Black Friday, the one time of the year that people will sit in a line for hours just to get a TV on a sale (that exact sale price probably happens a few other times each year). I have never participated in Black Friday, nor will I ever. It has never been important to me; I saw nothing special in the "holiday."

It never bothered me that just about everyone else in America lined up to get great deals on items that stores only have five of. Go for it; trample each other and fight each other for a television that you do not need.

What does bother me, however, is Gray Thursday. Black Friday competitions have become so intense that stores have gone to the extreme to make sure they get the most customers. They are now opening on Thanksgiving Day. The one day of the year we are supposed to be giving thanks for what we have and spending time with our families and loved ones. But now, people eat dinner earlier, so they can leave their loving families and get a better spot in line.

Again, this probably would not bother me, to each their own, but I now work at Target, one of the biggest competitors on Black Friday. And the Target I work at is opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. That means I have to make my family eat dinner earlier so I can go to work to help ungrateful people, pushing and shoving, yelling and cursing, just for some stinking TV or video game.

My absolute favorite part about working on Thanksgiving Day, however, would be the amount of people who come up to me and say "Aw, I am so sorry you have to work on Thanksgiving." To which I stare at them while politely thinking, It is your fault, I wouldn't have to be here if you weren't here. Unfortunately, I cannot actually say that to their face.

But it is true. If people could wait until Friday to get their awesome deals, employees of these stores would be able to spend this holiday with their families and friends.

There are many stores who are opting out of the whole Black Friday ordeal. Some of the main ones are REI, Staples, Cabela's, Nordstrom, Costco, and T.J. Maxx. These companies have my utmost respect and I wish I worked for any one of them. To me, this means they value their employees more than money, but who knows if that is the actual reason they are opting out?

I understand that participating in Black Friday is some families' traditions and they do it every year and have saved so much money and created so many memories standing in a long line while freezing their tails off. And that is great. But by making Black Friday start on Thursday, the day of Thanksgiving, it is taking so many people away from their families and traditions.

People keep telling me that at least I will be getting paid a lot for that day, but what they do not understand is that money does not make me happy. I would rather spend the holiday with my family than make mad bucks.

So how about we stop this Gray Thursday nonsense? Let's stay home with our families, enjoy the time we have together, and give thanks for all the things in our lives that we are lucky enough to call ours. Play games, laugh, argue, bond, and just be with your loved ones. And then when the clock strikes midnight, let the stores open. The deals will be the same, the amount of the items you are fighting for will be the same, and the employees will probably be happier, because they got to spend Thanksgiving how they wanted to, with the people they love.