Archived Christmas is coming...let's all be nice

[SallyHoover]

I know that mine is not the popular opinion but ever since I was about 15 yo. (20 years ago), I probably had enough family time by 4pm on Thanksgiving, had no desire to sit around and watch football and since I had off from school or work wouldn't mind doing some shopping or other retailish activities. And that was even having to hit two thanksgivings- mom's family and dad's family. I think bars and movie theaters and convenience stores were about the only thing open 10+ year ago.

I would much rather be at work at 5:30pm on Thanksgiving than 2am or 4am or whatever it was on Friday. We just have dinner a little earlier. What I am not looking forward to is the 9-5:30 on Friday.

 

[JuicedSoftball1]

I know that mine is not the popular opinion but ever since I was about 15 yo. (20 years ago), I probably had enough family time by 4pm on Thanksgiving, had no desire to sit around and watch football and since I had off from school or work wouldn't mind doing some shopping or other retailish activities. And that was even having to hit two thanksgivings- mom's family and dad's family. I think bars and movie theaters and convenience stores were about the only thing open 10+ year ago.

I would much rather be at work at 5:30pm on Thanksgiving than 2am or 4am or whatever it was on Friday. We just have dinner a little earlier. What I am not looking forward to is the 9-5:30 on Friday.

I feel you on this. As a military brat and my Dad away a lot we had holidays on whatever day fit into his schedule. I cant tell you how many times we celebrated my birthday a week early etc. The holiday is what you make it. Before my sister took over Thanks Giving my Mom always had dinner around noon and after that everyone did their own thing.

 

[konk]

Grew up celebrating holidays with my dad's side of the family. After we ate, we'd play Monopoly. I miss that more than anything. Sister-in-law's boyfriends are never the board game type and her kids are still too young. New boyfriend has 3 kids though so maybe it's time to bring it back.

 

[BullseyeBud]

The thing that we need to keep in mind is that the only controllable thing in all of this is your own attitude. It can make or break a situation.

There was a time when everything was dayside...malls made evening and weekend shopping trendy. Sundays became a day to get things done. Are things changing? Yep. Will they continue to change? Yep. Is is NEEDED to combat increasing online 24/7 access--yep! As in all things, retail MUST push the envelope to evolve with times. Otherwise the service industry will die like manufacturing did. If it is not your industry, feel free to try another!

Just not medical, emergency response, hotel or hospitality, restaurants, online support, call-centers, or even many non-profits. They wonder why retail workers are complaining, when there is still a bit of holiday for them to enjoy. Good luck matching your Spot salary when these are out of the mix. If you don't like where you are--change it! Otherwise, complaining, moaning, and even perpetuating gripes or stories of the past which don't make us better people at all. No situation is perfect. Attitude is choice. Make the right one.

 

[Producer]

The thing that we need to keep in mind is that the only controllable thing in all of this is your own attitude. It can make or break a situation.

There was a time when everything was dayside...malls made evening and weekend shopping trendy. Sundays became a day to get things done. Are things changing? Yep. Will they continue to change? Yep. Is is NEEDED to combat increasing online 24/7 access--yep! As in all things, retail MUST push the envelope to evolve with times. Otherwise the service industry will die like manufacturing did. If it is not your industry, feel free to try another!

Just not medical, emergency response, hotel or hospitality, restaurants, online support, call-centers, or even many non-profits. They wonder why retail workers are complaining, when there is still a bit of holiday for them to enjoy. Good luck matching your Spot salary when these are out of the mix. If you don't like where you are--change it! Otherwise, complaining, moaning, and even perpetuating gripes or stories of the past which don't make us better people at all. No situation is perfect. Attitude is choice. Make the right one.

I like this a lot. Now prepare for the volcano.

 

[ExhaustedCashier]

 

[Samshayna]

I am new to Target and I guess I haven't experienced enough. After reading everyone's post, I think we are missing something. It seems like we are blaming Target and the other retailers for making their employees work the night of Thanksgiving. It is not Target's or the other retailers fault. It is far from there fault. If you want to blame someone, blame our guests/customers. If there wasn't guest/customer demand for this, the retailers would not open. Our guests/customers created this problem, not Target. If my memory serves me, it was Walmart who decided to open on Thanksgiving night as an experiment. They wanted to see if there was a demand. Obviously, 10+ years later, the American public made a decision that is was more important to buy a TV at 7pm on Thanksgiving Thursday than be home with their family. If the millions of Americans decided family time was more important, than Walmart would have been empty, and they would not be open on Thanksgiving night going forward. Let's cut through the BS. Target is a for-profit company. They have shareholders to answer too. If they see a possibility for a return on investment, they are going to act. If there wasn't then they would be closed.

And once again I have to point out that there are a number of companies Burlington, Costco, REI, etc. who have chosen not to take this money over their employees approach.
Those few extra dollars are not necessary to the final numbers while your employees mental work/life can make all the difference in the world.

Agreed, but at some point don't be surprised if things change.

 

[Samshayna]

This has nothing to do with "dick measuring". This solely has to do with demand. The retailers will make decisions based on the buying public.

The buying public didn't know they wanted to shop on thanksgiving until Wally said "bruh, I bet no one else has the balls to open on thanksgiving... We should do it... We'll be first to open... We'll get all of their money before target even opens the doors muahahahahahahahahaha"
Then they did their market research with the focus groups and such and at the suggestion, many of the people they surveyed were like "ooh, yea, that sounds like fun."
I said Wally because I think they were the first to open thanksgiving night and do an overnight Black Friday start time. Here, thy did it the year before target started 9pm (2 BFs ago, target's first thanksgiving open). I'm assuming that doesn't apply for people who live in 24 hour Walmart regions. There was a time when BF started at 6am, then 4, then 2, then midnight. If you think people were calling retailers asking them to creep into another day, you're crazy. Most people were shocked that first year. I had the same "wow, you guys are opening on t day?" Conversation a million times that year.

So yea, money has everything to do with this new shopping tradition, but the people didn't ask for it because they didn't know they wanted it. I mean, you could be right, but I refuse to believe it happened your way lol and you will stick to your guns, so really this is futile. And it doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things.

I am not disagreeing with what you are saying. The first year this was done was an experiment. If no one showed up, then they wouldn't have done it the next year. A retailers livelihood rests on demand. If people create the demand, then the retail will act on it.

 

[PT Target]

As a first time seasonal worker (who is working on T-Giving), I will say that I shopped last year at Target on T-Giving evening. Like someone else said, my family holiday was finished by then. Before I had kids, I'd head to a movie or a bar, now I just put the kids to bed and watch TV or whatever.

I usually go out shopping on Black Friday after noon or 1:00pm when things have calmed down a bit, mostly because I had no desire to get up at 0-dark-thirty when the stores opened at 4am. But when you can head to Target at 9:00pm on T-Giving, get some good deals and still get a good night's sleep, why not?

 

[redeye58]

Let us know how you feel after working on Thanksgiving.
Big difference being in the mix vs shopping from the sideline.

 

[Bosch]

As a first time seasonal worker (who is working on T-Giving), I will say that I shopped last year at Target on T-Giving evening. Like someone else said, my family holiday was finished by then. Before I had kids, I'd head to a movie or a bar, now I just put the kids to bed and watch TV or whatever.

I usually go out shopping on Black Friday after noon or 1:00pm when things have calmed down a bit, mostly because I had no desire to get up at 0-dark-thirty when the stores opened at 4am. But when you can head to Target at 9:00pm on T-Giving, get some good deals and still get a good night's sleep, why not?

What sleep? And you had a holiday, most of us - not so much.

 

[JustJoe]

Yesterday: Price change
Today: Ad Prep
Tomorrow: Ad Prep
Sunday: Ad Setup/Ad Prep
Monday: Ad Prep
Tuesday:Ad Prep (if needed, otherwise off)
Wednesday: BF setup 6PM-2am
Thursday: backup operator/softlines 6pm-2am. (This was my spot last year and I was primary operator. I'm only there this year hopefully to cover breaks and help guests not buy the item on the corner... I stared at those JBL sound bars all weekend.)
Friday or Saturday: Ad Prep

I never thought I'd be prepping 18,000 signs in a 10-day period! (4-day ad, 2-day ad, 11/30 ad) I've got the 4-day ready to go except for the Friday stacks. I'll be working on the 2-day 11x11s in the morning.

 

[Retail Girl]

Yesterday: Price change
I'm only there this year hopefully to cover breaks and help guests not buy the item on the corner... I stared at those JBL sound bars all weekend.)

Seriously...there is nothing like tripping over excess crap on the softlines perimeter all weekend praying it will sell just to get it out of the way and get some actual space back.

 

[JustJoe]

Seriously...there is nothing like tripping over excess crap on the softlines perimeter all weekend praying it will sell just to get it out of the way and get some actual space back.

Last year my BF prep task was to pull the front row of both boys and girls in to make room for the toy pallets and condense product by double/triple stacking racks. What a mess.
This year hopefully I have some more say about what I'm doing .

 

[sher]

But when you can head to Target at 9:00pm on T-Giving, get some good deals and still get a good night's sleep, why not?

9pm didn't bother me that much. I was able to eat dinner and play games with the fam and stuff. 5:30 on the other hand is lame. And A good nights sleep with only 8 hours between my two bf shifts? It's not gonna happen.

 

[Backroom81]

Your first thread and you come on here telling people to "suck it up" when being required to work on a day that 5 years ago, was a full day off. A day that we now open a little bit earlier each year and has gotten to the point that if your family isn't local or traveling to you, there's virtually no chance of seeing them. What responses did you expect?

All so we can barely hit sales goals while spending a lot more payroll to do so. If we're so worried about squeezing out that extra sale and competing against Wal Mart, why do we still close on Easter?

 

[RedMan]

If we're so worried about squeezing out that extra sale and competing against Wal Mart, why do we still close on Easter?

Quiet, please. Don't give them any ideas.

 

[see spot save]

*Reads thread title*

*Reads op*

 

[Retail Girl]

Hey, gang. I deleted out the offending post that was straight up name calling. But we don't need to refan the flames. Let's recognize that any posts chastising others or asking others to suck it up are going to cause people to push back.

Black Friday is over. We all worked what we worked. We are now looking at the two week out schedule for Christmas. In another couple of weeks we will all be scrambling for hours. We're all on the same team here. We are not each other's enemies. This is why we have guests.

 

[Jeremy]

Unless you asked off in advanced and got it approved stop whining. Like any other job in their busy seasons, you havento ask off further in advanced.

 

[evilSF]

I didn't mind opening on thanksgiving. I didn't get a chance to buy what I wanted but I didn't expect to. My paycheck was great because of it. I have kids and we are able to celebrate before I have to leave. With working this Christmas eve and closing, I'm fine with it...I'll be able to put all the gifts out and not worrying if they are in bed yet. It just sucks our hours will be crappy afterwards.

 

[Fumbling]

My Christmas eve consists of nothing, nothing and more nothing so getting assigned a shift that day wasn't much of a problem for me -- it was why I made it clear I had open availability. But for those who saw they were working that day, why not track someone down who was willing to take the shift? Everyone at my store was (and still is) making a mad dash to try and pawn their hours off on someone, most of which succeeded.

 

[neversaynever]

I didn't mind opening on thanksgiving. I didn't get a chance to buy what I wanted but I didn't expect to. My paycheck was great because of it. I have kids and we are able to celebrate before I have to leave. With working this Christmas eve and closing, I'm fine with it...I'll be able to put all the gifts out and not worrying if they are in bed yet. It just sucks our hours will be crappy afterwards.

Hours at my store didn't start dropping until April or so. BUT, we are a snowbird area and the 2nd wave arrives after Christmas. Hours go when they do.

So, it depends on your stores area, I would guess most stores they do vanish.

 

[sher]

My Christmas eve consists of nothing, nothing and more nothing so getting assigned a shift that day wasn't much of a problem for me -- it was why I made it clear I had open availability. But for those who saw they were working that day, why not track someone down who was willing to take the shift? Everyone at my store was (and still is) making a mad dash to try and pawn their hours off on someone, most of which succeeded.

Eh, no one in my store wants my closing so Christmas Eve shift lol. I'm already over it, though. I'll wrap gifts later this year and wake up later. I can't wrap gifts earlier than Christmas Eve because it's a ridiculous tradition. And it's kinda fun, still, even though my youngest brother is almost 15 and obviously knows that the rest of us are santa. It's like a fun combo of sneaky, frantic fun and I get in my last minute cheesy Christmas movies. I'm pretty much immediately over all that cheesy stuff the moment the clock strikes 12 on the 26th. Speaking of, there are more people in my store trying to get rid of the 26th and 27th than they are Christmas Eve. I think the only people annoyed with the Eve are closers, and we've all already sucked it up and mentally prepared for all the "do you have this hot item at the last possible moment to buy it in time???"

 

[tgtguy]

Let us know how you feel after working on Thanksgiving.
Big difference being in the mix vs shopping from the sideline.

I had a family member ( somewhat distant but after the comment realized not distant enough ) tell me I was luck to work in retail on Black Friday. I asked why. He said well you get dibs on all those great deals...I politely smiled and said. No, it doesn't work that way...far from it actually. I can get a 5 .oo dollar toaster if I am lucky.