With the beginning of November returning, the talk of "Black Friday" is also coming back. Where did the term Black Friday come from? That is the one question I always seem to ask myself every November when major retailers begin to release their Black Friday Ads. According to Huff Post Business,the term "Black Friday" actually originated from the Philadelphia Police Department (who were not having profitability as the idea). In the 1960s, many stores would want the two days after Thanksgiving to be profitable, so they would release "amazing sales." These "great deals" would cause mayhem and headaches for the Philadelphia Police Department as crowds of people would come in hordes traveling to the downtown stores. Roads and sidewalks would become blocked by the herds of people. The Philadelphia Police Department had the hopes that the name "Black Friday" would sway people from going out because of its unpleasant sound. The exact opposite happened. It wasn't until the 1980s that society (and retailers) began to adopt today’s meaning of "Black Friday."

This is a time of the year where we have been taught, since we were kids, to be thankful for the things we have and the people we have in our lives… Although now we do that and later will go out and trample someone for a $100 television set that is on sale. Thanks to http://blackfridaydeathcount.com/,there is an official total count of the amount of people that have been killed – 7 – and the amount of people that have been injured – 98 – during black Friday events nationwide.

A recent trend that has been growing is to start Black Friday on the actual day of Thanksgiving. This idea of "Black Thursday" has been blown out of proportion by major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, who open their stores at 6 pm or earlier on Thanksgiving. While these three are not the only ones participating in the idea of "Black Thursday," they are some of the most influential supporters. Once these major retailers (and others) started to open on Thanksgiving, many smaller stores began to follow suit, releasing their Black Friday ads in early November, showing that they will be open on Thanksgiving, too.

In late 2013 and early 2014, many people on social networking sites began to complain how these retailers were taking advantage of their workers by making them work on Thanksgiving. People within our society began to speak out saying that these major retailers were not treating their employees like people with family, but treating them like workaholic robots. With these crazy sales and retailers supporting it, a new trend was born. In an article published by Huffington Post,they called this craze a "War on Thanksgiving." It quickly crossed our nation through social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; customers were pledging not to shop at certain stores or pledging to not shop at all during Black Thursday/Friday to protest these retailers and the abuse to their workers. Once this idea of boycotting Black Thursday/Friday started to be noticed nationally, 13 major retailers (Black Thursday/Friday 2014) decided to be closed on Thanksgiving. These retailers were Costco, Marshalls, Barnes & Noble, GameStop, T.J. Maxx, Neiman Marcus, Burlington Coat Factory, Nordstrom, Dillard's, REI, American Girl, Sam's Club and Patagonia. These few retailers sent out statements saying how they will not be open on Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off to spend with their families, or saying that "it is a holiday, so we are going to treat it like one."

Now a year later November has come once again, and stores have been starting to release their ads for black Thursday/Friday, we are seeing a change in when these stores are opening. The major stores are beginning to realize that it is bad for their customer basis to open earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving. This year, major retailers have released statements saying that they refuse to open on Thanksgiving this year, to preserve the time that is allotted to their employees and their employees families.

Here is a list where you can find the stores that are going to be closed on Thanksgiving. (so far)

- http://www.theblackfriday.com/stores-closed-on-tha...

- http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/thanksgiv...

You can also find a Facebook page that is dedicated to "boycotting" the retailers that are open on the day of Thanksgiving. Here is the link to that page. This page has also created a "naughty" and "nice" list, this list contains the stores that are open and the stores that are closed on the day of Thanksgiving.

As a Black Friday shopper AND a past Black Thursday/Friday Worker I can say that working Black Thursday/Friday is never fun for the employees you are yelling at. Everyone knows that when you have a job, your duty is to work when they schedule you (not counting unforeseen circumstances), but it still is not easy, knowing that your family is together having a nice relaxing holiday and you just had to call the manager - or worse the cops - because two "smart" people wanted to fight over the last item on sale.

Take this piece of advice...

Be kind to the workers you will encounter this Black Thursday/Friday because you are the one choosing to be out - and away from your family - on Black Thursday/Friday they HAVE to be away from their family.

Retailers head this warning...

Times are changing. The people are fighting back for what they want. I foresee a change in the Black Thursday trend, be ready.

What do you guys think? Do you think that all retailers should be closed on Thanksgiving? The whole day or should they are allowed to open after 6 pm? Should black Friday be just on Friday? Do you think this is really a "War on Thanksgiving?"