Black Friday: In appreciation of those who work

[XCashier]

People have already come in wanting doorbusters... Or wanting to put doorbusters on hold, or order it, or basically anything they can think of to get the good price NOW.

Part of the problem is the mailers have already been sent, but nobody reads the dates on them, and they assume that what's listed is on sale NOW. Then they claim you're "ripping them off" when you point out the dates and that the item isn't on sale yet.

:sigh: This will be my sixth Black Friday at the fabric store. It's always a madhouse, and I'm not looking forward to it. One nice thing is, there's usually a potluck in the break room so we don't have to go out to eat, and most of my coworkers are very good cooks. Free food is very good for employee morale.

[sms001]

Lewis Black's take:

Lewis Black Friday

[XCashier]

Lewis Black's take:

Lewis Black Friday

Nice! Thanks for posting the link!

While our company has the decency to be closed on Thanksgiving, I just learned we are doing Black Wednesday as well as Black Friday. I don't know if that will make things better or worse. Here's hoping all goes well.

[notalwaysright]

While our company has the decency to be closed on Thanksgiving, I just learned we are doing Black Wednesday as well as Black Friday. I don't know if that will make things better or worse. Here's hoping all goes well.

Haha, even New Manager doesn't like this. My worry is that we will sell out of all the good stuff (all the cute flannel/fleece, etc) and on Black Friday people will be pissed.

[XCashier]

Haha, even New Manager doesn't like this. My worry is that we will sell out of all the good stuff (all the cute flannel/fleece, etc) and on Black Friday people will be pissed.

We may have to defend ourselves. I call dibs on the extra sharp scissors!

[Kit-Ginevra]

And we on this side of the pond will heave a big sigh of relief when we are doing a nice normal everyday Friday

[2gigch1]

Black Friday - in my work I have different types of Black Fridays (tv news); Wednesday Before will be big (Travel Travel Travel!!!!!) and there are signs of a possible Nor 'Easter snowstorm in the Mid Atlantic. So that will be a long day. Plus I'm working out of a rentacar because someone decided to wreck my work car two weeks ago and it's still in the shop.

Also I have enough seniority to earn off Thursday and Friday but I volunteered back on Friday to let some of the younger family folks have the days off. I just had my pre-Thanksgiving with my folks & kids today, and it was nice.

So there's a chance I'll be hanging out with some of you showing how idiotic the crowds are. My condolences.

[XCashier]

And we on this side of the pond will heave a big sigh of relief when we are doing a nice normal everyday Friday

Yeah, well, on Boxing Day, the shoe will be on the other foot, won't it?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Part of the problem is the mailers have already been sent, but nobody reads the dates on them, and they assume that what's listed is on sale NOW. Then they claim you're "ripping them off" when you point out the dates and that the item isn't on sale yet.

The swamp's Black Friday Thursday ad will come in Wednesday's paper, so there will probably be people trying to get the sale prices Wednesday. Or maybe even Tuesday night if the paper is delivered early. Won't know for sure because I'm off Wednesday.

OTOH, it's been leaked online already.

[Luna Baby]

I'm working BF, we all do where I work. To take off that day, you must get approval from the employee committee and use a borrowed PTO day from the following year. While the committee almost always approves the days requested, hardly anyone wants to give up a PTO day from the following year. But for us, we're wholesale so it's just like any other work day. The busiest days for us were today, tomorrow, and Wednesday just because everyone is trying to get their feed orders in before the holiday.

Bossman will probably send us home a tad early anyway if the phones are pretty quiet. He always does for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

[KuariKaydrith]

I don't work in retail, but apparently there are a lot of stores in my area that are doing Black Thursday/Friday sales. And this is on a rock in the middle of the Atlantic.

And I have to venture out to a couple of these stores on Friday when I get paid. I will be well stocked with Ativan and my cane. I'm not going shopping for any major appliances or electronics, but I can see the toy aisles being nuts.

[bhskittykatt]

Plus I'm working out of a rentacar because someone decided to wreck my work car two weeks ago and it's still in the shop.

Augh! That sucks! They're sure not getting out of it though with that dashcam vid. Hope you're okay and your car gets fixed good as new.


I'm working Turkey Day at the front desk. Not expecting anything abnormally busy; that's for banquets (we had 450 reservations for our Turkey day dinner as of noon, with a full voicemail box full of more people wanting to make more reservations, and that was for our special buffet and not counting the two restaurants). Not working Black Friday, but also not in retail.

The husband is doing his normal patrol for Black Friday; in the past, retail stores hired his firm to provide extra crowd control. This led to some customers grumping him out when he couldn't tell them where stuff was in the store, since he didn't actually work there as an employee nor did he ever shop there. Still, it's hard to say what he'll run into on the roads Friday morning when he's out and about.

I've noticed the past 3 years or so an increasing number of Black Friday ads on the Canadian station I listen to. It's moved north!

[Food Lady]

Overheard at work today: "Is [store] open tomorrow?" Is there money to be made?!? Of course it's open!

[Estil]

It's especially disgraceful all these commercials bragging about how the deals start at [x]PM Thursday. I guess it's not enough to keep away retailer workers (not the higher ups of course) away from their families on Thanksgiving (it's a wonder more don't do so on Christmas...even Scrooge himself gave Cratchett Christmas off with pay) now they don't even acknowledge the name of the holiday...just another day behind the counter/boxes now. :P

Of course all of us know that it's the customers' fault that all of this is even an issue, especially the ones who have to rub it in by telling the cashier how they feel so sorry for them for having to work on the holiday (I wonder why!).

Seriously, two days off out of 365 (with pay ideally) is not enough?

[sstabeler]

actually, I generally blame the higher-ups fir this one. I don't remember hearing about customers complaining the place isn't open on Thanksgiving, but I suppose I could be wrong.