Are you Going to Boycott for the Season Stores that Open On Thanksgiving?

an ethically closed list

Quote:

A.C. Moore
Academy Sports
American Girl
Barnes and Noble
Bed Bath and Beyond
BJs
Burlington
Crate and Barrel
Christmas Tree Shops
Costco
Dillard's
DSW
Fort Western
GameStop
Gordmans
Guitar Center
Half Price Books
Harbor Freight
HomeGoods
Jo-Ann
Lowes
Marshalls
Neiman Marcus
Nordstrom
REI
Patagonia
Pier 1 Imports
Saks
Sierra Trading Post
TJMaxx
True Value
Tractor Supply

Walgreens and Best Buy are not on it because they are open.

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@hawkeye10,

"and mail order...it could be done."

And then those boycotted staff won't have to work on any future thanksgiving.

Is thanksgiving that day when you all sit down and scoff a plateful or two of turkey dinner and spend the afternoon either sleeping and/or farting while the TV shows an old black and white Tarzan film?

Over here we call that Christmas.

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@Lordyaswas,

Quote:

Is thanksgiving that day when you all sit down and scoff a plateful or two of turkey dinner and spend the afternoon either sleeping and/or farting while the TV shows an old black and white Tarzan film?

Watch football, get drunk, and at least in my family argue....but yes. Then we have a big piece of pie a few hours later, pumkin. It is family time, not retail time.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

So who works behind the scenes at the TV station? Or who usually spends the day cooking, entertaining, washing up, tidying away and generally serving people all day long?

Are you saying that every single person has a day of leisure, and can sit there with their feet up doing exactly what they want?

What about a hard up store member of staff, offered double rates to work the day? Shouldn't they enjoy the freedom of choice in this matter?

What about the hardworking city dwellers who really enjoy seeing all those bright lights and getting a bit of retail therapy but never usually get the time?

I would have slightly less argument if the day was spent in some form of deep and meaningful contemplation with regards to appreciation of family and friends etc., but as you say yourself, the people there have long moved away from that and now prefer to get drunk, fart and argue.

So what further cultural erosion would ensue if people were allowed the opportunity to go and get some fresh air, see some festive displays and buy a luxury item or two along the way?

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@Lordyaswas,

I say no, there is a time and a place for everything and commercialism needs to learn its place. Sure, I am not going to say that a company can not open their store (though I might be willing to consider some laws on the subject) or that people cant agree to work. I am saying that employees should not be pressured to work, they should get paid more if they do, and the we as the ones with the money should make both parties suffer financially for opening on a sacrid holiday. Tanksgiving and Christmas, the other 363 days a year should be enough for this industry to function.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Sacred?

Does this day have a religious connection?

I genuinely am asking in all seriousness, as I don't really have much idea as to what thanksgiving is all about.
Maybe I'll wiki it.

I used to be in retail many moons ago, so have seen the other side of all this pressure to work malarky.
I have always maintained that staff should never have pressure brought to bear regarding holiday days, and that by law they should be paid triple time if they agree to work.
This covers all staff.....emergency and non. Police, nurses, janitors, restaurant workers, shop staff etc etc.

That way everyone wins, and triple time will no doubt ensure that there are enough people signing up to work.

I knew of at least half a dozen friends/colleagues of mine who preferred working on holidays to having idle time off.
Festive atmosphere doesn't just suddenly stop at the door from the shop floor, it extends right through to the back area in most places.
I worked every hour under the sun in the run up week or two before many a christmas, and enjoyed every single minute. We worked really hard but had such a laugh, and earned a lot in extra overtime.

Don't forget that there are many single people out there who regard their working day as something infinitely more rewarding and enjoyable than sitting at home watching I Love Lucy with a TV dinner for one.

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@Lordyaswas,

Quote:

Eighty eight percent of respondents said they're planning a trip to partake in Thanksgiving shopping deals. Of the group:

61% plan to shop on Black Friday
22% plan to shop during the weekend after Thanksgiving
4% plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day

http://www.seattlepi.com/living/article/Where-Americans-are-traveling-for-Thanksgiving-5898765.php

A nice a small number. Lets see if we can get it down some.

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@hawkeye10,

I guarantee you that a fair portion of the population, probably the overworked and underappreciated "servant" in each household, would seriously love to say "**** it" and leave her/his family to fart all afternoon whilst they slipped out for a look at the sparkly things.

Thanksgiving (by the sound of it) is just like Christmas, which is usually more of a predominantly male orientated slob out day than anything sacred, so I've observed over the years.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

Quote:

Thanksgiving (by the sound of it) is just like Christmas, which is usually more of a predominantly male orientated slob out day than anything sacred, so I've observed over the years.

In America Thanksgiving is about the extended family, Christmas is about the nuclear family. People tend to travel long distances for family gatherings of 10-20 people. It is the one day a year we make time for all the family people we dont like very much, or maybe we do. The family thanksgiving table is not very optional, if you dont have to work and you can afford to come then you damn well better be there.

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@hawkeye10,

And (be honest now) who does the vast majority of the actual physical work and organisation for such a day?

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@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

Does this day have a religious connection?
I genuinely am asking in all seriousness, as I don't really have much idea as to what thanksgiving is all about.

Back when the Pilgrims from England first settled in Boston, there was a harsh winter that would have wiped them out, but they received aid from a neighboring tribe of Native Americans. Come spring, the Pilgrims held a big celebratory feast with those Native Americans by way of thanks.

Some 50 years later, we waged a huge war of genocide against that same tribe. Their chief then was the son of the chief who had earlier helped us. We cut off his head and mounted it on a pole in downtown Boston for 20 years. His son was just a kid, so we sold him into slavery in the Caribbean.

Anyway, Thanksgiving is a continuation of our celebration of our rescue from that harsh winter.

Lordyaswas wrote:

I have always maintained that staff should never have pressure brought to bear regarding holiday days, and that by law they should be paid triple time if they agree to work.
This covers all staff.....emergency and non. Police, nurses, janitors, restaurant workers, shop staff etc etc.
That way everyone wins, and triple time will no doubt ensure that there are enough people signing up to work.

Traditionally, all retailers have Thanksgiving off, and then they are paid triple time for working the day after Thanksgiving.

Everyone else goes shopping the day after Thanksgiving, to buy all their Xmas gifts.

Moving all the shopping forward a day messes up the holiday for both the workers and the shoppers.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

Is thanksgiving that day when you all sit down and scoff a plateful or two of turkey dinner and spend the afternoon either sleeping and/or farting while the TV shows an old black and white Tarzan film?

Yes except for the Tarzan movie.

In America there are a couple football games (American football, so think "rugby-ish") always with the same teams every year. Also a dog show. And a huge parade in New York City in the morning that is shown on all the TV channels.

I can't stand most sports, so I used to get my grandma into the dog show before anyone could get the football games on.

However, I also can't stand idiots babbling at me about "whether so-and-so (apparently a relative I've never bothered to take note of) is about to have a baby", and I've found that if I stare at a football game with a stern frown on my face, then no one bothers to talk to me and I can daydream about something else, so the games are useful for something after all.

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@hawkeye10,

I won't be shopping on Thanksgiving. I have worked on Thanksgiving and I've gone to the movies, a restaurant, and the grocery on Thanksgiving before.

I do understand stores trying to ease the black Friday stampedes by trying to spread the frenzy out over more hours.

What I don't like about it is how Christmas has started edging out Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and it seems that it is disappearing. For that reason alone I would rather see stores not be open that day.

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I once had to venture out to a retail store on a holiday. I was amazed at the amount of folks who did not celebrate the holiday going about their usual shopping. It was not usual though, it was a mad house.

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@hawkeye10,

I have distant relatives that work for Wal Mart. They MUST go in very early (4:00am type early) on Thanksgiving and Black Friday and work all day or they lose their jobs. I don't think the trend is going away anytime soon. I'm not going to boycott anyone but I'm not Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving.

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@engineer,

Therein lies the problem. If it was made a legal requirement to pay any such worker a minimum of say $80 an hour for such days, it would soon sort out the money grabbing walmarts of this world.

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@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

Anyway, Thanksgiving is a continuation of our celebration of our rescue from that harsh winter.

that's interesting

Canada has a Thanksgiving as well, but we have it in October and it is a traditional harvest festival - much like the ones brought to Canada by German, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian immigrants.

It's a very different experience from the Thanksgiving described in this thread. You're more likely to find families going to their cottages for the last time of the season or going on a family walk than to find them watching movies or football on t.v.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

We used to go on family walks at Thanksgiving. When it was at our house, the walk was at the beach, which was a dozen blocks away, but when it was at one of my cousins' homes, it was a neighborhood walk. This was pre-dinner at our house - people got there early for it - or after, at the other homes.

On christmas shopping or birthday shopping, I tended to keep my eye out for items all year that made sense to give a relative or pal; never did that mad shopping thing after a few years of it in my twenties.

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Supporting the idea that if you can afford to come you had better come

Quote:

ORLANDO, Fla., (Nov. 20, 2013) – AAA projects 43.4 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a decrease of 1.5 percent from the 44 million people who traveled last year. This decrease falls just shy of last Thanksgiving’s four-year peak since the recession-driven declines in 2008-2009 when Thanksgiving travel fell by 25 percent. The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is defined as Wednesday, Nov. 27 to Sunday, Dec. 1.

http://newsroom.aaa.com/2013/11/aaa-43-4-million-americans-to-travel-for-thanksgiving-a-slight-decline-from-last-year/

Amtrak adds extra trains for the event, the only time of the year that they do.

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Are you Going to Boycott for the Season Stores that Open On Thanksgiving?

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