By Zuzanna Fudala
Faetures Editor
Black Friday is the biggest shopping holiday in the United States and an even bigger headache for retail and customer service employees. Many stores open their doors in the late hours of Thanksgiving Day, and it asks the question as to whether or not retail stores should. Thanksgiving is a time for family, and retail workers shouldn’t have to rush through their dinners in order to prepare for the mobs of sale shoppers at on Thanksgiving Day.
I don’t think stores should be open on Thanksgiving Day prior to Black Friday. Instead, I think it would be better if the stores opened slightly earlier on Black Friday (but at a reasonable hour) or extend the sales over the weekend. Let people enjoy time with their families. It’s still a national holiday that people should do what they want: sleep in, relax, catch up on TV shows, and not have to stress about opening a store in the early hours of the morning or late evening to deal with crazy customers yelling at them over things they can’t control.
As someone who has worked retail, the holidays are insane! If your register crashes, get ready for the cranky customers that are about to complain. No one should have to give up their holiday time for a corporate holiday. If it’s that big of a deal, then corporations should plan it around their employee’s holiday time. There are some holidays that are just too special to be able to sacrifice one’s family time and cherished memories. There are only so many moments one can miss before realizing that it’s too late to get them back. Work can be stressful enough in all departments without any major sale days, so why should employers pile more stress and problems on top of that?
It’s not just about the workers missing their family time, but all those customers anxiously awaiting to get their Christmas shopping done ahead of time should realize that although you want to get everyone what they want, spend time with your family now and buy the gifts later. Presents are important, but the product will always be at the store or online; memories, however, are not. I understand that everyone wants to save money on sales, but Black Friday isn’t the only sale that happens during the year, and sometimes the sales are for selected items only so is all this rush really worth it?
Zuzana Fudala can be contacted at fudalaz@student.morainevalley.edu.
