Confessions of a Black Friday hater

I hate Black Friday. Most people, knowing my penchant for finding deals, couponing and shopping…….are surprised to hear this. Well, know that waaaaayyyy back in the mid-80s, while I was in high school, I worked retail. All through high school and then college–I’ve worked for the Limited, Foxmoor (now defunct), Macy’s, Hickory Farms and Redner’s grocery store. High school and college kids were pretty much low on the totem pole when it came to time off, so suffice to say that my college winter breaks did not have a lot of free time during prime holiday time. Lots of working Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and so on. But, I did as I was told and showed up and worked.

Fast forward 15 or 20 years and I found myself in retail again. This time managing stores for both L.L.Bean and QVC. As a store manager, it’s a whole new ball of wax as they say. You’re held accountable for sales goals and meeting those goals. Which, if you’re a motivated individual, means you pretty much work non-stop from October 1 to New Year’s Day. Yes, Black Friday planning begins in the summer–you have to hire people, train them and so on. My retail career ended at QVC, not coincidentally when my first child was a baby. Priorities change and I made up my mind that I wasn’t sacrificing holiday activities with my child, just so some company could make even more money.

My first year with QVC, the mall owner/manager came up with the brilliant idea to open at midnight on Thanksgiving night, thus starting a very popular trend. When I first started with L.L.Bean, we opened at 7, then the next year, 6 am. Now midnight has become the standard. That first year, stores were allowed to opt out, and thankfully QVC did. This would not be an option going forward as he (the owner) was going to make it a part of all new leases and lease renewals. This owner, he was quite arrogant in my opinion, and really liked this midnight idea. In talking down to us (those who did not open at midnight) at the next mall manager’s meeting, he was talking about how crowded it was. Then, he went on to say that he had had some recent health issues, related to his heart I believe, and how he had to have someone drive him around the complex because he had just been released from the hospital. How his legs were swelling up, but he didn’t care, he was just so thrilled to see all the crowds, all the shoppers. I was not impressed. I think he’s  a fool for putting pride and money before health and family, and it was at that mall managers’ meeting that I vowed–never again. I would never work retail another holiday season, ever again. At least not while my kids are little. And I haven’t.

So there you have it. Why I hate Black Friday.

Every year since then (2006) I have gone out of my way to avoid Black Friday and all the hooplah surrounding it and the holiday frenzy at the malls. My kids have never seen a mall Santa. Thankfully we have the internet and the deals are just as good if not better. As my friend Anne put it, I plan to spend the day “in the warm glow of my computer monitor.”

Yes, I will still bring you the deals, the door busters and so on. I’m even reluctantly dedicating a tab up top just for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In fact, as a former store manager, I will even bring you tips on how to maximize the deals, should you choose to go out in the madness. But me? You’ll find me at home baking cookies & singing carols with my kids.

I would love to call for a boycott of this madness, I’m just not powerful enough to make a difference. See, here’s the thing–store managers and below are the ones who have to work really hard. Upper management–notsomuch. I remember a few years, where, every hour on the hour, we had to call in our sales figures to a regional manager. A regional manager that was at home. And we didn’t even talk to her, left a voice mail. But she would call us on it if we missed a call in. So for the greater good and for these folks to also enjoy the holiday season, I’d really like to see it brought down a few notches. But now with all the big names opening at midnight, doesn’t look like that is the trend.