If you go shopping on Thanksgiving, you are a ****ing *******

[TheGreatBuzz]

I gotta say I have trouble feeling bad for people who have to work Thanksgiving. My career makes me work all holidays. Go Navy!

Now everyone can say that I chose that path and that's correct. But so did the shift manager at WalMart.

[twa]

I dare you to try that with me

James women are cantankerous aren't they

[MissU28]

I don't necessarily agree with the uproar. Personally, I'm not a black Friday shopper and I do most of my Christmas shopping online, but if people want to shop on Thanksgiving, let them. I am sure when Target or whoever staffs their stores for that evening, they ask for volunteers first. And if it were me, I'd rather work Thanksgiving night than on Black Friday if I were in retail. These people are getting time and a half or double time- I would bet there are enough volunteers to work the day that they don't have to "make" employees work. I bet many of the employees at the Targets I frequent don't even celebrate Thanksgiving. And what about the employees who don't have families around (or don't like their families) who want to make the extra cash? Yeah, these stores are greedy, but there are plenty of employees who will jump at the chance to work on the holiday. Also, by 8pm most children in families have likely gone to bed and it's clean-up time from the big day. Your family members are probably passed out on the couch from eating turkey anyway. Might as well make some money.

[Corcaigh]

I'm not sure most employees see it that way. Managers schedule as they see fit and employees will be fired if they don't show up. Typically the only option for the employee is to find a substitute employee who wants to give up their Thanksgiving. But given the very long hours they are already working it is usually difficult.

The extra pay is not much compensation for the disruption.

[Koolblue13]

Being that I'm restaurant folk, I've worked many Tdays. It's one of the only holidays I like, so I try to take off.

A handful of times, I've worked a place that closed and made it a misfit dinner for displaced people. I've had some really special ones.

I use to cook dinner for friends and family and then open up this small bar I worked at for a bit (did this when I didn't work there too) at night and always did well. People came out just because I did that.

This year I'm working and we're booked up. I'm not happy about it. I have a great party to go to afterwards though.

[Koolblue13]

[zoony]

I gotta say I have trouble feeling bad for people who have to work Thanksgiving. My career makes me work all holidays. Go Navy!

Now everyone can say that I chose that path and that's correct. But so did the shift manager at WalMart.

No they didnt, that is just incorrect

This is the first year they are opening on thanksgiving. The midnight Black Friday madness is new, too

They did not sign up for it

---------- Post added November-17th-2012 at 03:47 PM ----------

I don't necessarily agree with the uproar. Personally, I'm not a black Friday shopper and I do most of my Christmas shopping online, but if people want to shop on Thanksgiving, let them. I am sure when Target or whoever staffs their stores for that evening, they ask for volunteers first. And if it were me, I'd rather work Thanksgiving night than on Black Friday if I were in retail. These people are getting time and a half or double time- I would bet there are enough volunteers to work the day that they don't have to "make" employees work. I bet many of the employees at the Targets I frequent don't even celebrate Thanksgiving. And what about the employees who don't have families around (or don't like their families) who want to make the extra cash? .

Your a state employee, right? Really, better for you to just STFU on this one.

[Hubbs]

Why would you fight the retail public when the best deals are online?

Oh, right. Because people are ****ing stupid.

[ncr2h]

No they didnt, that is just incorrect

This is the first year they are opening on thanksgiving. The midnight Black Friday madness is new, too

They did not sign up for it

---------- Post added November-17th-2012 at 03:47 PM ----------




Your a state employee, right? Really, better for you to just STFU on this one.

They signed up for it.

2009: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1..._n_371559.html
2010: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_788387.html
2011: http://consumerist.com/2011/11/14/ta...sgiving-night/

Maybe in 2009 you had a point, but in 2012 this is old news and simply part of their job requirements.

[zoony]

They signed up for it.

2009: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1..._n_371559.html
2010: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_788387.html
2011: http://consumerist.com/2011/11/14/ta...sgiving-night/

Maybe in 2009 you had a point, but in 2012 this is old news and simply part of their job requirements.

I see. Wal mart hired all their 50,000 managers after 2009

[Corcaigh]

Just saw a Christmas tree strapped to the roof of a SUV.

On November 17.

That will be a fire hazard several weeks before Christmas day.

[ncr2h]

I see. Wal mart hired all their 50,000 managers after 2009

The picture that you're trying to paint with the "they didn't sign up for this" comment is that these poor workers were just going about their perfect lives until one Thanksgiving, just as they were about to say grace with their family, the phone rang and it was the CEO telling them they had to come into work or else he would put them out on the street. This would have been a flimsy, yet at least reasonable, argument in 2009 but in 2012 does not have any merit. They've had 3 years - they knew what was coming this year and had ample time to adjust accordingly.

[PeterMP]

They've had 3 years - they knew what was coming this year and had ample time to adjust accordingly.

Realistically, people working at places like Walmart and Target don't have a lot of adjustments that they can make, especially in 3 years.

When I was kid, my mom went back to school to become a nurse to make such an "adjustment", but w/ kids and working also it took her more than 3 years to finish her schooling and that was in a 2 parent house hold.

The idea, that especially in this economy, people have lot's of options to make these types of "adjustments", especially when taking into account the gap that a lot of these people have in terms of education is pretty ignorant and laughable in something like 3 years.

Is it REALLY that hard to say it STINKS for people not is emergency and really required jobs to have to work Thanks Giving and stay home?

[Park City Skins]

that's when my gym is open as well. Totally off topic... but you feel soooo much better/less guilty killing that extra helping of food after a good work out.

And in the spirit of the thread, most of the guys who work on Thanksgiving at my gym are there for the exact same reason... to get one in before they binge.

I don't. I know that I'm probably going to eat and drink a bunch on that day,so I know that whatever I might do on Thanksgiving Day probably isn't going to help a whole hell of a lot. That's not to say I don't do a little extra work for a few weeks before the Holidays. I figure I busted my butt for the near 11 months before the holidays so I can afford a bit of dietary fun during them. That and I don't like to add that kind of stress to rest of the Holiday stress.

[GhostofSparta]

I have several friends and family members that work at places such as Target, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart. I'm not trying to pick on MissU, but I feel the need to correct some of these errors in thinking.

I am sure when Target or whoever staffs their stores for that evening, they ask for volunteers first.

Not hardly. At this point, these stores treat it like any other day and just schedule who they want for what hours they want. Sure, you can claim weakly that these people "volunteer" by not requesting the day off, for example, but then again most of these places just ignore or deny such requests. They may ask some higher-up employees (Asst. Managers, Supervisors, etc.) if any of them want to work specific hours on Thanksgiving/Black Friday, but not the common masses needed to keep the store open for idiots who want to line up at 2 PM on Thanksgiving to get 5% off a big screen TV.

And if it were me, I'd rather work Thanksgiving night than on Black Friday if I were in retail.

Fair enough. Not every employee has to work both, and if you can pick one over the other, I'd imagine a fair amount, especially somebody like a cashier, would rather work a slow day like Thanksgiving than the madhouse the day after. However, most of these places are open overnight Thanksgiving into Black Friday. And since most of these stores are generally closed overnight with a skeleton crew to do stocking/cleaning, that means calling in a lot of regular employees. I have an aunt working 6-6 Thanksgiving night into Black Friday morning. Sure, 12 hours is nice, but it's realistically 2 6 hours shifts for Thursday/Friday instead of 8 hours each day, so the stores can even cut hours that way. And that's true for most of these places. They'll be bare bones Thanksgiving morning and Black Friday night, with the bulk of employees moved overnight to work both.

These people are getting time and a half or double time- I would bet there are enough volunteers to work the day that they don't have to "make" employees work.

I don't know where you're getting your info from on this, but this isn't true at K-Mart, or Wal-Mart. Maybe Target, I haven't asked my buddy about that yet. But the other 2 get holiday pay for the day (as long as you work your scheduled shift before and after the holiday, or in this case on), so working the day AND getting the holiday pay could be considered making double time in a technical sense. But then again somebody who is scheduled to work Wednesday and Saturday and works both gets that holiday pay too, so it's being nit-picky. And they'll only m ake time and a half if they're actually in OT, which I'm sure you can imagine how willing and thrilled retail stores are to give out

I bet many of the employees at the Targets I frequent don't even celebrate Thanksgiving.

I'm not sure whether to assume that's cynical or racist.

Look, a job is a job. You work what they ask of you, or they find somebody who will. I get it, it sucks but it's reality. I'm just on the bandwagon that it sucks that people suck this much that stores can make money this way. You have nothing better to do than stand in line at Wal-Mart at 5 PM on Thanksgiving for an iPad or TV or toy or whatever? Really? At least a decade ago Black Friday took some sacrifice of waking up from a turkey coma at 2 AM to go stand in line outside in the elements. Now, you just stumble over to Target after gorging yourself, wait in the nice, clean, warm store for a few hours, and screw everybody else.