A few days ago, I was asked how I felt about the influx of stores opening on Thanksgiving for Christmas shoppers. To be honest, I wasn't sure; I can come down on either side of this argument.
First of all, lets look at it from the business owners perspective. This country was built on the concept of freedom, and that includes free enterprise. If an owner to a business sees a way to gain a competitive edge (or not lose an edge), then most of us would say let them do it, with the caveat that it does not cause harm to anyone. We would be right. Customers benefit from business trying to gain this edge all the time-huge sales, coupons, lower prices, and all sorts of gimmicks draw us into business of different types all the time.
In that vain, if a business wants to be open on Thanksgiving because he or she feels that the business can benefit, then maybe it's fine and we all need to stop being so harsh. When I was little, it was rare for businesses to be open on Sundays, nowadays, society gets all up in arms if they find a business closed on Sundays. Somewhere along the way, some business owner thought to himself, "I bet I could get a few more people in here if I opened on Sundays"-it worked and others followed suit. Now a majority of businesses are open on Sundays, and I don't see any riots or Facebook polls about that.
I can hear someone out there yelling at the computer screen "But what about all the workers who are expected to work and miss time with family?!?!" That is true, some employees will be asked to give up time with their families to work. However, I think we forget that there are plenty of jobs/industries that remain open every holiday (hospitals, nursing homes, rehab facilities, police, fire, security guards, alarm companies, etc) all have staff that are expected to work on every holiday.
I have been in healthcare for many years, and while I was seldom expected to work on a holiday, I have had many co-workers who have. To be honest, many of them volunteered to work for a variety of reasons. Some celebrate the holiday on a different day (maybe over the weekend), some want and need the additional pay, some don't have plans and would prefer to work. Whatever the reason, it is seldom hard to get the positions filled. Given todays economy, it is more than possible that retail stores would find the exact same thing, many employees would offer to work for the higher pay grade, or the extra paycheck.
Does that mean that I naively think that every employee would be there willingly? Of course not. That does mean that I believe a large portion of workers would want to be there-also, I think that most employees are adults (not all, but most). We need to realize, as adults, that there are times we are asked to work when we do not want to. A few years ago, I was working at a nursing home when the State board came in. I was scheduled to go on a family vacation that night, with my in laws and husband. Typically, when the state comes into a nursing home to do annual reviews, management staff are expected to stay-know what happened? I missed the trip.
I was not happy about it, in fact, as I told my husband in my office that I would need to return to work the next day and he would have to go on the vacation without me, I was tearful and frustrated. Still, I got up the next day, arrived at work, and put in a full day with a smile on. Many of my friends and co-workers through the years have had to miss family events, or time with family to come to work. If a single mom misses her daughters debut as the lead role in the school play, no one says anything, we expect her to come to work and work because that is what responsible adults do.
I have never worked a job that expected me to work on Sundays, that was always my boundary. Sundays were my time with my family. The three of us would spend the entire day together. When I applied for jobs, I was very clear that I am not available for work on Sundays; I'm sure I lost some jobs over this issue. Employees can choose to not work for companies that are open on holidays. This may all seem a bit idealistic, but if you think about it it's true. We all have choices to make and we need to be responsible for the choices that we have made.
That is only one side of the coin-the other side of the coin is the value of setting aside special days for family and honoring those days. As of today, we do not expect businesses to be open on Christmas, Easter Sunday, Fourth of July and a few other significant days a year. There are few bosses who would expect an employee to work on his/her wedding day (although I have heard of a few), and even fewer who would expect an employee to come to work after the funeral of a loved one. We tend to ask employees to work an average of 5 days a week, keeping two days a week for the individual and family.
Time with family and friends is important to me, as any reader of this blog knows. I think there is great value in keeping traditions, and holidays like Thanksgiving are prime platforms for family traditions. To be able to get together and celebrate all that we have and all that we are grateful for, is wonderful.
We teach our children the value of each generation when they see us excited to see grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We learn to value the gift of family when we go through the hassle and fuss of doing a huge get together. We create memories that last a lifetime and what a gift that is. Our memories of good times together is what binds us as loved ones, gives us hope when times are tough and brings our hearts close together.
So, I guess my opinion on more retailers being open on Thanksgiving is two fold. I would not personally work the holiday, as I love getting together with family, and we do schedule our meal on Thanksgiving. I however would not begrudge another person who wants to work on Thanksgiving. More important to me is how we treat those working on that day. While you are out shopping, and saving a bundle, be kind to the employees you encounter. Remember, if they did not show up to work, you would not be there buying your little treasures and saving a whole lot of money at the same time. In the end, that's the bigger lesson isn't it? That we need to love one another.
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