A lot of sentiment is being tossed about the internet the last week or so with regards to Black Friday and sales starting before then. Specifically there is growing backlash against stores opening the evening of Thanksgiving for sales. That’s all well and good, and I agree with that sentiment, but there is an additional portion of this sentiment that I find a bit bothersome.
“Instead of getting in line and shopping Thanksgiving night, enjoy your friends and family. Go to the movies, watch a football game.”
The trouble with this is it completely nullifies the reason to avoid shopping. Those people have to work too. Retailers like “Black Friday” because it gets a lot of people in their stores and they can make enough money to help keep them in business. I have no problem with this. I don’t like going out of the house, personally, but that’s me.
Some retailers have begun opening the night of Thanksgiving to get an early start on Friday shopping. I don’t particularly like this. Thanksgiving is, as it should be, a day for families and friends to get together and express some gratitude for what they have. Sure, there’s a lot wrong but there is also a lot of good that can come out of the holiday.
Since this is a holiday meant to be about gathering together with friends and family, and not shopping, there is an understandable push back against the growing trend to have retailers open Thanksgiving night. To have these stores open because of a profit margin does undermine the meaning of the holiday being celebrated. That is an absolute point I agree with. But to encourage people to instead attend a sporting event or go to a movie, well, those people have to work as well. I’m pretty sure those people working in a movie theater wouldn’t mind sitting down for a nice meal with friends and family instead of dealing with the public. Stadium ushers don’t deserve the same treatment that retail workers do?
I hope the people that are working Thanksgiving are given the option to not work as well as getting at least double their typical pay. Triple if it’s retail.
Myself? I don’t even want to leave the house until Saturday at least. Not even for groceries.