Black Friday

This week I learned that Target is opening up at midnight on Black Friday. Seriously, Target? Do you HAVE to open at midnight? Welllll, technically it's listed in the news as 12:01 am on Friday. If that's Target's way of trying to make themselves look better by not "technically" opening on Thanksgiving night, it's not working. Then Wal-Mart announced 10pm. And, I just heard a couple of days ago that Toys R Us is opening at 9pm. Are you freakin' kidding me? I am so, so happy to be spending holiday season 2011 not working in retail. It is the first time in 20 years that I won't be missing one single family party or Christmas event. I get that companies are trying to make as much money as they can this holiday season in an uncertain economy. Makes sense. But I don't know that the people who make these decisions understand the impact it has on the morale of the employees that work in these fine establishments. The days going into Black Friday are rough. Let me break it down for you. First of all, Store Managers typically work a "late" shift on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Usually we do this to make sure that everything is wired for BF. This means that we could leave anywhere between 10pm Wednesday night and 6am on Thanksgiving Day. In 20 years of retail, I have had Thanksgiving dinner with my family maybe twice. Maybe. You're usually so exhausted that you just opt out of dinner - I can't imagine being the one to have to do the cooking. If you work for a company who opens at....let's say 9pm on Thanksgiving night....you have to be at the store by 7pm at the latest. The only good thing about Black Friday is that the day FLIES by. 14 hours later, you're back home and dead on your feet. Yes, I know that working retail was a choice. And there are a lot of good things about working retail, but the holidays are rough enough. Why 9pm on Thanksgiving night?? It's ridiculous. Which is why I'm boycotting Black Friday. I am okay with boycotting Toys R Us and Wal-Mart altogether this holiday season. Honestly, I don't really shop there anyways. But it would be too tough for me to boycott Target. I love me some Target. But I definitely won't be there Black Friday.