Listen. I understand the reason for Black Friday for retail companies. I get it. It is important for them to start making their profit and margin for the year. What I don't understand is when did it become okay to infringe on their workers' day off? With Target, the store was closed three days a year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Those were days I always looked forward to because it was a guaranteed day off. A day to spend with family or to go to church if you are religious.
It use to be that stores opened early in the morning on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Retail workers maybe had to get to the store by midnight in order to get everything organized for the madness that would happen some hours later. It was fun for a lot of people, even some of the workers. But it was after the holiday. The workers had time with their family. They were able to get a good, midday drunk on while watching football while waiting for dinner. Drinking and eating with family. You know, what the holiday is suppose to be about.
Instead now, workers are torn away from their family because greedy retail stores try to one-up each other by opening earlier and earlier in the day. Some stores this year are opening at six o'clock, others at eight o'clock, and even more at midnight. Several years ago, they early morning openings were moved to opening at midnight. I was okay with it. Technically it was the day after Thanksgiving and hence 'Black Friday'. It all went downhill from there. From midnight to nine o'clock to now six o'clock. So the one problem is that the workers are getting taken away from their family time and those who have to set up the store have to be there in the afternoon. Before the first football game is over, they are off to work. They do not get to have dinner with their family. They do not get to enjoy dessert. They have another day they have to go to work. To deal with people who are going to be really excited to treat the employees like shit while they rush around the store wondering why the super cheap item they wanted sold out three hours ago because they were pretty sure they were the only person in the entire city that wanted it. And so on and so on.
One of the major problems I have with the new hours is that the people that are making the decisions probably aren't going to be in the stores with their minimum wage workers. Do you think the CEOs of these giant retail chains are going to be running around and checking in on their stores? I think not. If they do, bully for them. But I would still drop kick any of them in the teeth for making this decision because they put money before people. The people that bust their asses for a paycheck. They bust their asses so they can pay the bills. They bust their asses for the cheap insurance. And for what? To have one of the three guaranteed days taken away from them? What the fuck is that?
One more item on this topic. Non retail workers listen up, because this is for you. This is all your fault. You are the problem here. If you sit around talking about how horrible it is that the retail workers have to work on Thanksgiving, you need to be the solution to this problem. Start petitions. Start campaigns against these companies opening up on Thanksgiving and ruining a family holiday.
Right now, I am so happy to have left my previous job for the one I have now. Granted it is still a retail job, but the CEO has come out and publicly stated that he feels that Thanksgiving is a holiday to be spent with family and will not open before the day after. THAT is looking out for your workers.
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