Who's Going Shopping On Black Thursday? — Page 2

I do feel badly for people who really don't want to work and have to.

But there are a lot of jobs that require workers 24/7/365.

Hotels
Hospitals
Law Enforcement
Etc.

And then there are the restaurants that serve T-day menus.

I mean it sucks, but it's part of the deal I guess.

For what it's worth when I worked in hotels in NY I always had to work the holidays. I also did it as a favor to my co-workers so they could stay home with their families.

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My understanding is that each employee of those stores is required to work one shift during Thanksgiving/Black Friday.

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I used to work for Bath and Body Works. Black Friday is *the* biggest day (besides the sale periods, which is a whole other topic). We would set up on Wednesday, have Thursday off, and then be at the store at about 4AM to get all the smaller stuff done. Doors opened at 6AM and it never stopped.

Question for you, Jordan, and everyone else really.

Do you see movies on Thanksgiving and Christmas? Those people are probably not getting holiday pay. Those people are making minimum wage.

What's the difference between Black Friday and seeing movies?

I'd like to think this all works out to everyone's advantage--that shifts are balanced so that those who want to can see their families; that holiday workers get a little extra pay; that consumers can shop at a time convenient to them; and that the economy gets a boost from holiday shopping.

It's clearly a complicated issue.

with unemployment so high, im sure they could find plenty of people grateful to work those days

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I've worked many a Thanksgiving both in retail and grocery stores, and it really sucks, but I am not ungrateful at all for having done so. I think my fondest memory of working on Thanksgiving was the year I worked seasonal at the Disney Store, and despite it being a mad house in Times Square, it wasn't quite a big a chore as other previous Thanksgiving shifts had been.

I currently work in another Disney Store in a mall, and it's up in the air whether we'll have to come in earlier than anticipated. I'd much prefer coming in later on (post-dinner/parade, etc) in the evening than having to work during the morning-mid-afternoon during which all of that is occurring.

Most holidays (as someone above pointed out) are the time and half variety, so those who do work get paid more for their time. So, it's sort of a suck it up and it's worth it type of thing, especially (as someone mentioned) with unemployment as high as it is.

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Updated On: 11/12/13 at 04:20 PM

This is good to hear

I guess my biggest pet peeve about Black Friday shopping is the fights people get into over stuff or stampedes into the stores. I mean, people have gotten killed that way. It's scary. I mean, is that a good way to spend a day that you are supposed to reflect on what you are thankful for?

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I am a Jew so I don't do Christmas shopping but research has proven that the best days to get those great deals on electronics and such is not Black Thursday or Friday but rather the weekend before Christmas when stores mark any unsold merchandise down to the bare minimum.

I used to volunteer to work on Thanksgiving when I waited tables. It might as well have been double pay. We had a special menu and people were generous.

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Updated On: 11/13/13 at 08:25 AM

I love the Onion.

I have a friend who worked for Best Buy for years and always got stuck working Thanksgiving night through Black Friday(12 hour shift). The one bright side is that they get a % off any of the deals for that weekend and get paid double time(for him I think it was around $20/hour last year).

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