Black Thursday? Really?

I guess I’m continually amazed at the competitiveness that retailers show in vying for consumer dollars. I’ve heard my entire life about how holidays have been commercialized and I think it’s been a natural evolution but to use an old cliché that has been used around the Christmas holiday for many years, “remember the reason for the season”. And yes, maybe I should stamp “old fashioned” across my forehead but it seems that we do lose site of the reason.

Black Friday has become a pretty nationally recognized shopping day and I guess it makes sense for folks to hit the ground running to get a jump on the Christmas frenzy but it sure seems like we are pushing the envelope when the sharks start circling Thanksgiving Day. National attention was brought to this Black Thursday concept when a Target employee expressed his displeasure at that National retailer when Target decided to open Thanksgiving night. Thanksgiving has been a traditional day of family and it seems unreasonable to expect retailers to require employees to miss that family time when there are so few opportunities, especially for working class Americans, to spend quality time with their families. I was amazed at the film footage showing the mobs lined up to get into stores across the country. People camped out or otherwise entrenched to get a jump on other shoppers in order to get bargains on anything from flat screen TVs to computers or a large variety of consumer goods that the retailers so effectively use as “bait.” It’s like throwing chum over the side of a boat and watching the sharks circle.
I guess the sad part is that we fall for it as a society and we push and shove and scratch and claw.

I even heard my minister address the new term “competitive shopping” as she told of a situation in a large city where a mob was pushing and shoving and a lady in the middle of that mess pulled out a can of pepper spray and sprayed the entire crowd surrounding her, sending several to the hospital. I guess she knew how to clear a room. I personally would rather have poison ivy all over my body than to go into any store on Black Friday. It’s just not my thing. Some people enjoy crowds and enjoy being in the center of a mass of humanity, I don’t. I can think of a host of other surgeries or tortures that I’d rather have. I actually think a root canal might be better. I fear sometimes that I might make a good hermit. I’d hate to take a perfectly good, quiet holiday and turn it into a rugby game by trying to shop and I’m not Ebenezer Scrooge. I like the holidays, the lights and the music and the festive atmosphere but I’m a little tougher to bait and I’m certainly not gonna’ get in the mob scene to save a hundred dollars on anything. To each his own and some people thrive on that and this is America and we do have the freedom to choose. But I’m certainly not gonna’ choose to have to fight a bunch of people for any amount of savings. I’ll have plenty of stories to tell without having to tell stories of getting maced or pepper sprayed because I was in the middle of some mob.

So, I hope if you braved the Black Thursday or Black Friday crowds, you got what you were after and I guess no matter what this ol’ timer thinks, Wal-Mart will continue to put up Christmas decorations at Halloween. I just don’t want to see Thanksgiving Day turned into a shopping day, I mean after all, what would we eat? I’ll take turkey and dressing over a food court any day of the week. I don’t think there’s anything you can put on a corndog to replace that day of family togetherness.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call 1-800-522-8502 or email me at donarmes@okhouse.gov

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. ~Author Unknown