Black Friday: The biggest shopping day of the year, or the biggest headache of the year?
It is a day when people wake up extremely early so they get to the mall when it opens at 6 a.m., so they can all act like it is the day before Christmas. Calm down people, we still have a month to do our shopping. There are some good sales on Black Friday, which would make me understand why so many people would come out so early in the morning.
Until this year, I have never been at the mall on Black Friday, now I know why. I was not at the King of Prussia Mall to shop on Black Friday. Even better, I was there to work from 12 to 5 p.m., please note the sarcasm.
First of all, it took me 45 minutes to find a spot to park. The parking lot was absolutely crazy because there were zero parking spots left, for a second I almost thought I was at Cabrini. Traffic in the whole parking lot was backed up, but it was so much worse in the parking garage. Besides the lack of places to park, there were cars cutting other cars off, cars beeping at other cars, the whole parking lot was a complete mess.
After I finally managed to find a parking spot, make it into the mall, and through the crowds of people to get to work I was 15 minutes late. I walked into the store to find it as crowded as I have ever seen it. I spent my five hours of work at the register.
People need to slow down; everyone seemed to be in such a hurry the whole day.
It was like we are starting the Christmas season with road rage and frustration because everyone seemed to be in such a rush. Now that is that the way to get into the holiday spirit? I have been working at the mall since October so I have seen Christmas decorations and have been hearing Christmas music for almost two months now. It is like retailers have been jamming the Christmas season down our throats to gain profit, and Black Friday is one of the ways in which they accomplish this.
Unfortunately, it is part of my job to take part in emphasizing the wrong meaning of Christmas: spending as much money as you can as fast as you can. I love Christmas, it is my favorite holiday, and I am all for buying presents, but I think people need to reflect and appreciate the Christmas season for what it is really about.
Posted to the web by Stephanie Mangold
