UO

Stasi · November 2013

I can't stand working in quiet work conditions. I like to hear the copy machine, people talking, etc...too much silence makes it hard for me to focus.

MeatballEsq · November 2013

I don't understand why people are so outraged over retail employees having to work on thanksgiving. I'm not saying I agree with stores being open but there are a LOT of people that have to work holidays, including thanksgiving and there's never any outrage to close restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gas stations, etc. Honestly I think people are more upset with the commercialization of the holiday and they are using the employes as an excuse.

misscheapandchic · November 2013

I hate cookie exchanges and am hoping I don't get roped into one this year!
Along the seasonal UOs, I get outraged for the workers Toni because I worked retail on Black Fridays and its an extremely stressful day that you get 0 extra compensation for and to drag that out an extra 12 hours and rob them of thanksgiving with their families so they can go be treated like dirt from their bosses and customers, not to mention having to survive people behaving like wild animals...it's just too much.
I don't think people can just unplug and enjoy quiet days anymore. We always have to be moving, doing things, checking our phones, checking the Internet etc. Its starting to spill over and affect our ability to just relax and enjoy the company of our families.

kelbel527 · November 2013

I don't understand why people are so outraged over retail employees having to work on thanksgiving. I'm not saying I agree with stores being open but there are a LOT of people that have to work holidays, including thanksgiving and there's never any outrage to close restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gas stations, etc. Honestly I think people are more upset with the commercialization of the holiday and they are using the employes as an excuse.

**STUCK IN BOX**

I agree with this. Even the retailers that are closed on Thanksgiving have IT people, Distribution Centers, etc. working on Thanksgiving Day and have for years. I never saw anyone protesting that we shouldn't buy anything online on Thanksigiving because that means those people will have to work.

I also don't understand why people act like idiots on BF either (and I'm a BF shopper), the deals aren't worth it. Luckily around here, it's not that crazy.

MeatballEsq · November 2013

misscheapandchic said:
I hate cookie exchanges and am hoping I don't get roped into one this year!
Along the seasonal UOs, I get outraged for the workers Toni because I worked retail on Black Fridays and its an extremely stressful day that you get 0 extra compensation for and to drag that out an extra 12 hours and rob them of thanksgiving with their families so they can go be treated like dirt from their bosses and customers, not to mention having to survive people behaving like wild animals...it's just too much.
I don't think people can just unplug and enjoy quiet days anymore. We always have to be moving, doing things, checking our phones, checking the Internet etc. Its starting to spill over and affect our ability to just relax and enjoy the company of our families.

I'm sure it's terrible. I don't doubt that at all. I don't think they should be open on Thanksgiving either.

mrsbhk22 · November 2013

I think the mass crowds on Black Friday are dying. Yes, it's still a busy day for retail, but it's not near as crazy as it used to be because now you can get many of the same deals online. By opening on thanksgiving, the sites are grasping at straws. Over time, I think it's going to transition to even less of a big deal.

People like air line and car rental employees have worked for years on the holiday. Where's the FB campaign to close the airports and gas stations? There isn't one. That's just part of the job (and I did it for years).

Do I think it's ridiculous that people can't wait to shop? Yes. Is it ironic that we are go from being "thankful" to shanking someone for the last cheap xbox? Yes. Will I shop thanksgiving day? No. But I think retail folks need to adjust to their new market or move along.

Stasi · November 2013

Cyber Monday FTW!

BPer · November 2013

Stasi said:

Cyber Monday FTW!

Yep. Same deals, no assholes...unless you count me,

AlinnJo · November 2013

I agree with Toni. I think it sucks that stores are open but a lot of people work on Thandkgiving. I think the best thing you can do is what LL suggested. Don't go to the stores and gas stations on Thanksgiving.

BPer · November 2013

I think we should extend the 'closed on major holidays' to restaurants too. I waitressed/bartended at a fine dining restaurant all through college, and the only day we weren't open was Christmas. People were assholes and tipped worse than normal. Because of my experience, I will NEVER go to a restaurant on Thanksgiving/Christmas Eve etc.

redneckmomma25 · November 2013

I am torn on BF and opening on thanksgiving. On one hand people working in retail know what that entails. Do some have an option of finding a different job? No. This was all that was available to them. I think companies are equally responsible in this situation as any person who is starting shopping on thanksgiving. I do think there are people ok with working holidays. Like others have said. There are still a ton of business open on thanksgiving. I've worked many thanksgiving days. I had no desire to spend it with my step mom's family. I volunteered every year to work. I've worked Christmas Day. I've even worked overnights on Christmas.

I really don't know how I feel. Part I me does not feel bad for the employee. Part of me feels bad. Part of me thinks it's the shoppers fault. Part of me thinks it's big businesses fault. I don't think 5 people boycotting shopping on thanksgiving will make a difference and I know that the masses will not stay home and not shop.

BPer · November 2013

I was the crazy person who loved working in retail around the holidays. Everything was all decorated, nonstop Christmas music, Christmas smells...but if it were thanksgiving day? No thanks.

redneckmomma25 · November 2013

Also to add, I think businesses could do I differently as well. So people are not working a 15 hour shift. Split them into 4 hour shifts. Unless someone wants to work multiples. We've done this on many Holidays. People split the shifts so they can still have family time and work. We have always offered double time and have never had an issue finding an employee to work.

mrsbhk22 · November 2013

I agree that it's sudden and it sucks. It's a change in the marketplace, but companies need to adjust or lose revenue.

I stand by my statement that it has a lot to do with increased web purchases. Long term (like 10+ yrs), more and more people will shop on line and the big box stores have to change it up to be relevant.

Maybe I'm just overly annoyed by the FB campaign. I'm pretty sure best buy isn't going to change their minds on their operating hours because you posted a picture on FB that says "I refuse to shop thanksgiving day."

Tons of restaurants here are open. They have thanksgiving day specials where they make "thanksgiving type" food so you don't have to cook it. Personally, I'd never go to a restaurant, but there must be a market to support it.

Edit: autocorrect fail

Hyaline · November 2013

tonir319 said:

I don't understand why people are so outraged over retail employees having to work on thanksgiving. I'm not saying I agree with stores being open but there are a LOT of people that have to work holidays, including thanksgiving and there's never any outrage to close restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gas stations, etc. Honestly I think people are more upset with the commercialization of the holiday and they are using the employes as an excuse.

I've actually always said that, aside from emergency responders and the like, I don't get why *anything* needs to be open on Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Buy gas the day before. Travel planning to not need to stop for fast food on Thanksgiving. Deal with it if you forget to buy cranberries. I mean, people functioned that way for decades before we started expecting everything to be open on holidays. I can remember as a kid always gassing up the day before a holiday because you could never expect to find an open gas station the day of.

willy_gert · November 2013

I personally think it is crap that people are getting so up in arms over retail workers having to work, when honestly, a lot them already worked Thanksgiving Day at some point because they set the store for Black Friday. I think it is crap because this year my DH has to work Thanksgiving and Christmas and nobody is hollering about him having to work. One of my friends' DH is having to do the same as PD and nobody is hollering about him being out there in the cold. My next door neighbor is working both days as well and I don't hear anyone hollering for him. So, what makes retail workers having to work so much worse than my DH, my neighbor and my friend's DH?

MRoxy0628 · November 2013

I know all the message boards are open to everybody, so I'm guessing this will be an UO, but I get slightly annoyed when we're having a discussion on here and people from other boards chime in.

AlinnJo · November 2013

I started reading BF as breast feeding. And I got super confused. It took me longer than I care to admit that BF=Black Friday.

BPer · November 2013

MRoxy0628 said:

I know all the message boards are open to everybody, so I'm guessing this will be an UO, but I get slightly annoyed when we're having a discussion on here and people from other boards chime in.

Eh, it doesn't bother me. There's a lot of us that chime in on other boards for particularly stupid/cray posts.

MRoxy0628 · November 2013

willy_gert said:

I personally think it is crap that people are getting so up in arms over retail workers having to work, when honestly, a lot them already worked Thanksgiving Day at some point because they set the store for Black Friday. I think it is crap because this year my DH has to work Thanksgiving and Christmas and nobody is hollering about him having to work. One of my friends' DH is having to do the same as PD and nobody is hollering about him being out there in the cold. My next door neighbor is working both days as well and I don't hear anyone hollering for him. So, what makes retail workers having to work so much worse than my DH, my neighbor and my friend's DH?

I think one difference is that people in certain professions (e.g. paramedics, police officers, doctors, nurses, etc.) went into it knowing they would have to work holidays. And I don't know about your H, but I know my friends that are nurses get paid extra to work those days. I'm not saying it doesn't suck for you to have him miss holidays, just that it maybe wasn't expected when people chose retail.

MRoxy0628 · November 2013

LoisLayn23 said:

MRoxy0628 said:

I know all the message boards are open to everybody, so I'm guessing this will be an UO, but I get slightly annoyed when we're having a discussion on here and people from other boards chime in.
Eh, I think we are just as guilty when something gets linked (a14, may14, dec13, s13, j14, etc)

Oh I'm sure there are some people on here who do the same thing, but I stick to a couple boards. Also, I lurked on here for like a year before I started posting, so I would never think to jump into another board's discussion. I think my only exception for that would be to defend someone from S12 if they were being treated badly on another board e.g. jcieply.

Hyaline · November 2013

LoisLayn23 said:

MRoxy0628 said:

I know all the message boards are open to everybody, so I'm guessing this will be an UO, but I get slightly annoyed when we're having a discussion on here and people from other boards chime in.
Eh, I think we are just as guilty when something gets linked (a14, may14, dec13, s13, j14, etc)

I've actually tried to be better about this--I'll lurk and giggle, and participate in threads, you know, mocking the shit out of it on our own board. But I guess I have started to see the BMBs as communities that don't really benefit from rando strangers popping in to have a pile on. For me personally, I respect their space.

I do think it's different when someone is actually asking advice on something really unusual and people send the bat signal for help.

willy_gert · November 2013

MRoxy0628 said:

willy_gert said:

I personally think it is crap that people are getting so up in arms over retail workers having to work, when honestly, a lot them already worked Thanksgiving Day at some point because they set the store for Black Friday. I think it is crap because this year my DH has to work Thanksgiving and Christmas and nobody is hollering about him having to work. One of my friends' DH is having to do the same as PD and nobody is hollering about him being out there in the cold. My next door neighbor is working both days as well and I don't hear anyone hollering for him. So, what makes retail workers having to work so much worse than my DH, my neighbor and my friend's DH?

I think one difference is that people in certain professions (e.g. paramedics, police officers, doctors, nurses, etc.) went into it knowing they would have to work holidays. And I don't know about your H, but I know my friends that are nurses get paid extra to work those days. I'm not saying it doesn't suck for you to have him miss holidays, just that it maybe wasn't expected when people chose retail.

I get that, but I just think it is silly to be so up in arms over someone else's job, you know? Maybe people like working Thanksgiving and BF for the extra money. Maybe they don't. When I worked retail we were given the option to work or not, when I worked at a grocery store we were given the same option. I just think it is silly to get so up in arms over something when seriously, a ton of people work on Thanksgiving and Christmas. What makes it acceptable that my DH has to work and people are all meh about it, but other people have to work and people are outraged? I understand that he went into it knowing, but jobs change, and things change.....

MomtobeNJ · November 2013

I agree that the outrage stems from the fact that this is a new development and expectation in the field of retail. That's the nature of change. It's a new requirement for some, but soon it will probably be the norm. From now on, people who work retail will have to stop and think, "this is going to involve working on Thanksgiving and dealing with general holiday insanity with millions of crazy shoppers. Is that something I want to deal with?" Just like, as someone else mentioned, it is an expectation for nurses and doctors, law enforcement, security staff, those who work in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, gas stations, parking garages, movie theaters, coffee shops...

I live in northern NJ. Tons of places are still open on major holidays.

Kissty · November 2013

When I started out I had to work Thanksgiving, X-Mas Eve, New Year's Eve & Day. Did it suck? Yep, but that was just how it was. DH has worked on Thanksgiving and X-Mas in the past, sucks but again, it is what it is. I have shopped BF once. I will NEVER do that again! The deals are not worth the traffic and rudeness of others. I don't think that ppl should have to work those crazy hours that others are talking about. Split the shifts, let everyone be able to spend some time with family since that's what this is supposed to be about.

redneckmomma25 · November 2013

For us being a gas station. Part of our lease requires us to be open 24/7. We are not allowed to close. I know that's not the same for all businesses but in our case...we have to stay open.

Stasi · November 2013

The thing that stinks about retail is that people who didn't traditionally work on Thanksgiving day, are now required to. Many people don't get the option of working, or not working on certain days. If the manager says come in, you have to come in. That on top of not getting overtime for working on a holiday really sucks.

But, I guess if you work retail, then it's just something you come to expect? (I've never worked retail, so I'm just posturing about this.

Hyaline · November 2013

It drives me nuts when people are super Scroogey about the holidays. I have friends already complaining that they "hate Christmas" or "it stresses them out, they wish it was over already." A) It's midNovember. Save your freakout for December, at least.

Why not choose to celebrate the parts you like and ignore what you don't and live and let live? Especially when the complaints are about "it's so commercial" or "I don't get into the religious stuff." No one is making you buy a bunch of shit or go to midnight mass. There has to be something you enjoy, even if it's just holiday M&Ms or watching Rudolph.

tinyhumantoe · November 2013

UO: I always thought working BF was fun

I would take working holidays over the other incredible trespasses of my job into my life. It's a job, I do it and it's not really unjust. I get that people work retail for a check, so it's not fair to say "don't work retail if you don't want to work holidays." I don't take that stance.... I say, "Every job comes with perks and down sides. That is definitely a down side."

I was in a bid submission process the day I was in labor, the morning after delivering, and the work continued for two weeks after. It was half of our revenue last year. It completely ruined my experience with having my child

. I cried about 8 hours a day over it. There was no one else that could do it and the bid came 3 months early.... so I shouldn't have been in that position. Anyway, it sucked, and it was part of my job. All jobs have down sides, right?

MeatballEsq · November 2013

LoisLayn23 said:
Restaurants here aren't open. Except the one that gives 2500 free thanksgiving meals on Thanksgiving.

Not even fast food?

tinyhumantoe · November 2013

UO: if you break a nail, cut them all down. It's gross to have 8 daggers and two nubs.

redneckmomma25 · November 2013

tinyhumantoe said:
UO: if you break a nail, cut them all down. It's gross to have 8 daggers and two nubs.

It's gross to have dagger. Long nails skeeve me out. Especially long real nails.

tinyhumantoe · November 2013

I guess I want to say: job stability.

You should look at how much annual revenue comes from those days.

But it does suck major wad. And people are allowed to complain. But I wouldn't feel hostile towards the employers.

MomtobeNJ · November 2013

Hyaline said:

It drives me nuts when people are super Scroogey about the holidays. I have friends already complaining that they "hate Christmas" or "it stresses them out, they wish it was over already." A) It's midNovember. Save your freakout for December, at least. Why not choose to celebrate the parts you like and ignore what you don't and live and let live? Especially when the complaints are about "it's so commercial" or "I don't get into the religious stuff." No one is making you buy a bunch of shit or go to midnight mass. There has to be something you enjoy, even if it's just holiday M&Ms or watching Rudolph.

Oh, how I wish we all came equipped with an Ignore Button.

tinyhumantoe · November 2013

@redneckmomma25 agreed @spooflejones I'm dying!

BPer · November 2013

SpoofLeJones said:

I farted in the shower this morning and it was so stinky that I had to get out. I know this isn't FFFC, but I don't care. Sharing is caring.

I wish every day was FFFC. I have confessions every day that I forget by Friday.

Unknown · November 2013

This content has been removed.

MomtobeNJ · November 2013

SpoofLeJones said:

I always wonder why black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and not like, a week later. Is it just that a lot of people do shop on thanksgiving and through the weekend regardless? And if so, wouldn't it make sense to let the people shop and also have black Friday at a different time? Crazy talk? I do agree with THT though, every job has downsides. Sucks, but you do what you gotta do.

I think it just started as the official kick-off of the holiday shopping season, and then just got way out of control.

thebanich · November 2013

Laffy Taffy is awesome.

Pokedot · November 2013

I haven't read all the responses yet so if this is a repeat of some sort forgive me. I realize that since before companies were physically open on Thanksgiving there were people always working. It's a 24 hour 365 days a year kind of thing. This push from the retailers to be open on the actual holiday however kills me. I realize there are other businesses and companies open on Thanksgiving as well like gas stations, hotels, hospitals that in itself comes with the territory so to speak. However some of our gas stations in town do not open and I won't buy gas on a holiday. Travelers on the other hand different story. As a person who worked in retail for 10 years I would be down right pissed if I had to miss my families meal because I had to sell a blender at 50% off. Retailers should stick to the BF for their opening times.end.of.story! Let their workers have 2 days off a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Is that too much to ask?

DH was a manager in retail for over 14 years with a Bachelors degree. Not some entry level position. He had to work is ASS off to get there. So not everyone in retail is low income, on welfare. Some are and not matter what they deserve a freaking day off.

kelbel527 · November 2013

I guess the part I don't understand is why everyone is so up in arms about it this year? Last year stores opened on Thanksgiving, this year more stores are doing it. You know why? Because people shopped on Thanksgiving last year, so if they weren't open, people were just going to their competitors.

I too am probably just overly annoyed with the FB boycott pictures.

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