Enough of black Friday a plea
for sanity and light
On behalf of retail employees
everywhere I am making a passionate plea to all of you of sound mind and
believers in fair trade. Please, please, do not start your holiday shopping
late Thanksgiving eve or in the wee hours of Friday morning. The same goes for
stores open on Christmas. Most of you (I hope) do not have plans to stay up
late, get in lines or hang out in parking lots between the hours of six p.m. and
what ever. Be careful, you may find tempters among your family and friends.
Lulled into a post holiday eating stupor, unintentionally, you could be enticed
into a late night shopping event.
How might retail temptation show
up in your life? Try this simple scenario on for size. You’ve finished eating
and someone mentions that it might be fun to check out the madness, join in
with the crowds, be adventurous and find out what drives someone to shop at
three a.m. Mumbling takes place, the
words “no” and ”no way”
can be heard, but not at a decibel level that registers with human ears. Suddenly coats are donned and people are heading
to a shopping location.
This is just an example of
how one can be tempted into saying “yes”,
when you meant to say “no”. During dinner
or post dinner the talk turns to holiday presents. The usual moaning commences on the status of
shopping chores. Either no one has
completed are even started shopping for presents. A joke is made, “we could always finish dinner and head for the stores”. There it
is; companionship, a good meal, perhaps some spirits and you are standing in
the cold, waiting for a store to open. How could it happen to you?
Think of all the families
that are being separated on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. For what, so a total
of twelve 101.5-inch mega screen TV’s, offered as door busters can drive customers into the stores to find something else. Or finding that not so special present for someone, that will
be re-gifted, so the task can be crossed
off a list?
If the stores were not open at
unconscionable hours the same deals would be offered over the weekend. Employees are threatened with the loss of
their jobs if they ask to have the time off.
This whole black Friday, starting on Halloween, craziness has to
stop. Corporate retailers blame it on
the recession. One more excuse for bad
business practices, not changing with the times and a loss of compassion for employees.
Support retailers that
respect their employees and respect you, the consumer, by wanting you to be at home on Thanksgiving
and Christmas, "just says no!”
For those of you that don't want to be at home but need to escape the family, go outside, visit friends. We can all find something else other than a visit to a mall on a day of gratitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment