This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Eckerd chapter.
With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all right around the corner and Christmas not long after, I think it’s a good time to reflect upon the holidays and what they are really for. According to TheBlackFriday.com, 39 major retailers will begin their Black Friday Sales by 6 PM on Thanksgiving Day. In addition, many other stores and major retailers will be open all day Thanksgiving Day, they just will not start Black Friday Sales until 12:01 AM on Black Friday. This means that while many enjoy long Thanksgiving dinners with their families and a lazy Friday off, thousands of retail employees will be missing Thanksgiving dinner and spending time with their families to work. We often get caught up in the holiday chaos that we forget that while we are choosing to spend our time shopping, some retail employees are working without a say in their schedule.
In high school, I worked in retail and I was scheduled to work at midnight on Black Friday until 9 AM. So, I ate Thanksgiving dinner at noon, hung out with my family for a bit, went to see the other side of my family for about an hour and then tried to take a nap at 5 pm. I was lucky, I was able to spend most of Thanksgiving with my family; my one of my close co-workers on the other hand, was not able to spend the day with her family, as she worked all day. Although I did not work until midnight, I left my house at 10:30 PM in order to beat all the shoppers and actually get a parking spot. When my shift began at midnight, I began helping customers on the floor and the store was a madhouse. Eventually, I moved to cashier and as I was ringing up one customer’s three full bags of clothing up, he asked me, “Why aren’t you shopping right now?” And all I could do was look at him and say, “Well someone has to work at the stores.” I was flabbergasted that this man didn’t realize that because he wanted to shop on Black Friday, I had to work.
On company making waves on Black Friday this year is REI. REI, Recreation Equipment, Inc., is closing its stores and disabling online sales on Black Friday and paying its employees to go outside. REI has even started a campaign to encourage the general public to spend the day outside with the hashtag #optoutside. So far, 879,326 people have joined in the movement and pledged to spend the day outside. To learn more about REI’s choice to opt outside visit their website http://optoutside.rei.com.
So this Thanksgiving weekend, I, REI, and other retailers, such as DSW, encourage you to reflect on what’s important to you. I understand that sometimes the black Friday deals are just too good to pass up, but don’t ask your cashier why they aren’t shopping. And let’s keep Thanksgiving a holiday and pledge not to shop on Thanksgiving because no matter how great the deal, everyone deserves a holiday.