by Jordie Smith
Every year when November rolls around many families share excitement for the holidays. Some people get excited for large family gatherings and the opportunity to come together and grub down on some turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving. Some just jump straight ahead to Christmas. To most people November is about giving thanks to friends and family, but does that mindset change after the last bite of Thanksgiving dinner?
The day after Thanksgiving started as a day where hundreds of stores would place extreme sales on items in order for families to stock up on gifts for the holidays. If you participate in these holidays, you know this day is known as Black Friday. Black Friday used to begin early morning, the day after Thanksgiving. However, over the past few years Black Friday has transformed into Black Thanksgiving.
Most Black Friday sales now start either on the day of Thanksgiving or throughout the entire week leading up to Black Friday. Although this may be a huge perk to Christmas shoppers, or even a great benefit for the stores who participate, many still complain about the early Black Friday sales.
Employees who work during these Black Friday sales may have completely opposite views on the “benefits” of early sales. Now, I do not know this from experience, but from what I see there are many downfalls to the whole “Black Friday” idea.
“The worst thing is just cranky, rude people who are inconsiderate that we are missing time with our family so that they can shop,” Herbergers’ employee Brooke Lucero said.
Now, Black Friday isn’t all bad, because it does allow families to get in some early Christmas shopping before the holiday season is in full swing. I think it’s great that we have a day where prices are bumped down.
What I do not agree with are the hours being pushed back earlier and earlier.
“In my opinion Black Friday shouldn’t start until 5 a.m. [on Black Friday] for all stores. That eliminates competition, and people will still come shop,” Lucero said.
Throughout my life Thanksgiving and Christmas have been about coming together with my entire family (or most of them) and enjoying each others’ company. I had never gone Black Friday shopping until last year, and I hated it.
Not all people experience the same, but from what I gathered, people become greedy and rude on the very day we should all be showing thanks and gratitude towards what we all already have.
Depending on how we look at it, Black Friday can be considered a contradictory event that completely turns the meaning of Thanksgiving around. I am not against Black Friday, but I am against how extreme the day has become over the past few years, and how it affects many families’ holidays.
