Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Shitting on Black Thursday? (two anons)



 Black Friday on Black Thursday?



The newest trend for Black Friday shopping seems to be stores opening earlier and earlier. Some stores even are beginning to open as early as Thursday night. That Thursday night, November 26th, is Thanksgiving though, as you all should know. This new coming tradition of Thursday’s Black Friday is becoming more and more ridiculous. Americans need to realize this outrageous tradition is getting out of hand and need to wait to deal shop until the actual date of Friday, November 27th.
            First off, the biggest issue of a store being open on Thanksgiving evening is that it prevents all employees from spending this holiday with family. How can the Thursday night workers be thankful for what they have when they are forced to be around greedy deal shoppers? I work in retail myself, and from experience I have found that Black Friday shopping changes the moods of some customers for the worst. Attitudes and arguments over certain items on Thanksgiving eve only takes away from the true purpose of the holiday: giving thanks for what you have.
Secondly, retail stores opening earlier on Thursday seem to think that means crowds and lines of people will become shorter. This is not the truth, all it does is make those extreme sale shoppers come earlier and earlier in those same long length lines. Similarly to workers being away from family on Thanksgiving, the people who go out shopping on Thanksgiving eve are being torn away from loved ones as well. It seems as though some super deal shoppers just cannot resist that urge to be that first customer to go out and get every item on their list.
To conclude, it seems that the tradition of Black Friday shopping is turning into a holiday itself – the worst part being that this “holiday” is beginning to overlap with the more important holiday: Thanksgiving. In the end, all people out in retail stores on this special evening, both workers and shoppers, are losing out on precious family time and bonding over the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I strongly suggest that when debating whether or not to go out deal shopping on this Thanksgiving eve, you instead decide to wait until the actual Black Friday to continue the tradition.

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Black Friday Turned Black Thursday 

            Is it just me or do you feel like Black Friday should start on FRIDAY??? Everyday, I see commercials for Black Friday sales starting on Thanksgiving…… How is this appropriate? Is our western culture really so obsessed with saving a couples bucks that they would abandon their family on an important holiday? I get it maybe having your sales start at a time like 10 or 11p.m. on Thanksgiving because then most family gatherings are dispersed. But no, almost every store I’ve seen is starting at 4-6 p.m. If they are already starting that early, I wonder what they will be like a few years from now. With such early sale times, it also increases the number of employees they need for Thanksgiving night. It’s unfair to ruin the people’s holiday who aren’t even there for the sales. I just see this holiday turning into one about shopping and wanting more things rather than coming together with family and being thankful for what you have in that moment. Black Friday totally ruins the idea of THANKSgiving. It makes me upset because it seems as though our culture is pretending.
            Some opposers might say that Thanksgiving is just a day and we have the chance to be with family any day of the year and that this is one day of sales only happens once a year. I find that to be false because Thanksgiving is a holiday and therefore many get a day off from their busy schedules. It’s a day when everyone has off and is meant to be spent together. Another opposition might be that the reason they go Black Friday shopping is to buy Christmas presents for the family they just left so it's fine. Does anyone feel like that is wrong too? I mean are the savings really worth it. Christmas is another holiday where it is not about presents and things but being with your loved ones. Don’t get me wrong, I love Black Friday and going shopping. It’s definitely an experience but, I think the stores should stick to standards or almost have rules when it comes to Black Friday. Once they start to change sale times, shoppers think they are missing out. Therefore, it should be a change the stores have to do. They should respect the Thanksgiving holiday.

4 comments:

  1. why do u fucking care about this? of all the things inthe world, this!?

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  2. I don't think these two writers are wrong to be concerned with this. I, too, find some problems in this. However (I now speak to the writers), I would encourage you to take your thinking a bit further than this. I agree that this is a problem, but why is it? We might inherently take it as a bad thing that people would rather go shopping or have to work retail instead of spending time with family on Thanksgiving, but what is it that dictates this is a negative thing? Do you think we as a society have developed to care more about material objects as opposed to sitting down with family? If so, why would this have happened? What would these values say about people today and what might be the consequences be if we continue following this way of life? And should Thanksgiving necessarily hold that much weight to begin with in today's society, given the origins of Thanksgiving? Could we be just mindlessly following old traditions that aren't necessarily important anymore? These types of questions would further the meaning behind your analysis of this problem.

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  3. fuck thanksgiving. who cares about it really? if stores wnat to open early, who are u to quesiotn that and is it negative? if people want to go to these stores then fine. u can stay home if u want on thanksgiving. but u act as if people have no choice

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  4. Who am I to question it? I'm a human being who has both the ability and every right to question the world and society around me. If everyone had the attitude to "just mind their own business" in the way you are suggesting by saying "u can stay home if u want on thanksgiving" and are encouraging me to not question it, no one would make any progress towards anything, ever. Too many people think of everything only as it effects themselves and no one else, and this has been shown to be a serious problem. For example, that would be why progress is rarely made through our political system.

    It certainly appears that people have a choice to go to the store or not. In a way, you're right about that. However, many employees that work at that time don't really have a choice. They either work on this day and miss spending the holiday with their family, or they get fired and cannot pay their bills. It's still a choice between those, but it certainly has additional force added in one way. And in addition to the employees, I was trying to get at what the reasons are for so many people feeling the overwhelming desire or need to go out shopping that day. Sure, it's a choice, but buying a bunch of material objects for the holidays has a feel of obligation to it. Perhaps the feeling of obligation is what encourages people to spend the time shopping as opposed to at home with family? Who knows. There are many different arguments that could be made for this.

    All I'm saying is that this is worth thinking through and looking into. Most things are, as opposed to taking everything at face value. I don't have an overwhelming attachment to Thanksgiving specifically, but questioning the reasons behind circumstances/rules/beliefs or ideas leads to a well thought out, thus better conclusion.

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