As the time for Christmas shopping approaches, dedicated parents and persistent teens everywhere gather to celebrate one chaotic day of shopping and great deals. With crowded malls, packed stores and eager business, Black Friday is a perfect storm for a good deal. 

While Black Friday has been around for a couple of years, in 2011 stores started opening at midnight on Black Friday. Then they soon started opening on Thanksgiving Day with stores opening at 8 pm, then stores kept opening earlier and earlier. This year most stores will open their doors at 5 pm on Thanksgiving.

As far as holidays go, Black Friday is up there in many people’s favorites because of the great deals and doing some pre-Christmas shopping for loved ones. 

My family is very familiar with the crowd on Black Friday because of three out of the four members of my family work at Indian Mound Mall. I work at Justice, my sister works at Justice and AMC, and my mom is the Marketing Director for the mall. Since 2016 our Thanksgivings were spent around 2-3 pm then heading down to the mall to work. We were always trying to line up our schedules so they all match, which is another job itself.

 To my family, it’s not terrible because we spend time together and go to work, but for some employees, they do not get the luxury. My friend Tara Martos, who works at Auntie Annes in the mall is working at 6 pm-12 am on Thanksgiving and 2 pm-10 pm on Black Friday with no time and a half.  

However, cutting into family time is the least of the store’s concerns, because they are more concerned with the money coming in. I started working at Justice as seasonal, which means I only worked during Thanksgiving through the New Year, so I saw the worst of the worst right when I got there. There were mobs at JcPenny and mean middle-aged women surrounded store cashiers. 

The craziness of Black Friday has always bothered me, but since working retail, I have grown a hatred. Stores need to realize that their employees deserve a holiday as well.