When I drove to work at the Boulevard Mall Thanksgiving night, I was not expecting there to be several crowds of shoppers at 7:50 PM waiting outside each Macy’s and department store entrance in anticipation of the night’s festivities ahead, bristling with excitement. I had found it ridiculous when I was told that my Black Friday shift at my dark dungeon with pulsating 90 decibel music and pungent cologne (can you guess where I work) would start on 8 PM Thursday, and didn’t even conceive the idea that people would even forgo their Thanksgiving dinner in order to get the “best” deals on brand-name goods.
Every year, the opening time at the mall– often dictated by Macy’s, as the red store’s deals are the ones which lure customers into the mall in the first place- has been pushed earlier and earlier. In recent years, the mall has opened at midnight to the outrage of older clientele and traditional families who have stated that Black Friday is ruining the holiday and appreciative, family reuniting nature of Thanksgiving. Before the midnight openings, malls and shopping centers would open in the wee hours of the morning, from 4-5 AM, and as a child growing up, it was fun to set the alarm for 4 AM to get to Walmart before the sun was up. But this year’s opening on 8 PM on Thanksgiving Day itself shows the grip that stores and shopping have on people today; the fact that malls knew that they would have customers at that time shows how they realize American priorities today– saving first, family second.
People have even been killed in the mobs surrounding megastores, stampeded by fellow customers in desperate search for $50 TVs and the like. Like other recent years, there were multiple physical and verbal fights, shootings, stabbings, and arrests during the unofficial holiday. Many people were trampled at a Utah Walmart while trying to buy tablets for $50, and a man was stabbed in the parking lots of a Virginia Walmart. A New Jersey Walmart manager was even pepper sprayed by a police officer after harassing a customer. The infamous Friday after Thanksgiving is widely ridiculed, with online counters tracking how many people are killed or wounded during the day, but nonetheless, Americans are still buying into retailers’ clever advertisements.
Retailers further exploit the American public by selling low quality versions of their products on Black Friday, making these ridiculously cheap prices understandable. They also cheat customers who don’t spend the time to research their products by selling products at low prices in order to clear their inventory, often putting cameras and other electronic models that will be soon outdated on sale for prices that could be rivaled on online retailers such as Amazon.
Though it is often jokingly said that McDonald’s is the reason for obesity in America (a faulty argument), the grip retailers have on greedy consumers on Black Friday is often ignored. The typical American is never one to give up a deal, no matter the cost, but is it worth it? Honestly, seeing that internet sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are often just as great, not really. Spare yourself the trouble, unplug yourself from your phone, and enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner.
