On Black Friday, people in the mall are like animals surrounding a fresh carcass. As I walked idly along, lightheartedly browsing a rack of clothes, people aggressively pushed me over, plucking a pair of boots from the rack because they were half off or grabbing the nearest handbag with a sales tag. People ran through the store, snatching items without even looking at the prices or sizes. Then, they hurriedly got in checkout lines that wrapped around the entire store. Even when I walked through the mall, I saw people’s eyes drooping from being up all night and all day, rushing by with multiple bags and almost sprinting towards the nearest store to once again repeat the process. Some people go insane for Black Friday. When numerous stores opened on Thanksgiving day, I was especially shocked to hear of people willing to leave the table early or completely skip Thanksgiving dinner altogether in order to save cash on new purchases. Holidays should be about family, good food and quality time. Our culture should not support the decision of substituting shopping over personal values. Andover gives us a break during this time is to celebrate Thanksgiving, not hunt for deals. Andover sends us home to relax and spend some quality time with our family and with friends. Consumerism has taken that idea of family time and wedged the promise of savings right in the middle. When given the opportunity to do so, people gladly substitute family time for shopping. Though presents and gifts are a large part of the holidays, family time comes first. One may argue that Black Friday door busters are a choice that consumers make and therefore not an issue. But what about the hectic store clerks who have no choice but to ring up frantic customers at midnight? I’m sure none of them willingly leave Thanksgiving dinner early to take a two-hour nap and then work in this chaotic environment. In order to solve this problem, stores should delay Black Friday sales until Saturday or the next week. At least this way, store employees would not be forced to leave their family on Thanksgiving. This would still keep the idea of Black Friday without all the insanity. For now, though, it is the holiday season, a time for giving and receiving. So to all those shoppers, good luck; you’re going to need it. Sydni White is a two-year Lower from Southfield, MI.
