Is it just me or does Christmas arrive a little earlier every year. Doing Thanksgiving shopping this year, I was bombarded with the tinny Christmas music in the lobby of the store along with a HUGE display of Christmas gifts. Seriously, people, just let me enjoy my Thanksgiving first. I came across this cartoon a week or two ago and it pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.
That also reminds me of this latest brouhaha on how many of these stores are opening earlier than ever for Black Friday. It seems employees are tired of their family time being cut short because they have to go to bed early to be ready for those midnight openings. I do not envy these workers a bit. Who wants to work in an environment like that. You could blame the stores, sure, and they are partly to blame. But some of us need to take a good hard look at ourselves and know that the marketers are simply meeting a customer demand. I really admire stores that are either closed Black Friday or opening at a realistic hour so that their employees can enjoy time with their families. I think I heard that Sears is opening at 4 a.m. Sure that’s still early, but it still leaves plenty of time for workers to enjoy Thanksgiving before heading to bed. If you do decide to go out at midnight Black Friday please remember to be polite and friendly to the staff and give them a sincere smile and thank you for doing a job that none of us would want to do.
Oh and in case you are wondering, I am not a Black Friday shopper. I might be brought out to shop if there is a very specific thing I’m looking for, but generally I hang out at home, watch football, and start planning for Christmas. I’ll probably even log on and shop online a little, or do some price comparison. But otherwise I’m staying in my fuzzy slippers.
