Oh Black Friday, I loath thee!!!

Many years ago I loved shopping.  Going out to the stores, seeing all the Christmas displays.  It WAS the Most Wonderful time of the Year going out and buying Christmas Presents.  That all changed when I was a college student and started working at Target.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed working at Target.  I met my wife there and have some great friends who I met while working there.  BUT BLACK FRIDAY… OH MY GOSH!!!

It all starts the night before Thanksgiving.  Getting the sale ads up and the aisles stocked could last up until 1AM before we were ready to leave the store.  Thanksgiving was a day off to rest up for Black Friday.  I still believe that the stores should remain closed on Thanksgiving day.

Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters

Like the picture I have posted… this is what it’s like trying to work.  Calls to see if you had something in stock, people looking for sale items, store aisles littered with everything from dish pans in the toy area, spilled pop & popcorn on the floor, cashiers wondering about a price check or if you could bring a “My Little Pony” to checkout lane 19.  Back then we would open at 7AM and close at 11PM.  Now closing at 11 meant the entrance doors would lock… the last Customer usually was out of the building around 11:30.  Next was the clean up and putting everything back in to its original area.  Do you know there’s a certain way to fold bath towels and make the stripes line up.  It’s wasn’t uncommon to finally have everything cleaned up, put away, and walking out the door by 2AM only to come in on Saturday and do it all over again.

I survived 5 years of Black Friday.  Those of you still working at any department stores… I feel your pain.  I promise to come shopping on a Tuesday Night… a lot less people, easier checkouts, and I promise to put everything away properly that I pick up.