Every Thanksgiving since 2006 I have been thankful for the fact that I no longer work in retail. Working the "holiday season" is arguably among the most thankless and harrowing professional experiences imaginable.
Despite this fact, Corporate America is doing its best to stretch the holiday season in order to maximize profits for themselves at the expense of their employees.
I guess I sort of understand the whole Black Friday phenomenon: stores make their money during the Holidays, and the day after Thanksgiving is a big part of making that happen. When I was a commissioned salesman, I actually made good money during the Holidays, too. For better or worse, working longer hours, putting up with nasty customers, and suffering all sorts of indignities (both seasonal and perpetual) are just part of the job description of a retail employee.
In the 7 years I worked in retail though, I never ever worked on Thanksgiving. Never. And that's saying something because I worked for some pretty evil bastards who would have gladly sold me into slavery if they thought for a minute that they could make a few bucks and get away with it.
In recent years, however, an unfortunate trend has emerged among certain big box retailers to open up on Thanksgiving day in an effort to squeeze every last drop of profity goodness from the holiday season.
For the retailers that have already fallen victim to this trend, I have this message: enough is enough.
Among retailers that are now open for business on Thanksgiving day are K-Mart, Books-a-Million Bookstores, Old Navy, and, of course, Wal-Mart.
My spousal equivalent (who still works in retail) received an email today from one retailer bragging that it would be open on Thanksgiving. His response to the company's cutomer service department was simple, direct, and amply sums up my thoughts one subject.
You're open on Thanksgiving?
Fuck you, you greedy, soulless bastards. I hope your bigwigs enjoy having dinner with their families while your poor employees are slaving away in your store.
Fuck you, and take me off your mailing list.
I encourage those of you who do not work on Thanksgiving to think twice before patronizing a store whose corporate owner values its profits of the people who provide those profits.
UPDATED WITH CORRECTION: I mistakenly wrote that Barnes & Noble was going to be open on Thanksgiving. This is incorrect. I intended to mention Books-a-Million. Thanks to the commenters who pointed out the error. Apologies for the oversight.