Suck It Up and Stop Griping Already About Working Black Friday Sales!

The title of my blog says it all.

I’m done. Thank you and good day or night.

Ok. It sums it up, if not says it all.

And as you probably know from listening to my radio show and reading my blogs, I have a lot more to say than that.

I almost blew a proverbial gasket today reading about how many retail employees are uptight about having to work earlier and earlier hours on Black Friday, the infamous retail bonanza that marks big sales and deals the day after Thanksgiving.

Many rightfully point out that these says have started creeping up on us sooner and sooner every holiday season.

And that’s OK.

Retailers can start Black Friday in MARCH if they want to.

And you can QUIT your job if you don’t like it.

I can’t stand hearing people in an awful jobs market bellyaching about how terrible their bosses are.

I know, I know. So cruel and unusual for your boss to tell you when you have to show up for work and what is expected of you on the most important few days of their retail year. And yes, some are even starting sales Thanksgiving NIGHT. Oh the horror!!

Employees are using the cliched arguments. “You expect me to get up early after I stuff my face with turkey the night before??”

Yes. Exactly. That’s EXACTLY what we are expecting you to do.

We as humans have our priorities out of whack. As usual.

We put more importance on overeating ourselves into oblivion that respecting the wishes of the person or company that provides our very livelihood so we can BUY that turkey and all the fixings.

Here’s a reality check for you: You aren’t too good to have to get up at 2 or 3am to get to work. You aren’t too good to work long hours on holidays that are important to your boss.

You THINK you are, but you aren’t. None of us are.

Well, there’s a caveat in all this.

If you don’t want to get up at 2am the day after you stuffed yourself blind with food, quit and find another line of work that doesn’t require this of you.

But Walmart is “making” people work on Thanksgiving night, too!! OUTRAGEOUS!!

Nope. It’s not. You can disagree by QUITTING. Go ahead. I dare you. Quit! Just do it already!

See? SIMPLE!! Outrageously simple!!

YOU chose the retail job you have. YOU agreed to work for the pay and benefits or lack thereof that you are working for. You weren’t shipped off to the retail stockades to be tortured with a job you were committed to by force.

These are all YOUR CHOICES.

A few short years ago I was working in retail myself. It was in between full time radio gigs and I was raised to not sit on my behind all day and so I worked several jobs to pay the bills and stay in our home and provide for my children.

One was retail. I worked long hours and didn’t make a lot of money. I stuggled but I did it knowing it was the right thing to do for my family at the time. The alternatives weren’t an option for me.

And yes, I worked 3 or 4 Black Fridays in a row.

And yes, I too had to get up in the middle of the night and work a very BUSY store the day after Thanksgiving.

I faced the retail hoard of shoppers often far scarier than the walking dead themselves!!

I turned lemons into lemonade, as the cliche goes. I turned an astonishingly early start to the work day into an adventure.

My family was being taken care of. I volunteered for the job. They were compensating me for my time. All was well.

If having to get up in the middle of the night one or two days out of the year is that stressful for you, don’t look at the state of the economy or unemployments figures. Those might truly send you over the top.

Be grateful you have a job. Be thankful for all you have.

And if you are truly unhappy where you are, have the courage and determination to respectfully quit and find greener pastures.

Or if your employer expects you to work even on Thanksgiving night, make the best of it. Celebrate Thanksgiving for LUNCH. Is there a law that says it has to be DINNER? Or how about the day BEFORE or AFTER? The pilgrims will forgive you!

Worst case scenario, have you ever had to celebrate an anniversary, birthday, or other special event on a date other than the ACTUAL date?? We ALL have.

The choice is yours.

But remember, the choice to empower yourself and make a change takes the same energy as the choice to bellyache and pout and stagnate.