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Black Friday. Or, more appropriately, what Thanksgiving Weekend has become.
Let me explain. Growing up, everyone from both sides of my family showed up at our house at 2:00 pm for a 3:00 pm Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Near my teenage years, I stopped caring about Thanksgiving. That's unimportant to this post, but you can read about it here. (NEW WINDOW) Any way, everyone, like 30 people, were crammed into my house to stuff themselves with turkey. Most people were gone early enough to enjoy a Christmas film on TV that evening.
The next morning, we got up early and went shopping for Black Friday which used to start around 6:00 am. (Open! Open! Open!) Sales lasted until around 1:00 pm and then we had two days more to decorate for Christmas.
That was it. That was Thanksgiving weekend. Black Friday gained popularity in the sixties. You can read about the history of it here. (NEW WINDOW) The history is not what this post is about.
This post is about what has changed in the last decade. America has become obsessed with the weekend.
Let's first talk about just Black Friday. It seems that it is now Black Wednesday through Friday and screw your Thanksgiving plans! Sales begin Wednesday at many locations and run straight through what should be a day to spend with family. Many employers force ALL employees to work Thanksgiving sales. It's super easy for those of us fortunate enough to have jobs that don't require us to work Thanksgiving to say "Well, they can always find a different job." but you know what? They can't. Some people NEED that retail job and sacrifice their family day so you can save $5 on a blender you don't need from a company that made it in China for a dollar and certainly isn't hurting for cash.
Once the 3 day Black Friday sale is over, we now have Small Business Saturday. I am not mad about this. I like small businesses. I support them. I am a small business. It's important that we recognize them when deciding where to spend our money. I am not sure why this day couldn't be celebrated on Friday with box chains, but that's another post for another day. I use this day, not to shop for merchandise, but to dine out at a mom and pop diner. I enjoy craft beer from a local brewery. I might buy a craft from a local designer. What I find funny here is that the Small Businesses got their one day and they have stuck with it. The companies and individuals that need it most only take one day while corporate America now has three days and the internet has taken over the following week...
Speaking of which, let's talk about Cyber Monday. Again, I am not sure why this couldn't happen the same day as Black Friday but here we are. Cyber Monday has become a two week cluster fuck of online sales for crap you don't need. Two weeks! Seriously! Amazon started their "Cyber Monday" sales a full week early. Carnival Cruises tweeted for a full three days after Cyber Monday about their sale. It's called "Cyber Monday", not "Cyber Fall/Winter".
At some point, the sales lose their fun and value. Businesses have become so greedy that they have turned the week before Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving into the total polar opposite of Thanksgiving. It's pathetic.
Then we finally added "Giving Tuesday" which is a noble concept but you know what would be even better? If all companies donated 10% of their Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sales to charity. Let's make that a thing!
Yes, you should absolutely go get a great deal at Walmart on Friday. Yes you must enjoy a hamburger from George's Burger Shack on Saturday. Oh my! You must log on to Amazon Monday Morning and order 56 sweaters for all of your cats!
But that's it! Stop enabling this crap by buying into the two week sales extravaganza. I beg of you. Everyone complains about the "War on Christmas" but we fail to recognize the war on Thanksgiving that we already lost.
And that's what really dries my sack.
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