From the very beginning when I first got the seasonal job at Sawgrass Mills Mall, I, as well as the other holiday hires, were constantly reminded how many days were left until black Friday. It's obviously the biggest shopping day of the year, so big that some stores open on thanksgiving night and stay open for a full 24 hours in hopes of increasing sales. While that may be good for business, companies are completely forgetting about us, the sales associates who have to work on a full belly of thanksgiving dinner and wash it down with an energy drink. I'm not saying that we're assigned a full 24-hour shift, but we're not happy trying to find a size small shirt for rude and rushed customers who clearly aren't a size small.
Last year, a man named Anthony Hardwick petitioned to Target to reconsider the store's black Friday hours. It's bad enough having to work long shifts for minimum wage on what's supposed to be a family holiday, but opeing at midnight or even a few hours before midnight on thanksgiving is just unfair. after he started the petition, his hours were basically cut, but he spent the new free time with his family. Win-win, he stays home with his family and Target continues to make money with other people who (I'm assuming) are like me and can't afford any hours to be cut, even if it's a family holiday.
My shift started at 10pm and ended at 7am, with an hour break. I brought an energy drink with me to work and shared with my new friends before the shift started, and I've never been happier to have all that caffeine in me wired at two in the morning, especially while talking to a woman who was trying a pair of jeans (which I knew weren't going to fit--can you say muffin top?) and her dejected face when she cursed herself in Spanish for having a fourth helping earlier that night.
First of all, Sawgrass is an outlet mall, which means in all languages that everything is on sale year round, but do the international customers know (or care) about that? NO! they yell and scream and knock things to the ground while looking for whatever it is they're looking for (to re-sell again, we're not stupid,) and get upset at us when they can't find something that they saw in a regular priced store.
I won't even mention how a religious holiday has been blown out of proportion for commercialism. You don't hear a lot of thanksgiving songs, but no one really wants to write a song about the pilgrims who stole land and killed (and raped) hundreds for food, let's just stick to tracing our hands on construction paper and drawing a rainbow colored turkey.
I felt like I was going to war, or about to play an intense game of Zombies on Black Ops. The parking situation was so horrible, people were actually double parking just to get their presents! I was dropped off, and even though I hadn't gone inside yet, I heard the rumbling of excited chatter through the walls of the emergency exit/employee entrance. It's officially Christmas.
The first few hours before my scheduled hour break, the store was a complete war zone. I'm talking clothes being grabbed off displays left and right not just by the demanding customers, but by us associates helping them. The line for the fitting room stretched alongside displays, and the line to check out was nearly out the door. It was the worst place to be if you were claustrophobic or had crippling shyness because of the wall to wall people who would ask you dozens of questions at the same time, and a lot of the time it would be the same question in a different language, which got very annoying. In my case, one customer asked another one of my co workers about the promotions we had for black Friday--the exact same question she asked me two seconds earlier, and when my co worker rolled her eyes, the customer huffed and said she wanted to make sure she heard right. things got more annoying when she went up to our manager, who actually saw the entire scene go down, and repeated the information again. I guess third time's the charm because after she talked to my manager, she hurried out of the store and blended in with the horde of people passing by outside.
During my break, as badly as I wanted to get off my feet, I had to see how the other stores around the mall were holding up, and some of them were really busy, just like the managers may have wanted. Others weren't so lucky, like the bookstore that was pretty much non-existent to the shoppers. Even Starbucks had a line wrapping around the already very small restaurant. Gamestop was a different kind of battlefield because of its small space and everyone clamoring to get the latest games and gaming accessories. Josh is going to have to settle for a sweater from Armani Exchange. I was stepped on just passing by the store, and shoved three times by parents who were trying to make the line, which resembled the lines outside for the exclusive night clubs on south beach.
As the night went on, the frenzy seemed to die down a bit. maybe because the caffeine was wearing off, maybe because the store only had extra larges and size 14 left, or maybe it was all the merchandise on the floor that made it impossible to walk, but things got relatively calm as dawn broke. I wasn't shoved or stepped on anymore and I could actually breathe and help recover the store as best as I can before the early birds who like to shop at the crack of dawn show up. By now the caffeine in my system had disappeared, my feet were sore, and I avoided all customers by walking away every time I saw someone look my direction. When I finally clocked out, I felt exhausted but accomplished. I survived not just Angry Thursday (Trademarked!!) but my longest shift to date.
I won't even mention how a religious holiday has been blown out of proportion for commercialism. You don't hear a lot of thanksgiving songs, but no one really wants to write a song about the pilgrims who stole land and killed (and raped) hundreds for food, let's just stick to tracing our hands on construction paper and drawing a rainbow colored turkey.
I felt like I was going to war, or about to play an intense game of Zombies on Black Ops. The parking situation was so horrible, people were actually double parking just to get their presents! I was dropped off, and even though I hadn't gone inside yet, I heard the rumbling of excited chatter through the walls of the emergency exit/employee entrance. It's officially Christmas.
The first few hours before my scheduled hour break, the store was a complete war zone. I'm talking clothes being grabbed off displays left and right not just by the demanding customers, but by us associates helping them. The line for the fitting room stretched alongside displays, and the line to check out was nearly out the door. It was the worst place to be if you were claustrophobic or had crippling shyness because of the wall to wall people who would ask you dozens of questions at the same time, and a lot of the time it would be the same question in a different language, which got very annoying. In my case, one customer asked another one of my co workers about the promotions we had for black Friday--the exact same question she asked me two seconds earlier, and when my co worker rolled her eyes, the customer huffed and said she wanted to make sure she heard right. things got more annoying when she went up to our manager, who actually saw the entire scene go down, and repeated the information again. I guess third time's the charm because after she talked to my manager, she hurried out of the store and blended in with the horde of people passing by outside.During my break, as badly as I wanted to get off my feet, I had to see how the other stores around the mall were holding up, and some of them were really busy, just like the managers may have wanted. Others weren't so lucky, like the bookstore that was pretty much non-existent to the shoppers. Even Starbucks had a line wrapping around the already very small restaurant. Gamestop was a different kind of battlefield because of its small space and everyone clamoring to get the latest games and gaming accessories. Josh is going to have to settle for a sweater from Armani Exchange. I was stepped on just passing by the store, and shoved three times by parents who were trying to make the line, which resembled the lines outside for the exclusive night clubs on south beach.
As the night went on, the frenzy seemed to die down a bit. maybe because the caffeine was wearing off, maybe because the store only had extra larges and size 14 left, or maybe it was all the merchandise on the floor that made it impossible to walk, but things got relatively calm as dawn broke. I wasn't shoved or stepped on anymore and I could actually breathe and help recover the store as best as I can before the early birds who like to shop at the crack of dawn show up. By now the caffeine in my system had disappeared, my feet were sore, and I avoided all customers by walking away every time I saw someone look my direction. When I finally clocked out, I felt exhausted but accomplished. I survived not just Angry Thursday (Trademarked!!) but my longest shift to date.
