad thing. Shrug. I can feel that way without threatening your sister or her husband and their desire to work late at night. If that’s a radical stance, then I’m guilty of being a radical. Save Thanksgiving! Where’s a water tower and my bucket of paint?
Of course a truly thankful heart doesn’t look at the calendar or the menu. We bow our heads daily, if I have a turkey in the oven or not. But there is nothing small about a nation joining together with gratitude and agreement on a designated holiday.
I didn’t get that idea at all. I only said IF you feel that way, let me know!
I just don’t feel that working at midnight after Thanksgiving in anyway encrouches on Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving Day celebrations are usually long over by 10 pm. I would be exhausted if I kept celebrating the entire 24 span of Thanksgiving. 😉
I don’t think it’s a threat to the exisitence of Thanksgiving. At all. Those who value the holiday will continue to value it.
No one is forced to be a consumer on Black Friday if they don’t want to be one. I know a lot of people who love camping out and racing for deals. Two of my best friends love it and get excited about it weeks ahead of time. I don’t think the deals are all that great, but I’m one to knit or craft half my gifts anyway, and I enjoy that… they don’t. I don’t see the point of shopping Black Friday. If you don’t either, than I guess Black Friday isn’t for the two of us, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for those who enjoy working it, or shopping it. I don’t like how commercial Christmas is, but just because the stores are commercial about it, doesn’t mean my home and my celebrations have to be that way. Of course stores are going to sell things any chance they can… that’s why they exist… to sell things. But what goes on in my home and heart isn’t about what Target does. I don’t care what Target does. Some benefit from Target decisions, and those who don’t, don’t have to go there.
I’m sorry your husband was threatened with being fired from Best Buy if he refused to work Black Friday. As far as I know, that’s not how Target operates.
Hello! Here’s how I see a midnight shift encroaching on Thanksgiving:
If the employee wishes to sleep before working 9 hours when they aren’t normally conscious, they will need to use Thanksgiving for that rest—unless he or she is some sort of superhero, like the mom of a newborn. She could do it. Your daughter’s Target is having employees arrive for work at midnight, but most are having them arrive at 11. Also, as I mentioned in another comment, 29 Denver Targets will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 8-2 as a test market.
Nobody is forcing anyone to shop. I totally agree with you there. I also agree with you that if Target doesn’t benefit a person in any way, then that person doesn’t have to benefit Target with, say, her prescriptions or her diaper money or her cute shoes money. The nice thing about a free society is the ability to vote with dollars. Of course, those who have more dollars have more of a vote.
Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy…lots of dollars there. More than enough to not notice me, random mom.
Corporations, when they make decisions, send a message regarding what they value. Certainly, they owe their share-holders a healthy bottom line and if they think they have to hijack any part of Thanksgiving to do it, they have that right. Should they keep that right? Absolutely.
But I won’t support them in that pursuit.
And I never contended that you contended anyone’s families are permanently damaged by having to work on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. I was expounding on my own personal thoughts, and was not posting that in direct response to anything you said.
You are so right to condemn the insanity of “Black Friday”. Especially the encroachment of it on Thanksgiving. There are some who have to work. I used to work holidays at a hospital for all of those who had families when I did not. Family and contemplating what we all have to be thankful for is what we should be doing. And sooooo much of the things they sell on Black Friday is just plain trash of one form or another. I shop all year round for the people I care for and wrap and tag them. When I find a good deal on something they would really want or enjoy… not just a last minute “deal”. Also, I try to spend time each month working on making some of my gifts. I rarely shop the big deal “holiday sales”… before or after… so much of what is there is leftovers, overstocks or things that have been sitting in some warehouse that were not selling well. And the big “toys of the year” usually fall apart or are discarded in a month or two. We need so much less than we have. We would all be better off if we took some of that money and went to Samaritan’s Purse and bought someone some food or blankets or livestock… that would keep them alive… or to Doctors without Borders… I think the food packets that keep babies and young children alive are $1.00 each… think of how many children you could feed and keep alive for one trashy black friday deal. It really is a black friday… like the black plague. We have lost our sense of values when people will literally run over one another like animals just to get a stupid toy. We are truly living in a lost world.
I’m a former Target pharmacy team leader. One of the reasons that I chose to leave my position as a Target pharmacist is because how I was treated over Black Friday. My normal shift that day would be 10am-8pm. After I was hired I was told that ALL TEAM LEADERS were REQUIRED to be at the 4am opening. Even though I am a PHARMACIST and the PHARMACY would be closed, I was told that I was required to be at the store for the 4am opening to “support the team” even though I’d be working from 10am-8pm later that day. I live 45 minutes from the store. They wanted me to leave my home at 3am, work 4am-8am supporting the team by helping with crowd control, and then be back to work as my real gig as a pharmacist from 10am-8pm. I’d be gone from home from 3am until 9pm that night.
Seriously. I’m a pharmacist. I don’t know diddly about crowd control. And because I was salaried… they weren’t even going to pay me anything over my salaried rate to come in to do crowd control.
Submitted my two weeks notice before Thanksgiving and did not show up at 4am. I wasn’t missed.
I love shopping at Target, just not working for the corporation. And I will not be there on Black Friday.
Thanks, Sarah, for sharing your first-hand experience. It’s seriously ridiculous. Would they pull the domestics zoner off the floor to mix Amoxicillin in a pinch? I know, I know, apples, oranges, still an intriguing idea.
I’m glad you love shopping at Target, still. I do too! I love that dumb store, which I why I am so irritated with them. But this was pretty much the last straw. Things are going to change. They already have.
I hope you found a job where you are respected as a professional. Being a pharmacist is no joke. You’d think they’d want the person dispensing serious, hard-core prescription medications to be as rested and ready to work as possible. Not getting done making sure people don’t swipe TVs from each other.
I think this is a great well-formed response and I agree with your thoughts.
A few things though … didn’t they open at midnight or before 6am last year? Did you write a letter last year as well? And also, I think all of your alternatives to Black Friday and shopping at Target are great notions because they support the “small businesses” of America instead of the corporate ones (like Target) … but I think people should be doing these regardless of when a store opens on Black Friday. I love Target very much and love shopping there for things, but I am also wrestling with the fact that Target is a huge enterprise and there are equally amazing products sold by local business owners in my area that I could purchase instead of shopping Target. Again, this is a tension I am dealing with right now so I am offering no resolution to my ramblings just yet. 🙂
I think this was a great post and I would love to read Target’s response to your post 🙂
Hello April!
I believe Target opened at 4am last year. Still bizarrely early, but not tiptoeing up to the edges of Thanksgiving.
I totally understand that tension. Really. But I’m finding myself wanting to align with the little guy, the non-profits, the mom sewing in her basement. If I had a business, I’d hope people would believe in me and support me if I produced quality goods.
It’s like there’s a big fork in the road.
I totally understand that.
I wonder how many people who boycott retail stores for requiring employees to work on Thanksgiving will also refrain from watching TV that day? For many, many years my then-husband had to work at a TV station on holidays, including Christmas day. I appreciated the fact that he had a job, but our children missed having daddy at home. We learned to adapt, and to create new traditions, but it still seems silly to me that people must watch TV 365 days a year.
Hi Lise! I understand the TV station thing. My husband used to work at a TV station when we first got married. He was a PA, master control operator, and then a creative services producer and even a news photog. He worked many holidays and special days. This is one of those areas where everyone knows TV is not a necessity, much like the ability to buy waffle irons at 2am, but it’s incomprehensible for people to go without for one day.
I get the point you are making. People will never give up TV on Thanksgiving Day, an act which forces people to work. That would mean going without football and the Rockettes high kicking in front of Macy’s. And I’m always front-and-center in the living room, watching the parade, year after year, since childhood.
This is such a hot topic! I personally hate that Black Friday brings such ugliness out of people – consumers and retailers alike. I can’t stand the crowds of angry bargain-driven people shoving through lines to “save” a few dollars on stuff they really don’t need. But let’s face it, retailers are out to make a buck. You can’t really blame the system, you can only make the right choice for your family. It’s definitely sad that Thanksgiving as a holiday seems to have been completely lost over the last few years. I saw Christmas decorations out in the stores on November 1st!
As far as Target is concerned, I actually chose to stop shopping there all together a few years ago after a family member who worked there told me about there corporate view on the whole “merry Christmas vs happy holidays” thing. I know there are plenty of other places out there that explicitly tell there employees to not utter the word “Christmas”, but none that I had a specific, personal example about.
The only language retailers hear is dollars. That’s how they make a profit and how they pay their employees. I definitely agree that the best thing you can do is stop supporting a company with your dollars if they are doing things you don’t agree with. More power to you! I personally am doing all my shopping online this year. The few other things I’m purchasing are from local businesses. The “savings” I might get purchasing these same items at a black Friday sale is, for me, not worth my sanity or my dignity.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family and have a blessed Christmas!
Agree with your message wholeheartedly, but think it could be broadened. I no longer live in the USA. In fact, I no longer live in a Christian nation. The religion here is Buddhism. Local folks are polite enough and at least acknowledge Christmas for the foreigners. But it’s hardly a big day at all. I mean, everyone still goes to work on Christmas, just like any other day.
I find that I do not miss The American Christmas Experience at all. Not because I’m not spiritual, but because it has devolved into mindless and frenetic Shopping For Crap. For an awful lot of folks back in the states, any meaning the holiday may have once had is long gone. And this is part of what looks a lot like some sort of sickness from my side of the ocean. An American sickness.
None of that where I live! And so I am left to simply contemplate the day when it comes around each year. I like it that way.
Ken, I am a Christian but the past 10 years or so I’ve actually enjoyed Thanksgiving much more than Christmas because Thanksgiving has the quiet reflectiveness still as a central theme. Christmas, as you say, “has devolved into mindless and frenetic shopping for Crap.” Yes, and while the faithful part of me tries to stay very much away from the shopping & pressure filled craziness it is very hard. And so I cling to Thanksgiving. I think that’s why the Christmas creep and shopping craziness that is now moving into Thanksgiving Day is so distressing to me.
Makes me want to live outside the U.S. during the holidays.
Thank you for this post. I clicked over from Simple Mom, so I’ve never read your blog before, but after this I just might. We don’t patronize any store on a holiday (not even a gas station) because we believe everyone deserves a day off. I’m firmly convinced if there were more people like you and I (and your readers, judging by the comments here!) more people would get to spend holidays at home with their families.
I also don’t shop on Black Friday, but I was just as disappointed as you to note their early hours and their rush to be the first store to open their doors. It really is absurd, and, you’re right, it really does sound like something Walmart would pull. So disappointing.
Do you know what’s worse? Having a family member who’s forced into working from noon to 10 p.m. ON THANKSGIVING. At Walmart, of course. So we are postponing Thanksgiving to whenever she has a day off. Not that it really matters which day we feast – for us, having the entire family together is the most important thing. Yes, my relative will make some extra money, and that’s great. But to me, being open that afternoon is unthinkable.
For those who say that no one is celebrating Thanksgiving at 11PM, or 4AM, may I just gently remind you that not all of us have family nearby? Some of us must travel, or have family traveling to us. My future daughter-in-law is an example. She works at a gym. Her boss is insisting that she come in Friday for one hour – it takes her nearly that long to commute – to have the gym open for a class that no one is likely to attend anyway. Our Thanksgiving dinner is Friday, since others who are coming in from long distances cannot get here until then. She cannot drive over (it’s three hours one way) with a one-hour come-to-work-or-else Friday hanging over her in the middle of the day – noon to 1PM. As has been pointed out, she could of course change professions. She’s working two jobs part-time while putting herself through college, with plans for med school afterwards. Are there other opportunities for her? In the metro Atlanta area, yes, there are, but few with the flexibility of scheduling she needs and fewer still which combine scheduling with something she actually enjoys. I realize this is not exactly Black Friday, but the travel point is valid, whether my future DIL works in retail or not. Perhaps if people tried to think outside the small box that contains them and their families, and consider that the world of others does not necessarily match that box, there would be more understanding and compassion in the world.
Have not, nor ever will, participate in BF due to many of the reasons you mentioned in your post. We are quick to blame the corporations but they are ULTIMATELY about making money. I think the real problem is that BF shines a very bright light on some of our (consumers) less desirable qualities, like putting shopping before relationships and rest. That’s just my opinion. I totally feel your frustration and I hope that the message is loud and clear to the companies choosing to open on Thanksgiving. And I hope the people choosing to shop on Thanksgiving do it after reflecting on their motivations for doing so. My hope is that we would all be more THOUGHTFUL and INTENTIONAL about our participation in the Christmas craziness.
Could someone please tell the woman in the Target TV Black Friday ad to STAND UP STRAIGHT! Her hunched back is driving me crazy. Rotten ad, rotten idea to open so early.