According to THIS article Walmart has joined a list of other retailers to announce they are opening on Thanksgiving day.
Most of the news stories and pundits are clutching their pearls over this issue because someone in our society had the image that Thanksgiving still looks like this…
… when in fact, it looks more like this…
… but for many, myself included; Thanksgiving looks like this…
As a person who worked numerous holiday seasons in retail and as a person who takes “freedom of choice” seriously… so the stores want to open on Thanksgiving… so what? Obviously there must be people who WANT to shop and I guarantee you there are people who WANT to work. It takes all kinds of people to work a society.
Enjoy your holiday in whatever way you want. If it really bothers you what OTHER people are doing… perhaps you need a better hobby?
I will be working my way through Season three of Star Trek: Enterprise with the phone nearby as I will be the on-call social worker for my county that week. I sincerely hope I don’t get a call to respond to Walmart where someone has abandoned their child in their fervor to get that 72” television.
I so agree with you. I still strive for that first picture of Thanksgiving, and, indeed, there will be an opportunity to take it around here. But not to be critical of those who want to join there fellow bargain seekers fighting for some bit of worldly goods.
ReplyDeleteI just hope the workers are volunteers and not 'forced' to work or lose their job. But that would be a good thing any day.
Having worked in retail for over 20 years this really pisses me off. It's not needed and puts huge stress on the employees. The reduced hours of being closed one day, don't affect anyone's pay - most are pt anyway and so must extra staffing is needed that no one hurts for hours. And I really really hate the midnight madness sales and super extended shopping hours - they really don't increase sales but if you don't do it then the money goes somewhere else so you have to. Peer pressure sucks.
ReplyDeleteI loved running a district in NJ for almost a year bc at the time, half of my stores were in areas that still had 'blue laws' and were closed every sunday. I think those laws have since been changed.
As a manager or District Manager there is really only one day a year that you can completely relax - Easter. Almost everyone is still closed and there are no pre or post sales.
I know this is rambling but I don't feel like making sense. How are you doing? How goes the recovery?