The Ethics or Lack Thereof Behind Black Friday Shopping

With holidays and the season of giving quickly approaching, so is Black Friday. Black Friday is the biggest day of the year where people stay up and out all night, weaving in and out of their favorite stores to get the best deals, even if it means taking it out of another’s hands.

But should these stores be your favorite if they allow this mayhem and possibly dangerous situations in their stores? Is it truly ethical for companies to force their employees to work on Thanksgiving, a day designated to celebrate family and give thanks for the things we’re all blessed with in life.

As a worker in retail myself, my place of business is open at 3:00pm this Thanksgiving day. When do you usually have your Thanksgiving meal? 3:00…maybe 4:00pm? How is it fair that while you’re off work and enjoying the time with your family, workers are forced to deal with crowds of people who have most-likely already had their meals with their families.

Last year, I worked at 5:00pm on Thanksgiving and it was horrible. It forced me to alter the plans to gather with family members and my mother and I had to prepare the meal sooner than we would have traditionally. The worst part to me was that work loomed over me the entire day. As much as I wanted to enjoy the time with my family, I always had work in the back of my mind and how I was really dreading the crowds and chaos I knew I would face later on in the day.

The coincidence of it all is that American consumers abandon their feelings of gratitude and holiday cheer associated with Thanksgiving.

On the news, we’ve all seen reports of stampedes of customer mobs breaking barricades, injuring other customers, injuring workers and even causing deadly situations. All of this just for a discounted electronic for their children. Is that worth it?

Is seems worth it to big businesses when they don’t care about the ethics behind Black Friday, but only the monetary gain surrounding that day.

How can this be resolved? Cyber Monday is the best opportunity to take to get just as good deals on items at the comfort of your own home. This stops the support of businesses forcing their employees to work on a holiday while also giving you more time to spend with your family. And wouldn’t you rather spend the day stuffing your face, watching football with your loved ones?

• Black
• ethics
• friday
• lifestyle
• shopping
• thanksgiving