For the past, 20 years or so I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for anywhere between 8 and 30 people. Each year the menu is the same, but the attendees are different. People bring boyfriends or girlfriends, they move away, they get married and go to their in-laws. They get divorced and come back. They travel, or they don't feel like travelling. They come because we are their family, or because their family is too far away. The menu is always the same, but the crowd is different because everyone's needs, circumstances or desires change.
I have never been a Black Friday shopper for a variety of reasons. It used to be that I had to go to work (in an office, not a store) on Friday. It seems to come as a shock to many people, but Friday is not a given extension of Thanksgiving. The NYSE is open, so was my office. I didn't really mind this, mainly because it left my husband to do the bulk of the Thanksgiving cleanup. Today, I no longer work in an office, but I still don't shop on Black Friday. Nothing could put me less in the Christmas spirit than fighting over parking spots and the last "must have" gift on the shelves. For the record, I am very much a December 26th shopper, but that's all about me.
Stores, like most businesses, exist to make a profit. They spend ridiculous amounts of money to analyze shoppers, their desires and their habits. In the past several years, Black Friday has creeped into Thursday at what many people feel is an alarming rate. All over social media, retailers are decried for being against family time for their employees. "No one should have to be away from their family on Thanksgiving," people protest. Hey, guess what...doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and correctional officers all work on Thanksgiving. What's that you say? Those are necessary and important jobs. Ok, what about waiters and waitresses in restaurants that serve Thanksgiving dinners, casino workers, grocery store workers (so thankful for them when you realize you don't have cranberry sauce), and convenience store workers?
The "public outrage" over retail employees having to work at some point on Thanksgiving day is incomprehensible to me. I just read a change.org petition from someone saying they will no longer be able to spend Thanksgiving with their family because they have to work at Target. Target's website says they open at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Assuming that employees might have to be there at 5:00 p.m. to prepare for the crowds, it seems to me that for most people, there is time in the day to spend with family and or friends. Besides, who says Thanksgiving must be celebrated on the last Thursday in November. How about Wednesday or Sunday...whatever day works for you. Christmas is a more significant holiday and people alter their celebration of it all the time. We celebrate Christmas with my in-laws on the 24th and at home on the 25th. My neighbor celebrates with her family on Christmas, and her in-laws on the Saturday after Christmas.
The bottom line is this, stores open on Thanksgiving not because they are evil corporations who want to treat employees badly. They open because that's when people want to shop. If you don't like it, stop shopping on Thursday and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Don't demonize businesses for doing what they exist to do...provide goods and services to people who want them, when they want them. Instead of expressing your moral outrage over the situation, bake an extra turkey and invite some people over who can't be with their biological family this holiday for whatever reason.
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