COMMENTARY | Everybody knows Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. Many people head to the stores hours before they open to stand in line for the best deals of the season. In years past, stores usually waited until about 5 a.m. to open their doors. This year, stores like Target and Wal-Mart have decided to change it up by opening hours earlier.
Wal-Mart will be opening for Black Friday deals at 10 p.m. Thursday night so shoppers can wrap up their Thanksgiving dinner with a visit to the superstore. Black Friday has suddenly morphed into Black Thursday.
Target will be opening at midnight Friday morning, a fact that has generated a petition from 190,000 from people who want to celebrate the holidays with their families. If they have to work at midnight, employees say they will have to spend the day sleeping rather than enjoying holiday festivities.
I worked as a Best Buy employee in 2004 in a busy shopping center in Northern California. Black Friday was the only day I was allowed to work overtime the entire year I spent under their employment. In fact, most of the employees were scheduled for 12-hour shifts that day. I suppose the company didn’t mind paying the extra money on a record-breaking sales day.
My shift for Black Friday was 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. When I arrived at work, there were too many people for me to count waiting outside the door. Managers had even put ropes outside to organize the lines. Once the doors opened, it took me and seven other cashiers several hours to run through the horde of early shoppers. My feet had never been so tired! By noon, I was ready to go home, but we had a steady stream of customers the entire day, even after the doorbusters.
If I were a Target employee, I would be among the first to sign that petition. At least I was able to have my Thanksgiving dinner and spend quality time with my family the day before Black Friday. I was still able to get some sleep before my big shift. Target workers won’t even get that opportunity, and they’re making sure their employers know how they feel about it. I can’t imagine my 12 hours of Black Friday chaos without a good night’s rest. This is definitely an instance where Target and other businesses are putting their business priorities over family.