Employees suffer on Black Friday

I've always thought waking up at the crack of dawn to wait in line and fight for Black Friday sales was insane. But with the increasingly-popular decision to open stores either all day Friday, or in the late evening, it's gone far beyond insane.

It seems like people are embracing the change to Thanksgiving night shopping because shoppers would much rather stay up late than wake up early for 5 a.m. sales. What they don't realize, or don't care about, is how the hours will be affecting employees and their holiday celebrations.

My sister is a cashier at a department store and I also worked several years in retail. We've both suffered the wrath of Black Friday, from long hours to crabby customers.

Last year, my sister was scheduled for the 5 a.m. shift and had to be awake by 3 a.m. in order to get to work on time. We had family staying with us from out of town and going to bed at 8 p.m. definitely put a damper on her family holiday activities.

This year, she's scheduled to work 11 p.m. Thursday night to 12 p.m. Friday afternoon. Again, she will either have to try to squeeze in a Thanksgiving nap, or face a 12-hour shift with no sleep. I don't know how this can be safe or acceptable for employees and I don't think shoppers realize what employees are put through.

That brings me to my retail experience. Shoppers tend to believe you're getting paid extra to work the holiday and only work your eight-hour shift and go home. This couldn't be further from the truth.

As an assistant manager, I was required to work all day Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. I'd start at 7 a.m. and wouldn't leave until after 10 p.m. both days. It also usually took longer to get out because the store was such a disaster and required extra cleaning.

On top of the 15-hour Friday and Saturday, I also usually put in a 14-hour day the day before Thanksgiving in order to finish setting up displays required for the day after Thanksgiving. The display changeover usually began earlier in the week, so the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving were in no way short days either. And trust me, there was no special pay except for overtime after 40 hours.

In order to alleviate the pain of retail employees, Thanksgiving day sales should be online only.
Shoppers can still shop, but there will be less of a need for employees.
Until the shopping trend changes, I ask that all shoppers please be kind to your retail employees. Clean up after yourself, be patient and realize the employees have given up a great deal to make your Black Friday shopping possible.