Before you even THINK it, I did NOT go to Target and take this picture. This is borrowed. Take a look at the shot, what do you notice? It's dark outside, the line to get in must be about 300 people long from the end of the line to the door, maybe 250. And if you went to Target today, the doors opened at 12 am Friday. That's just cutting it by one second at the close of our wonderful Thanksgiving. The day we "usually" set aside for being thankful and getting together with family and loved ones. Or the day you were at a food bank feeding the needy. Or maybe you didn't have Thanksgiving this year because you couldn't afford to. Or maybe you signed that petition against Target opening at midnight? Here's an article about it, "Black Friday Petition Against Target Midnight Opening Gains Steam." Here's the actual petition, Tell Target to Save Thanksgiving." Remember that this petition was started by an actual Target employee.
So the store opens at 12am and what do these people possibly NEED that is THAT important? Well I found out some interesting things today as I looked online for information. TOYS! That was the number one reason that I found that people were going to Target so early. Sure, there were other reasons given... electronics, 1/2 price items, food marked down from the day before, but really they were there for toys. This to me is really sad. And maybe my mom and dad did it too when I was young (I have remembered the word Black Friday for a long time now!) But the craze has got to stop. And what about that petition you may have signed? Here's what happened there, "Black Friday Store Hours Unchanged Even After Petitions & Protests." And not to single out Target, because "Most other stores like Wal-Mart Black Friday hours, Toys R Us Black Friday hours and more were petitioned online and protested. In addition to the online petitions, Occupy Wall Street protests joined the bandwagon of protesting Black Friday. The Occupy movement feels that Black Friday deals are a direct example of the corporate greed that has gotten worse in America."
We're in hard economics times and just yesterday we were remembering the armed forces who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan without their families (except their military family) and we were praying for those who had nothing, and then today some of these same families are out there in the crowds (unhealthy at best!) fighting, screaming, there were some shootings reported today, and the only person we're thinking about is "me." "I gotta get this, I gotta get that." And boom! The whole spirit of Thanksgiving is over, because now it's time to focus on the things we have to buy for Christmas for our family and friends.
I can tell you for certain that people were so stressed out today you can't imagine. This is unhealthy. I'll give you some articles to read about that. The stores open earlier and earlier each year because they just have to feed that "need." Is it a NEED or GREED?
Before I start looking at STRESS, where do I fit in? Right there with them! Not in the stores physically, but I was online from about 3am-2pm working on my online store, Avon Products by Carolyn, to get up my BLACK FRIDAY event from today through Tuesday. Why? Because this is the time of year that everyone will be looking forward to CYBER MONDAY. Yes, the sales are online all over the place on Monday. I'm not taking my sale down and why? Because I "need" to get these items sold so I can make some Christmas spending money. But before I go into that, let me also tell you that working Avon part-time is my "do it when I'm healthy" job. And I only sell online. I'm not excusing myself, but every Avon lady knows that Christmas is the time to sell. So am I part of the Greed or Need? I can go back and forward on that all day if given the chance. I did pray this morning and wrote this in my prayer journal to God. "Lord, you and John (my husband) know how nervous I am about this Black Friday Sale. Please calm my nerves and help me think clearly to write all of the needed information there. Please bring the needed customers in the next (5) days and help me to continue to be error free, calm, polite, fair, honest and open and with John for asking for needed help. Please keep me pain free for the day." Let's see, I said the word need there in some form three times. I don't know how to evaluate how I prayed.
Let's talk about the stress of the day with some things I found searching online. Here we start with, "Survive Black Friday, The Most Stressful Shopping Day Of The Year." And another local (for me), "Pending study: Black Friday stress. One that is interesting is, "Does Shopping Stress You Out Too Much?"
And now the whole application of this entry today, how do I apply this to my life? Well it may be too late this year for this entry about Black Friday, but perhaps for next year... you can consider some of these points and decide for yourself, "Black Friday: is it GREED or NEED?"
