Thanksgiving is when people spend time with their families. It is a time for good food, laughs and togetherness. Corporate America has changed that this year. Black Friday has been going on since the 60’s, but this year it has been taken to a whole new level.
On November 1, I began getting overwhelmed by all of the commercials advertising for Black Friday. It was like they completely bypassed Thanksgiving and moved on to Christmas. Houses and storefronts changed their displays from Halloween decorations to Christmas decorations. It was way too soon for me. The holidays have become too commercialized, and people are losing the real meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. They’re both holidays where you should spend time with people that you love, not stand in line in the bitter cold waiting to buy a new HD TV at half price.
This year a lot of stores opened on Thanksgiving. K-Mart went so far as to open its doors at 6 a.m., and Dollar General opened its doors at 7 a.m. This is ridiculous and unfair to the employees. They should be able to have a day off to sleep in, relax, eat some good food and escape all the hustle and bustle. Old Navy opened at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving., Michael’s opened its doors at 4 p.m., Simon Malls, WalMart and Best Buy opened at 6 p.m., while Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sears, and Staples just to name a few, opened at 8 p.m. Thursday.
The fact that these corporations are making their employees come in and work on a national holiday is just terrible. The people who decided on those hours weren’t there; they were most likely at home with their families like their employees should have been.
One terrible instance of a corporation caring more about money than its employees came out of Elkhart, Indiana. Tony Rohr, who used to be a manager at Pizza Hut, was fired for deciding to close his store on Thanksgiving. Rohr said that he wanted to give his employees a day off to spend with their families. What is wrong with that? Most people eat turkey on Thanksgiving anyway, not pizza.
Everyone deserves some time off on Thanksgiving, but all these corporations care about is making a quick buck. The people who will be out shopping should be ashamed of themselves because they should be at home spending time with their family instead of standing in a long line waiting for the newest iPad. Yes, there will be good sales but in the end is it really worth it?