# Will you go shopping on Black Thanksgiving? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362 "2012-11-18T00:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/41 "2012-11-18T18:08:07Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I just felt a need to point out that every Thanksgiving is Black Thanksgiving in my family. > > Carry on. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/42 "2012-11-18T19:23:26Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > No for all of your reasons. I won’t shop on Thanksgiving Day because I think it’s unfair for retailers to be open when their employees would rather be enjoying some time with their families. As for why I’m staying home on Black Friday: > > [ul] > [li]The deals just aren’t that good except for a tiny number of super-hot items[/li][li]I’d have to be up all night to get at those hot items[/li][li]I hate crowds[/li][li]I don’t like shopping on that day because everything is trying to push me to consume on that specific day, and it’s irritating[/li][li]Most of my Christmas shopping is already done anyway[/li][li]I mostly shop online[/li][/ul] I could’ve written this myself except for the part about the shopping being mostly done. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/43 "2012-11-18T19:23:59Z")
The OP should have had “other” as a choice. I’m not going, but not because I “hate” crowds. It’s just that I work at home and have a flexible schedule. It doesn’t seem fair for me to take up a parking space, a cashier’s time, etc., on a day when people who might not otherwise have shopping time must go. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/44 "2012-11-18T22:55:18Z")
Maybe I would be better off if I comparison shopped but I dont. I don’t seek out sales. I certainly wouldn’t fight crowds for one. My ex would go out on Friday and I would watch the kids. I doubt she would even think of doing it Thursday. I’ll be sleeping in. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/45 "2012-11-18T23:02:45Z")
No. I’m not American. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/46 "2012-11-18T23:08:22Z")
I went with my crazy Thank-God-Soon-To-Be-Ex-Sister-In-Law. Once. That was enough. I hate crowds, I don’t wake up early for anything unnecessary, and I now associate Black Thurs/Friday shopping with someone I really, really, really dislike. Oh, and I hate shopping. I average going to the mall every two years or so, usually only because one of the kids has requested something I can’t find anywhere else. Walmart gives me hives on a good day. Not only no, but hell no. Cyber Monday is where it’s at. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/47 "2012-11-18T23:16:00Z")
No. I’m perfectly fine with stores being open on Thanksgiving, but there’s no way I’d deal with the crowds. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/48 "2012-11-19T01:10:15Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The OP should have had “other” as a choice. I originally considered having a simple ‘Yes’ ‘No’ and ‘Maybe,’ but these polls are really more about garnering information about others rather than getting all the questions to cover ever possible alrerative. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/49 "2012-11-19T01:51:48Z")
Nah. Just being in stores during the general December Christmas rush is annoying enough. If I can’t afford expensive gifts I get less expensive gifts. If there’s something I want for myself I will wait til January or buy online. And I don’t know enough to say, but I suspect most of these sales are more scams than deals. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/50 "2012-11-19T02:07:25Z")
No and HELL NO. I can see a grocery store being open early in the day for last minute purchases (that was the case when I had my first job – we closed at 2pm and it was all volunteer), but there’s no fucking way I’d shop on the fucking _Thanksgiving Day_. For one thing, it’s THANKSGIVING, and I’m going to my grandmother’s. And it’s totally not fair to have people working and missing a major holiday just so some greedy assholes can make more money, and take advantage of the cheap and the stupid. (You can bet those who decided to stay open aren’t going into work those days!) I’ve never gone shopping on Black Friday, either, not after working then. Ugh. (Remember two or three years ago, when that Walmart employee died in a stampede in a doorbuster sale?) ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/51 "2012-11-19T02:08:48Z")
I’m philosophically opposed to stores starting the commercial orgy ON Thanksgiving, partially because Thanksgiving is the one family-oriented national holiday we have in the US that isn’t religion-specific. It seems a shame to make yet more low-paid employees suffer so that crazy people can ignore the holiday and crap on their families’ plans in order to fight strangers over consumer goods one day earlier than usual. It’s a little intellectually dishonest of me to say that I won’t shop on Thanksgiving because of all that, though. I wouldn’t be caught dead in any store but the grocery (if absolutely necessary) any time from Wednesday through Sunday this week because I can’t stand the crowds. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/52 "2012-11-19T02:16:57Z")
I thought I was going to have to go this year to buy a new TV, but we found what my husband wanted and nothing comparable was going to be on sale so we just went ahead and bought it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/53 "2012-11-19T05:57:11Z")
I don’t go Black Friday either. I said because of crowds, but on Thanksgiving not making people lose their holiday is just as much of a reason. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/54 "2012-11-19T15:54:19Z")
No, and here’s my reasoning: My enthusiasm for Christmas has waned considerably over the past decade. Mrs. Homie and I used to enthusiastically compose our Christmas lists and then buy for each other (and our families) with glee. However, since those days, Mrs. Homie has gone from being a church-going Christian to an agnostic seeking the right path (I remain a church-going Christian). We also have considerably less money than we did in those days, and our home is so cluttered that we don’t even have a place to put a Christmas tree. Other than going to visit her family (mine will be on vacation in Florida) for the customary visit, Christmas will be a non-issue in the Homie house. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/55 "2012-11-19T16:02:29Z")
No, because of the crowds and because it’s stupid to make the workers work on Thanksgiving night. Retailers have to keep pushing and pushing things earlier. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/56 "2012-11-19T16:35:05Z")
Nope, but not for any of those reasons. I don’t have money to shop. I also notice you didn’t include the opposite answer: yes, because I want to save money, and the deals will be gone by Friday if I wait. (It doesn’t matter if you celebrate the material part of Christmas or not.) And wouldn’t Black Thursday be a better term to illustrate the concept? Black Thanksgiving sounds like a special holiday for African Americans, like how some (often racist) people call Kwanzaa “Black Christmas.” BTW, I voted “No, I hate the crowds” because if it weren’t for the crowds, I might at least go and look. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/57 "2012-11-19T18:09:17Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > \ Black Thanksgiving sounds like a special holiday for African Americans, To me, it seems that ‘Black Friday’ was coined as a term because there was no other specific quality associated with that day. It’s just the day after Thanksgiving… a day when many stores have big sales to launch the Holiday shopping season. I am specifically talking about sales designed to happen on Thanksgiving, so—while Thanksgiving and Thursday are inextricably related—the blackness applies to the holiday rather than the day. I can see your point that since the qualities of Black Friday are being applied to some other day, the appropriate term should be Black _day-of-the-week-to-which-the-similarity-applies_. Since I tend to be the kind of person who thinks that _niggardly_ is a perfectly acceptable (if sesquipedalian) way of saying: stingy, I’m not going to shy away from terminology because someone might strain to find some racist connotation. Which isn’t to say that it’s the best turn-of-phrase to describe the Christmas Creep and unabashed consumerism. (BTW—I’m with you on the lack of money front. Maybe I should have included that as an option.) ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/58 "2012-11-19T18:55:53Z")
HELL NO should have been an option… No explanation needed. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/59 "2012-11-19T19:40:15Z")
The day after Thanksgiving is meant for lounging around the house, drinking, eating leftovers, drinking, gabbing with family, drinking and drinking. Black Friday and Black Thanksgiving hold no interest for me in terms of sales and I don’t support anything that results in more people than absolutely necessary having to forego their Friday lounging in order to keep society running. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362/60 "2012-11-19T21:50:59Z")
I will go out shopping on Thanksgiving, but I don’t know if you’d consider it Black Thanksgiving shopping. Near my parents’ house, there’s a Christmas-themed store that opens on Thanksgiving evening (and has done so for the past several decades). For as long as I can remember, we’ve gone out there after dinner to pick up an advent calendar, greeting cards, and maybe a new ornament, if they’re selling any particularly nice ones that year. There are usually a bunch of other shoppers, but it’s not a madhouse or anything, and everyone’s in a pretty good mood. So, I voted “Yes, and let me explain,” although “Yes, I love the ceremony and the thrill of the crowds” actually describes it fairly closely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-go-shopping-on-black-thanksgiving/641362.md?page=2)