Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who'd Be A Turkey At Christmas?)

The title of this blog is actually the name of an old Elton John B side, but it felt right for this title as it involves both Christmas & Thanksgiving.

This blog is about the horrible trend of businesses and Black Friday sales, and more importantly when these sales start.

They get earlier and earlier every year til we're at the point that the earliest Black Friday sale now begins at 9 pm (Central time) @ Toys'R'Us where a kid can be a kid and an employee can get screwed out of a holiday like every other person that works in retail.

It's a shame, and there finally seems to be some backlash.

4 a.m. seemed to be the "normal" starting hour for years, but one retail giant decided that wasn't good enough. One retail giant that is number 1 and for all intent purposes will remain #1, while the others are only competitors. Wal Mart. Wal Mart has been calling the shots for years and everyone else follows their lead in an attempt to catch up, at their employees expense.

Hell almost every Wal Mart is 24 hours anyway now, but you used to be able to count on holidays.

Not so anymore, now they start their sales at 10 p.m. (Again, Central-I find it underrated) in order to sell more items.

On top of all this, people like to complain about how we go right from Halloween to Christmas and skip Thanksgiving. I'd like to know how many of them will be lined up at 10 P.M. that night to get the latest must have deals for the holidays. So don't give me that crap, you should think about the employees who have to put up with fighting, complaining and what have you, just to make a few extra bucks which probably isn't worth it in the end for all the hell they go through.

So, if you're worried about Thanksgiving losing it's meaning and have ever worked in retail, or even walked into a store and thought "Christ, I'm glad I don't have to do this for a living" then STAY HOME on Thanksgiving night. Don't worry about that must have deal on a TV that will be obsolete by New Year's day. get up and go at a decent hour the next morning. Don't let the ads dictate how you're going to spend your day. Show the stores that you don't like how their staff is being treated. True, some may choose to work that night to get some extra money, but in this economy, really how far are you going to go with it? Do the math.

The stores won't suffer a damn bit. A little hint for those who have never worked retail: Stores base their decisions mainly on trends and where they were the same time last year, and for a lot of these stores, they weren't open this early last year, so this is extra money here. Once they look back next year and say "Shit, that was a waste" then eventually people will get their holiday back, and you won't have to set your clock to get up so damned early on a day you're lucky to even have off.

You and I, we don't owe this economy anything. We don't owe this nation our money or our time. They'll get it anyway, and when you think "Screw this guy, what does he know" put yourself in the employees position. think to yourself if you had to cut Thanksgiving dinner short, or have it the week before, because you have to go in that night and spend it with some unruly bunch of assholes that think you're responsible for everything that goes wrong. Hell, think about the videos(and I gurantee there will be some) of some guy getting trampled to death by shoppers. and then think about the fat cat CEOs and presidents that are sitting at home enjoying their dinner in their own home with the money you have given them and made their life possible-and the employees who did as well because of YOUR demand and are probably getting time and a half if they're lucky, and really, in this world, it doesn't mean shit. There's plenty of other days to work-all year long if you don't watch out, because Christmas will be next if you keep this shit up. Wait and see.