Originally Posted By skinnerbox Here's a quick little LP WE poll to take your minds off T-Day prep and last-minute shopping with overly crowded stores because no one in your neighborhood is working this week! OK... are you participating in one or more of the following: Black Thursday Black Friday Small Business Saturday Cyber Monday Is anyone actively boycotting any of these? Count me as part of the "YES!" to SBS and CM crowd and "No Way" to BF and most definitely BT. T-Day is for being with your friends and family and giving thanks for having at least one day off before the holiday shopping crunch.
Originally Posted By ecdc I'm appalled that stores will be open on Thanksgiving. At the risk of going all liberal boilerplate, the whole thing smacks of catering to the well off at the expense of the working poor. Having Thanksgiving and Christmas off are one of the few "perks" of a retail job. Seriously, people need to grow up and just learn to live without shopping for one day.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Try these hours .. in my neck of the woods: Warringah Mall in Brookvale (North of Sydney)- Was once the largest mall in the southern hemisphere, Sundays - 11am to 4pm (just recently updated to close at 5) Monday thru Wednesday - 9am to 5pm Thursdays - 9am to 9pm Fridays & Saturdays - 9am to 5pm Like the normal type of hours shops had in America .. before the invention of the "mall". Oh .. and Christmas Day & Boxing Day (26th) shut! But retailers are out to copy America! So far, people are holding their ground here in Australia .. to be able to work in Retail, and still have a life!
Originally Posted By oc_dean I am absolutely appalled what is going on in my home country. We never heard of such "Black Friday" madness 10 years ago. It's a fairly new invention .. that's now carried out .. as if it's been part of Retail History a hundred or more years, now. I thought it was fine if businesses rolled out sales the day after Thanksgiving. Now people camp out in front of stores up to DAYS before Friday (some care not about spending time at home, over a home cooked meal). And open at 12 midnight. Way wait till the stroke of midnight for the new day? Welcome now - To Shopping ON Thanksgiving Day! Last year when I was home in California .. I'm walking out of Best Buy at Westminster Mall .. and I could help but to roll my eyes at the people with their camping tents at Best Buy's front door DAYS before Thanksgiving. Is the savings of just a few bucks really worth camping out the whole week of Thanksgiving? I think some people have forgotten there is life beyond 'retail'!
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>I'm appalled that stores will be open on Thanksgiving. At the risk of going all liberal boilerplate, the whole thing smacks of catering to the well off at the expense of the working poor. Having Thanksgiving and Christmas off are one of the few "perks" of a retail job. Seriously, people need to grow up and just learn to live without shopping for one day.<<< Although I do totally understand your feelings about giving the "working poor" a break, however, you have to really understand that the "working poor" do not necessarily get paid to be off that day. So in effect the desire to have them be at home with their families means a days less pay and therefore more hardships. For the vast majority of them, having Thanksgiving off, is not much of a perk, when the collectors are at the door. Whenever, we try to put ourselves in someone else's shoes we have to make sure we know what size shoes they wear. We all my collectively make the stand that it is unfair that they don't get paid for not working, but such is the plight of the working poor.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>For the vast majority of them, having Thanksgiving off, is not much of a perk, when the collectors are at the door.<< Based on the response I've seen, most of these people don't want to be working on Thanksgiving. I'm sure there are exceptions who would love the hours, but let's not go assuming that we're somehow doing them a favor by trampling through a Walmart or a Target on Thursday. I really cannot believe I live in a country where people complain about a "war on Christmas" then make their holidays nothing but crass commercialism. I guess I'll just have to do all of my shopping at Costco and Apple. At least they're closed.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Is the savings of just a few bucks really worth camping out the whole week of Thanksgiving?*** Given the fact that that if they simply took a minimum wage part-time job in the interim they could afford to pay full price (with money to spare, most likely), it's especially silly.
Originally Posted By dagobert I feel really sorry for the paople who have to work in Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving Day for the Black Friday craziness. Wal-Mart opens at 6pm, people can't even celebrate that holiday. I always thought even Wal Mart is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I guess I was wrong. Do people get at least a higher payment on these days? Honestly I'm happy that over here shops are closed on holidays and Sundays and that they aren't open 24/. It must be possible to do your shopping on from 7:30am to 7pm five days a week and on Saturday from 8am to 6pm. I work full time and have plenty of time to get my things.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I'm flying to Rome on Thursday, so I guess that means no to them all, although I could do CM I guess. Something tells me that I'll be busy doing something else though.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Hopefully we'll be able to make it through Black Friday without a fatality this year.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I worked in retail for over 22 years. Thanksgiving was always a paid day off. Same for Christmas. I am so glad I am out of that line of work for oh so many reasons, however.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>I worked in retail for over 22 years. Thanksgiving was always a paid day off. Same for Christmas. I am so glad I am out of that line of work for oh so many reasons, however.<<< I totally depends on where you work, how long you have worked there and if you are full time or not. Most retail these days are not full time. There are a large number of people that are hired to just cover the holiday sales time. They do not get paid days off.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I really cannot believe I live in a country where people complain about a "war on Christmas" then make their holidays nothing but crass commercialism.<< +1000 And they allow the merchants to define when the "holiday season" begins. For instance: most people think that the "12 Days of Christmas" precede Christmas Day, when in fact, they follow it. Of course, after Christmas its too late to sell stuff, so we allowed the merchants to redefine Advent, which is the 4 week period before Christmas, as "Christmastime", when in fact it is Christmas's equivalent of Lent, a time for introspection.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Although I do totally understand your feelings about giving the "working poor" a break, however, you have to really understand that the "working poor" do not necessarily get paid to be off that day.<< Given that they will most likely be working their butts off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and getting extra hours anyway, maybe, just maybe, they would prefer to spend the holiday at home. I am fortunate enough, both to not work in retail and to get paid time off, which allowed me to take the whole week off and relax on a relaxing "Staycation". I categorically refuse to set foot in a store on Thanksgiving. That anyone would want to shop on that day blows my mind. For me, that's a day to be with my family, watch the parade, watch the dog show, maybe watch some football, help prepare the meal and enjoy it with my family and friends. Go shopping? There are hundreds of days to do that.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I don't think retailers are getting anything more than they would simply by opening up on Friday as usual (well, "Black Friday" usual anyway). It's not like shoppers suddenly have an increased holiday shopping budget. They may spend it all up this weekend rather than over the next couple of weeks, but it's the same amount of money. Then we'll start reading reports of how holiday sales are disappointing or lackluster. >>I really cannot believe I live in a country where people complain about a "war on Christmas" then make their holidays nothing but crass commercialism.<< This. A thousand times, this.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>OK... are you participating in one or more of the following: Black Thursday Black Friday Small Business Saturday Cyber Monday<< No to all of the above. There's no urgency because retailers have taught me that there will be the same bargains and markdowns right on down to Christmas eve.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>No way I'm shopping on Thanksgiving either.<<< See now there you go. If you could convince enough people to not go out shopping on Thanksgiving, it would all end abruptly. We are blaming merchants for all this and yet, if we didn't go to it, they wouldn't spend the money to be open. Which one is responsible, them or us.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I don't go to any retailer but grocery stores between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love me some Amazon. Unlike the hoity toity stores, Amazon doesn't care if I shop without wearing pants.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Unlike the hoity toity stores, Amazon doesn't care if I shop without wearing pants.<< LOL!
