Every year the lines get blurred more and more about when the Black "Friday" sales are going to start happening. From my understanding, Friday really means Friday, not Thursday early evening. Each year the times that these stores open start encroaching more and more on Thanksgiving meals because each store wants to make more money than the one next to it and they want to beat out their other franchised stores because they want to be known as the best around, but can that really be achieved? I have never worked in the retail business- unless you count a couple of floor sets at American Eagle- but it just seems outrageous to me that places are requiring their employees to give up time with their family just so they can make more money. So this year, why don't we all just skip Black Friday for these reasons:
1. Spend more time with your family
You literally get one day that is about being thankful for the friends and family that you have around you. Why would you give it up just to go stand in a line and possibly come out of it with a black eye because you got elbowed in the face trying to grab the last XBOX?
2. The crowds are ridiculous
Every year they grow by the hundreds. Parking is stressful, the store is stressful, and most of all the traffic is stressful. Why put yourself through that?
3. Cyber Monday has better deals and you can do it from the comfort of your own home
What is better than shopping in your PJs? You get to sit at home, drink your coffee, and not fight over the gifts. Also, they send it to you in a box most of the time so all you have to do is check to make sure the product is okay and then wrap it up in that box, AKA spends less on Christmas wrapping.
4. Allow the workers to enjoy a day off with their families
Literally, one of my cousins who works in retail has to leave our Thanksgiving lunch at a certain time so he can be at the mall by 5:00 PM. These people who work almost every day for you aren't even allowed a day off because somewhere up the line people thought it was a good idea to totally ruin Thanksgiving with shopping.
5. Are some of the deals really even that great
If you look at it, the only GREAT deals are the doorbusters and how many people get those, the first 100 people in line? After that, they have pretty much marked up all of the prices so that they can mark them down and still make money off of you because you are willing to buy into the business.
6. You're less likely to have your car broken into
The number of break-ins that happen on "Black Friday" has gotten astronomical. Literally by 11:00 AM I can turn on any news station and there is some reporter talking to a group of people about their cars being broken into because they had something that somebody else wasn't able to get.
7. Small Business Saturday
America was founded on family businesses and supporting local stores, so why not make our way back to it? They are the foundation of our country yet we feed into the large corporations that we all have learned to hate because of what they stand for and how they all treat their employees below them. So, get out there and support your local stores and feed your local economy.
8. Your Bed
What can be better than having a nice long sleep in your cozy bed after a day filled with eating enough food to feed a small army the day before? I'll go ahead and answer that for you, absolutely nothing. It will always be the best place to be at any and all times.
So what are you going to do on your Black Friday? Save your money or risk a blackeye for that can't live without doorbuster Kitchen Aid?
