It’s Black Friday. Are you participating in the madness?
Black Friday wasn’t always a day that got our hearts thumping. It was originally associated with a financial crisis of 1869. Hmm…in the long run, not much has changed, has it?
Jumping forward in history, the earliest reference of Black Friday to the shopping day after Thanksgiving was from Public Relations News, December 18, 1961, published by Denny Griswold of New York, NY: “… the biggest shopping days normally are the two following Thanksgiving Day. Resulting traffic jams are an irksome problem…and in Philadelphia, it became customary for officers to refer to them as Black Friday and Black Saturday.”
Merchants objected to the negativity associated with the name, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to rename them Big Friday and Big Saturday. Then they derived a more positive connotation – “black ink”, referring to the sales figures achieved in the two days. For many of us, the term should be changed to Red Friday, for as the merchants go into the black, we go into the red, racking up debt that takes us most of the next year to repay.
Around 1975 The New York Times and Associated Press articles commonly referred to the days in this manner. And as the days meant longer hours and less home time for employees, workers assigned their own meanings to it. The dark nickname became darker. In 2006, the violence began, as altercations between shoppers on Black Friday was reported at many big box stores.
It’s just gotten worse over the years. Every year, people get squished, stomped, stabbed, shot, shoved, and struck by cars in the rush to get ‘bargains’. Merchants purposefully understock advertised specials, because they know that once you’re there, you’re gonna buy something. They just want your body in the store.
I’ve been told that spending money is good for the economy. Shopping and spending creates jobs for those that make, ship and sell the stuff we buy. That makes sense. But why do we have more and more people without jobs and at the poverty level, while retailers announce record profits? I guess I just don’t understand economics.
Now, we have the start of Black Thursday, as more merchants plan on being open on Thanksgiving Day, extending the ‘Black Weekend’.
Here’s what I’m asking. What if they gave a sale and nobody came?
I’m doing my part. I’m staying home, watching Christmas movies and drinking egg nog.
I don’t like to shop on a regular day. Today we put up Christmas lights and watched football. No Black Friday madness for me.
When I taught school during the ’70s, the day after Thanksgiving was a shopping day because we were out of school. I don’t remember it being because of sales, just convenience to get some Christmas shopping done. I stayed home today. I don’t like the way Thanksgiving is getting eclipsed by this crazy Christmas shopping. I didn’t have any eggnog, but I did eat Chex Mix.
Last night we heard Walmart was packed and parking four blocks away. This morning, 8:30 hardly anyone in the parking lot and it looks like it all happened last night. Looks like they didn’t extend it so much as they moved it up.