#BLACKFRIDAY SALES RAGE.

[Donnachaidh]

#BLACKFRIDAY SALES RAGE. Petitions are circulating and anger is brewing over plans by U.S. retail outlets to open early for shopping on Black Friday, plans which will inevitably put a damper on the family festivities of the workers. Hmmm. So much wasted energy. If you really care about your fellow man - as you claim - and if you REALLY care about that little guy working the check out counter, the solution is simple: don't go.

Don't go to those early bird stores and shopping malls.

Put that supposed anger to the test. I mean, it's easy to sign a petition, but giving up a sweet deal on a TV that was made in China or a cheap T-shirt that was made by dirt cheap labor in Vietnam ... that's an entirely different ball game. Not going won't make a difference this year, but if the stores are empty, there's a good chance this won't happen again.

Put your mettle to the test. Don't go.

From a viral posting hitting FB right now.

[Brickbat]

1. K&R.

[abelenkpe]

2. I'm not going

but then again I never go. The sales are really not all that.

[madmom]

3. I worked in two different retail stores on black Friday.. I will

never do it again and I will never shop them!

[leftyohiolib]

4. greed will win out and the sheep will flock to the savings

out the window will go priciples when the greedy sheeple see a flat screen tv marked down 40%.

[Carolina]

5. K&R

will decorate the house and bake cookies instead!

[Luminous Animal]

17. My husband (I assist) bakes 2000 - 3000 cookies.

They are beautiful and delicious and every year our friends and families get very excited with anticipation.

[CrispyQ]

21. I bake pies. Usually 12 over a two day period. Homemade crusts, too.

I've had friends tell me, "I always look forward to your visit where I get to choose the pie I want."

[girl gone mad]

6. Not buying anything this year..

except from local artists. Boycotting corps as much as possible.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. Change the system by not participating. Shop at local, small vendors.

[DainBramaged]

14. UH the big box stores killed them all

so much for alternative plans.......

[MedicalAdmin]

27. All of them? Really? That sucks.

I live in Michelle Bachmann's district (just explaining what kinda snow-billy we have here) and there is a thriving artist and small local community that is out there. They just have to be found.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Not going is not the solution. The workers will still have to report to work

whether customers show up or not.

[fishwax]

19. this year -- but if nobody shows up, they won't likely have to do it next year

If nobody showed up on Thanksgiving night this year, they probably wouldn't schedule open hours on Thanksgiving night next year.

However, I think that scenario is unlikely to have the chance to play out.

[RC]

20. Never underestimate greed

They will just try harder next year.

[Donnachaidh]

22. and the workers will have less shit to deal with if people don't go

It's actually a positive -- they get paid for showing up, the companies get bupkiss because the customers stay home.

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[zalinda]

10. I've never gone, and won't ever go.

What people don't realize is that all those 'savings' are usually on specially ordered stuff, and much of it is returned after Christmas because it doesn't work. The order goes in for the cheapest made items possible, knowing that getting customers in the store is the only objective. The lines the day after Christmas is out the door, and most are holding the black Friday 'specials'.

zalinda

[Sherman A1]

18. Sweeping generalizations

I have purchased products at Black Friday Sales and they are doing very well, Thank You. A camera and printer purchased last year works just fine. Certainly some items purchased by some were defective and needed to be returned, but I suspect the reasons people are doing returns on 12/26 are as varied as the people returning the items.

[valerief]

11. I don't think I've EVER shopped on the Black Friday. nt

[Hugabear]

12. Black Friday would be a GREAT day to protest Corporate Greed

Imagine the OWS movement targeting corporate retail stores.

[Luminous Animal]

13. How does not going to the store help the worker who is required to be there?

[Donnachaidh]

23. they get paid for a quiet day

DUH.

[Luminous Animal]

25. And they also have to curtail their time with friends and family in order to report to work.

I've worked the registers and K Mart and it was much much better to be busy than to stand there counting down the hours and minutes.

[Berlin Expat]

29. Sears sporting goods and Lawn & Garden (Divisions 06 and 71)

veteran here.

I worked Black Friday every year for about 8 years.

Typically, a zoo, to put it mildly. But the positive was, the day absolutely flew by. My co-workers and I had it down to a science.

[Tuvok Obama]

15. Last year my sister-in law revealed that her sister got in line Wednesday night

"What's Emily doing for Thanksgiving?"

"She's huddled in a sleeping bag. She and a friend started camping out Wednesday night for the Friday morning sales."

(By the way, in 2002, Emily and her husband, a high-level employee at Microsoft, bought a million dollar house. They still live there.)

"How could camping out for 36 hours possibly justify whatever money she might save?"

"She thinks it's fun."

:wtf:

[bigwillq]

16. I might be shopping on BF this year for the first time in recent memory.

I might have tagged along when I was younger but I don't really remember.

Me, my Mom, my best friend and his Mom always go to the outlet stores up in CT for our annual XMas shopping trip and then we go have dinner.

Our work schedules are just so crazy this year that BF might be the only day any of us can go.
We aren't going to go until later in the day to try and miss some of the traffic, though.

[LiberalEsto]

24. Those stores are the REAL War on Christmas

Depriving people of Thanksgiving with their families because the corporate owners worship their god, Mammon

[RebelOne]

26. I went to a Black Friday sale once to get a toy for my grandson

at Toys 'R Us several years ago, Got there at 5:30 a.m. and there was already a line. It was total mayhem once I got in. Fortunately, I got the toy I was after, but I vowed never again to go to a Black Friday sale.

[BOG PERSON]

28. boycott america!

[WCGreen]

30. I use to go on Friday afternoon, baked out of my mind on some

good pot and fueled by some shot of JD and chaser of beer...

It kind of puts the whole thing in perspective when you see your fellow man at their most feral.

Haven't been to one for 20 some years now.

[Exultant Democracy]

31. occupy the economy: boycott black friday

[SoCalDem]

32. Before greed set in in a big way

stores closed at 5-5:30

banks closed at 3PM..hence the term, "bankers hours"

stores were closed on Sundays

maybe a few times a year downtowns would have "sidewalk sale day" or "midnight madness sales"

stores closed at noon on Xmas Eve..and closed all day on Xmas

stores were closed on Thanksgiving Day

stores were closed on New Year's Day

Amazing how we all managed to have food in the cupboards, clothes on our backs, and stuff to do.