I Hope You’re Not Shopping

Years ago, in a simpler time, my father used to say, “If you don’t want to work on Sunday, don’t shop on Sunday.”  He was right then. His words still work today, Thanksgiving.

Forget the war on Christmas, this war has traction and it’s time to take a stand.

Some people have to work. TV is a 24/7 business. So are hospitals and hotels and buses and trains.  However the world for retail workers gets worse every year.

Salaries are down, or stagnant. Benefits are sparse. Hours suck. Now retail employees are being asked to sacrifice a day when families really do get together.

Will the executive offices of any of these Thanksgiving retailers be open? Seriously?

A backlash coming. Some advertiser is going to make a big deal of being closed and score on Black Friday.  Or maybe it will just be a popular uprising.  Whatever it is, there will be a change.

In the meantime, if you don’t want to work on  Thanksgiving, don’t shop on Thanksgiving.

11 thoughts on “I Hope You’re Not Shopping”

  1. AMEN ! I refuse to walk in a store today ! My heart goes out to those poor employees who drew the short straw.
    I vocalized this to a manager of Macys last week. I applaud those large retailers who are not open. Those are the ones I WILL shop for the holiday season.

  2. P.C. Richards & Son actually has an ad right now, happy for the fact they’re not joining in with the Thanksgiving nonsense. They’ll just stick with the traditional Black Friday stuff instead. As for other advertising in Connecticut, I think only Shop Rite Supermarkets were the only place putting Thanksgiving before Christmas. (Disclaimer: I worked at Walmart from 2003 to 2010 and did 7 Black Fridays. Our store was still closed on Turkey Day then.)

  3. Geoff,

    Not sure how it was in the Big Apple when you were growing up, but for me in small town CT., I can remember when NO stores were open on Sunday.

    That changed and never went back, so I doubt this will be any different.

  4. As long as retailers dangle the proverbial “carrot”, (low prices) in front of the American consumer, there will always be those who can’t resist and will be reaching to grab it. Holidays and family time be damned, “I’ve saved $100.00!” It’s sad that this expansion of retail at the expense of the worker, must be something like a crack addict trying to avoid another fix.

  5. The one thing different than what you said was that a lot of the people who work for the big box stores are not asked or have the option to work on Thanksgiving, they are told you have to work. It would be different if these workers had the option, I would say well they want to work and probably need the extra money. But to be told you have to work, that is what I hate about the stores being open on Thanksgiving.

  6. One thing that I found annoying was the way Sam’s Club was being portrayed as so caring about their employees by being closed on Thanksgiving…..but WalMart was open and they’re owned by the same company! Gee, guess the Walton’s figured out that people would buy cheap TVs, but not cases of toilet paper on Thanksgiving! As always, the mighty $$$ rules! 🙁

  7. I wasn’t shopping (I have no family left so no one to shop for but cats and they don’t know the difference between Christmas and any other day except for the fact they get that neat plastic tree to play with). I was working. But I don’t do retail. Still the traffic caused by people who are dumb enough to go shopping slowed everything up all day long.

  8. About 1PM on Thursday, I drove past the Walmart on Foxon Rd. in New Haven on our way to I-91 So. heading to Thanksgiving dinner. I was amazed at the full parking lot; absolutely incredible, and downright sad actually. I and my wife both refuse to shop on Thanksgiving. One of our sons works in retail so he had to go in for 5PM that day and thus had to miss dinner with the family. Sucks big-time.

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