Since Black Friday recently passed I’m sure many of you took advantage of the sales and either went shopping for holiday gifts, treated yourself or both. A lot of people look forward to this day, especially if they’re shopaholics, and head to the mall as soon as they wake up if they didn’t already go overnight. However, for the sales associates who have to work, Black Friday is a day to be dreaded.
This Black Friday was my fourth one working so I knew what I was going to be walking into as soon as I opened the door to the mall, but that doesn’t mean I was prepared. I don’t want it to sound like I hate my job, I actually enjoy it, but if you work in retail you understand that this is the one day you really don’t want to go to work. The line felt like it was never-ending, with people constantly shuffling in and everyone asking for help at once. Obviously, I wanted and tried to help them all but it was overwhelming trying to help five people at the same time. We also wanted to attempt to keep our store looking presentable, but when it’s so crowded that you can barely walk, that’s a hard goal to keep up with. It seemed like the people in charge of cleaning refolded the same table at least 20 times, so I could tell they were getting annoyed. Also, the people on the register had to do “speed rounds” as I like to say because they wanted to get every customer in and out of the store as fast as they could so they could move onto their next destination. A few years ago, I was on register for my whole shift and since there were so many customers without a break in between I started to lose my voice. Those are the moments that I really looked forward to my break, where I was able to drink some coffee which was the only thing keeping me awake. That is also the time where I got to shop and celebrate Black Friday the way it was supposed to be celebrated, which is the only good thing about working this day.
With all of this being said, the moment my head hit the pillow after my shift I felt relieved. Black Friday shifts aren’t fun so you’re just happy when they’re over. When you go shopping next year just remember that the employees are working hard and are on edge so be nice to them and maybe help them by folding the clothing item back up after you pick it up. And associates, remember that you’ll get through it and try to find some fun in the shift like dancing to the Christmas music while you work or trying to work with a friend, it’ll help the shift go by faster and make it better!