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What it’s Really Like Working in Retail on Black Friday

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bryant chapter.

This is just a little taste of what it’s like working in retail on Black Friday.

First off the mall opens at 12:30am, so that means sales associates who have the first shift are at the mall at 11:30pm.  We can’t all be Beyoncé and wake up that early, or late? And look flawless

The amount of coffee consumed is extremely unhealthy, but once we’ve had our first cup (..or 5) we’re ready to go!

Then even though we haven’t slept in roughly 20 hours, our manager expects us to all work in unison to make the day go smooth, and successful to make the customers happy!….

Now it’s 12:30 and the customers are coming into the store like

Everyone comes in with their girlfriends prepared to fight for the best deals

Now all of a sudden there’s a storm of people ready to check out, like they think they’re the only one who matters and their time is precious.  It’s like they can’t see the 20 people in line in front of them,and it’s the cashiers who are “slow”.

Meanwhile half of them who brought their kids have forgotten about them.  So the kids are off doing something weird and disgusting

When an employee is helping a customer, another one walks up like “Help me, NOW.” Clearly we are busy, you can wait.

Finally, someone who used to work in retail is patient and actually appreciates you

Your calm, cool, and collected manager from 5 hours ago now looks like this

After 12 hours of working with not enough breaks or food, crazy people, kids screaming, adults yelling, and fellow employees breaking down… We finally get to leave and couldn’t be happier to get out