Preface: I am a retail slave, almost five years strong. Of my five holiday seasons, I’ve been fortunate enough to only be scheduled on three Black Fridays. (One of which was my 22nd birthday, more on that later.)
Black Friday really grinds my gears. As a consumer, I love the idea that retailers will hold special sales for people to save some money on holiday shopping. I don’t love the hysteria that comes with it. These are my two very major problems with retailers AND consumers:
Retailers - Opening of stores VERY early: I can’t believe that retailers are opening stores at MIDNIGHT this year. Every year, the time seems to creep earlier and earlier. What’s next? Opening ON Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a FEDERAL HOLIDAY where we have the opportunity to sit and eat a wonderful meal with our families and give thanks for the sacrifices of our country’s forefathers. In the maddening time of the Holiday season in retail, it’s a nice break from all the pressures of work, and something to took forward to. Most people who have never worked retail don’t know what goes into operating a store. Salespeople don’t just show up and ten minutes later are magically ready to open the store. I don’t know of any store that doesn’t require openers to be at the store at least an hour before opening, regularly longer if there is a special event. The store has to be cleaned (from any dust and dirt settling from the night before, stores get DUSTY and FAST,) money for ALL registers counted, any additional setup finished and ready to go… et cetera…
What we are doing by opening these stores so early is taking away Thanksgiving from retail workers. Who wants to sit through dinner knowing that they have to be at work later, probably worrying about how awful the shift is going to be (it ALWAYS is, keep reading.) Factor in getting ready for work, and the actual commute time, retail workers are losing time to spend with their families and the enjoyment of the holiday, just so consumers have an entire night more to fight over sales.
I wish retailers would set a new precedent: don’t open more than 2 hours before the normal operating hours. Give your employees time to rest up before the insanity, and time to enjoy visiting with family and friends. Consumers will learn to live with it, and will still show up and spend money the same way.
Consumers - Expecting a Sale and Attitudes Towards Salespeople: You, yes I’m talking to you, miss thang. Yes, our only “doorbuster” is this one bathrobe. Our company didn’t even ADVERTISE any Black Friday deals, so what is your problem? It’s Black Friday and our mall store should have everything at a discount? How do you think we would make any money? We are not a big box store who can afford a dozen loss leaders to get bodies in the door. Since when does Black Friday automatically mean “OMGZ HUGE SALE AT EVERY STORE EVER!” No! Black Friday isn’t even a term coined by consumers, it was made up by retailers. (The one day a year when most retailers turn a profit for the fiscal year, going from being in the red to being in the black.)
Second, take your STANK attitude and go home! Us poor retail slaves are up earlier than usual (and this year even sacrificing our Thanksgiving) to work so you can shop. We are here with smiling faces ready to answer questions, and help you pick out the perfect gifts, and doing all of this while handling crowds that are much bigger than usual. We are not here to be on the receiving end of your rage because we don’t have enough of a discount for you, or that you didn’t get to the store early enough for the gift with purchase, or (the most recent store I work for) that we don’t have any Black Friday deals at all! (My current employer has THREE sales for the ENTIRE year. THREE.) You can bitch and moan all you want, but us peon-salespeople often don’t have ANY pull with our company regarding anything that goes on in the store. Our managers don’t either. There is this magical thing called Social Media, and most retailers are on the big sites, and corporate takes notice of it, go bitch THERE.
If you are looking for a fight, don’t do it on Black Friday, because most salespeople are going to be FAR less inclined to help you when you do need it. Not looking for a fight? I beg to differ. My 22nd birthday was on Black Friday, and I spent it working. My manager was awesome enough to tell me to wear my birthday tiara, so I could at least make a little fun out of my day. I was the ONLY associate who wasn’t snapped at, yelled at, or given MASSIVE unprovoked attitude from a customer. (Thank you, tiara!) At least people were human enough to be nice to the birthday girl. My coworkers? Not so fortunate.
All in all, I managed to work in malls that don’t allow stores to open before 8am the day of, and an AWESOME department store that wouldn’t think of doing that anyway. I can’t complain about that on my end. I feel I need to stick up for my fellow salespeople, stock people, and store-level management that does. We work hard to make your shopping experience a good one (for the most part) and I hate that we deal with unnecessary behavior and corporate suits who want to take our Thanksgiving away. It’s not okay. I wish more people would act on it (NOT shopping at midnight) and SHOW retailers that they need to back off of Thanksgiving.
