Geez…my Christmas shopping’s done and I haven’t set foot in a store. People still shop at brick and mortars?
No. This whole thread is a put-on for your benefit.
Oh damn, I just gave it away, didn’t I? :o
A certain chain advertised they would be having a Friday sale that started 10:00PM Thursday. Notice I won’t give them free advertising here. I shop early morning to avoid crowds which I hate. Friday will not be one of those days I shop in the early morning.
We were verboten to ask for Black Friday off. If you did so, or were so brazen to call in sick or, better, no-call-no-show, you were either suspended or were scheduled for the shittiest schedules onward. Didn’t matter what your Thanksgiving plans were. If you valued your job, you changed your plans accordingly.
We could never stay for any extended period of time Thanksgiving Day – it was basically “chew and screw” because I had to be up for work in the wee hours.
Just FTR I think aruvqan is a chick.
I worked a number of Blitz events at Wall-Mart. Up to the year they decided that paying for off-duty cops was unnecessary. When there’s a crush, it’s nice to be one of the first to be able to jump up on the counters and call the cops. That, and the insanity a week later…
I fucking hate the holidays. You miss dad, call him! Don’t wait til Hallmark day.
This was discussed last year and the general consensus seemed to be that the majority of the country DOESN’T have the day after Thanksgiving off. And among those that do, most had to specificially request it.
I don’t know why, but I find it very funny that people think the day after Thanksgiving is a day everybody has off and the biggest shopping day of the year. You’d think those two things were mutually exclusive.
Huh. Weird. I had no idea. I’ve never actually had a job with specifically assigned holidays off (long story) so I just assumed that everyone in a normal job got the Friday after T-day off.
That’s a really odd assumption, what with every store and restaurant and bank and theater and medical facility in the country open. Hell, most of those folks don’t even get Thanksgiving itself off, much less the day after. I don’t know anybody who automatically gets the day off except people who work at a school of some type. People who don’t work in some sort of service industry tend to have the option of using a vacation day, and many of them take it to have a 4-day weekend or because their kids are out of school, but it’s far from standard.
And the [del]hype[/del] madness is creeping north of the border, even though our holiday rhythm is different. Our Thanksgiving is in early October, so Halloween is the last holiday bulwark before the Christmas season begins. There is no local reason to make this weekend in November anything unusual–but I am hearing an increasing number of artcles mentioning and commercials promoting Black Friday, which they refer to by name. And sometimes have to explain!
While hospitals are obviously open during Thanksgiving, I think that the clinics and scheduled surgical facilities usually close for the long weekend. In other words, even in a hospital, as many people as possible take the long weekend. And most office where I’ve worked close both Thursday and Friday. Also, many manufacturing companies close Christmas week, and when it’s slow, they may also close Thanksgiving week.
I think we need a poll.
Even places that are open on the day after Thanksgiving tend to operate with a skeleton crew. I used to work at an investment management firm, we were open because the market was open, but generally we’d only have three people working in my department that day (a manager, an analyst, and an admin), and we’d close up shop by 2:00pm at the latest, usually without the phone having rung at all (I worked in Public Funds, state retirement systems and such, all our clients were closed!).
I liked working that day. I could get a ton of stuff done in the quiet if I chose, or I could do nothing if I chose. It was a painless ‘take one for the team’ day.
The other three offices I’ve worked at (two relatively small businesses and a university) close the day after Thanksgiving.
To answer one of the questions up-thread, yes, there are web sites devoted to Black Friday deals. Also, some of the regular deal and bargain message boards devote a special section to Black Friday.
I’ve read a few of those threads, and most people seem to do it because it’s fun. It’s not unusual for someone to plan where they’re going to camp out based on what’s allowed (Tents? BBQ grills?) instead of what’s on sale.
My mother and sister are Black Friday shoppers. As in the sort who sit outside the Toys R Us or Best Buy at 9pm waiting for the doors to open at 4am. They do it as a team and bring coffee, food, chairs and hold each other’s spots so they can go find a rest room, etc. They’ve gotten some really great deals out of it such as the mythical laptops for 50% off (three of which are actually in the store), Lego sets for 40% off and that sort of thing. My mother has actually gotten a $500 gift card from a high end furniture store for being first in line during one of their big sales, not counting the sale prices on the stuff she wanted.
I can’t get into it personally but they like it, have fun and usually like the other people hanging out in line with the same goals for an evening.
Though I hate it, I have mixed feelings about “Black Friday”.
I always thought it would be ideal, (if I were to have a family of my own and my wife were on board), to celebrate a Christmas-like Holiday on my own goddamn set date. I work at a popular grocery store, and the holidays are a nightmare. People are nasty, there’s no room in the back of the store, there’s no room to move out on the floor. Customers always seem to run into someone they know, and proceed to talk in the middle of a high traffic spot of the store. They care much less about the way they handle and put back things this time of year.
But you can’t blame businesses for wanting to make extra ‘bling’ during a season that, if it wasn’t for Christmas, a lot of people would stay home where it’s warm. It was slow at our store today, but I feel for the people who have to get up early for work so people can make their lives miserable.
Not all customers are bad, and some are sympathetic. It’s just that everyone, including me, is miserable. It’s only fun for the shopaholics and kids, (when they get their gifts that mom or dad waited out in the cold to get a good deal). Some people might find it fun, I find it ridiculous. Like I said, if I were a parent, I wouldn’t take away annual gift giving, I just don’t see why I would do it when everyone else is.
Think of all the street people that can stay put for a couple weeks by just saying they’re waiting for the Friday sales. After that they get harassed for camping on a business’s sidewalk.
I’m the type that goes out at like 9am to the malls, for the non-doorbuster deals.
I have a big family and we tend to do some rob your neighbor type things with price limits. I like to get the best gift I can within the price limit, so black friday is a great way to do that. Today at Macy’s I was able to get some really nice gifts for those and stay within the price limit. I also tend to buy a lot of my work clothes etc during these deals so I can buy nicer/more stuff but be able to afford it. It’s still crowded in the morning but not crazy like the 4am Walmart stuff. And the sales are still good - 50% off etc. I don’t make tons of money but I like to be able to buy people nice things and black friday sales help me do that.
And I worked a black friday before - made my only pit thread about it too. I am always a polite and patient BF shopper! I pretty much go in with no expectations or entitlements and just see what’s available and move on when things are out of stock or whatever. You have to go with the flow on BF and understand that the employees are very overwhelmed a lot of the time and under a lot of pressure. BF was one of the crappiest work days ever - 17 straight hours of stress and crazy. I still remember when they opened the doors of the store and it went from being empty to absolutely full of people in 60 seconds, it’s fucking nutty. It feels great to get a good deal but I will never camp out or trample people.
I do, and I don’t work at a school. 