Consumerism and materialism have finally trumped everything else in our culture.
Why, I remember a time when it was notable that stores opened at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving.
"Who the hell wants to go shopping at 5 a.m.?" I wondered.
Not me, thanks. I'm not a fan of shopping in the first place, but the idea of getting up at 3 or 4 in the morning to be in a store by 5 a.m. never held even the slightest appeal.
I had friends who would go. They thought it was great. "We're done and drinking by 11 a.m.!" they'd gush.
Whatever. You know what I'll probably be doing at 11 a.m. this Friday? Bringing up Christmas decorations from downstairs. Placing little bits of holiday cheer around the house. Drinking more coffee. I may or may not be wearing pants.
But 5 a.m. wasn't enough. Soon, 4 a.m. was the norm. Then 3 a.m. Then 2. Then retailers said, "Oh, to hell with it, let's open at midnight."
Again, I think that's nuts. But fine. Midnight. People wait in line to go to midnight screenings of blockbuster movies. People waited in line to go to midnight parties for the release of Harry Potter books. People camp out for the next iPhone. So midnight. Fine.
But opening on Thanksgiving Day is, in a word, bullshit.
Don't give me this "Oh, people are done with dinner by 8 p.m. Why not let them get a jump on their shopping?"
You know why? Because the people who have to work in the stores may not be done with dinner at 8 p.m. But that's not even the point. The point is that they shouldn't have to work on Thanksgiving. Because nobody has to buy anything Thanksgiving night. And if they do, they can shop online.
I was seeing ads last night for "Black Friday." They annoyed me. I tweeted:
I don't care how cutesy you try to make your commercials, retailers, if you're open on Thanksgiving, you suck. Period.
— Beth Kujawski (@beth4158) November 27, 2013This morning, I still wasn't over it. So I added:
Also, retailers, your Black Friday ads that boldly tout you're open on Thursday are pathetic. Own the fact that you're ruining Thanksgiving.
— Beth Kujawski (@beth4158) November 27, 2013I know that plenty of people will shop tomorrow, justifying it with "Hey, the stores are open!" (I just mistyped "stores" as "sores." How appropriate.)
But if people didn't show up tomorrow after all, next year, maybe retailers would respond and stay shut.
Ah, well. A girl can dream.
Meanwhile, though, if you'd like to patronize the stores that are staying closed and shun the stores (I just mistyped "sores" again. Way to go, subconscious!) that are open, here's a handy-dandy guide,
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