I have worked opening for 2 out of the last 3 Black Fridays. I would like to add some insight into this years black Friday if I may.
This Year: the ETL-HR has in their execution guide a form that they are supposed to complete (ours worked on this yesterday) that will list what you say you are available for Black Friday and all important dates through the end of the year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Friday before Christmas, Christmas Eve, Day after Christmas, etc.
When it comes to Black Friday, Any hours you work on Thanksgiving either from Wednesday night prep or opening before Black Friday are paid Holiday Pay. Any TM who works overnight on Black Friday 10pm til 6am should earn an additional hour per hour for shift differential as long as you work at least 3 hours on the overnight shift block.
I have an overnight job in media that prevents me from working BF opening anymore; to be honest I like opening on BF, especially since I am the Electronics Team Trainer at my store. I have had the gamut of guests being upset over things we can not prevent (i.e. an ad product being sold out, to why don't you have more registers in Electronics) and it doesn't bother me. Last year I worked crowd control until the store opened and had to leave for my other job. My STL appreciated that I offered some help rather than none. TO be honest we didn't have a line until 40 minutes before we opened. People were wanting to spend time with their families on a holiday is what Thanksgiving is about. And from what I heard the Denver stores being open on Thanksgiving were a huge flop.
As far as Backroom, you can expect manual CAFs as someone else pointed out. At my store the Instocks, Flow, and Backroom TL were in from opening til various times to leave. The Instocks TL started dropping manual CAF's one hour after opening, the Flow TL worked with Flow TM's after the crowd died down to push the CAFs. The Instocks TL left after 4 hours and returned at like 8am to do normal Instocks routines with their team on Friday morning. The Flow TL and their team left at like 4am after the store seemed to be back to normal (stocked, zoned, and clear of reshop). The back room TL left at 2am and then returned at noon the next day to help with the push of guests coming out of their food comas and shopping again.
You will see probably for the first time (depending on prototype and sales volume) all of your front lanes open except the one that parts are Frankenstein-ed from for the first 3 hours the store is open. You will also probably see 1 GSTL and 1 GSA managing/running/supervising the front lanes. Although it sounds strange most stores at open only have 1 Guest Services TM until about 6am then if your store necessitates it, they will have multiple. Generally 6-8 hours after store opening people who "overspent" or "impulsed" on doorbusters will return the merchandise. This is prime opportunity as a TM (who is off the clock) to get a TM who is on the clock to push the returns to the floor (if it is sell-able) so you can buy it at the same price as opening.
Pharmacy will not be open at store opening and you should not expect those registers to be available.
Generally on Black Friday it is the only time all stores will see a Cart Attendant scheduled from Open to Close. Those Cart attendants will be hustling as soon as the store opens between cleaning up trash and pushing carts back in as soon as guests leave from the doorbuster deals.
Most stores on Black Friday try to assign a TLOD (Team Lead on Duty) to both Hardlines and Softlines to assist with alleviating the burden of managing TM's and guests in such a busy pace. Others schedule a ETL from both side of the store to be there while the store is busy.
It is important to note that there will be lots of downtime while the store is open on BF. The rush at opening generally last about 2 hours. Then you have downtime til the early bird shoppers arrive between 5am and 7am. then some more downtime til the lunch crowd and from there it might vary you could have a cold afternoon til about 4:30 where it will pick up again til about 2-3 hours before your store closes. Every bit of downtime should be spent wisely on recovery. If there are multiple TM's in your area and you are not assigned a TL to sit over you, partner up and split up the department. Ensure that someone is always near a call button/price scanner as these attract lots of guests and have at least one person be the runner to GS for reshop/foreign.
Whatever you do follow the break schedule given to you. Your TL's and ETL's will expect you to stick to it no matter how many guests ask for your help. If you have a guest needing something and you have less than 2 min before you go to break/lunch connect the guest with another TM.
Remember equipment is going to be at a premium so make sure that you follow protocol at your store. Most stores will specifically assign certain types of equipment to certain TM's. Don't take anything if your not assigned anything. This is crucial to the AP communication module for the store during BF.
If I missed anything please let me know, I will be happy to elaborate on anything that you might have questions on.