Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of giving, family, friends, and to some people, savings. Black Friday has been an important part of the holidays for its insane savings and the rush from eager shoppers looking for the best deals. What most people overlook about Black Friday is that the retail employees that work Black Friday get the worst of it. This year I am working at Target, and I have a first-hand experience of what it is like to work retail during Black Friday.

I was not excited to work Black Friday, especially after spending a relaxing Thanksgiving with my family. Having a 10 o’clock shift, I woke up at 8:30am to prepare for the grueling 8 ½ hour workday that I was about to embark on. Target opened at 6am that morning, so I missed the initial wave of customers rushing in all at once get a cheap flat screen. The store was still very busy, having about 3 times the amount of customers shopping than normal. I quickly clocked in, greeted my co-workers, and started working. For Black Friday I was assigned one of the worse jobs; go-backs. Go-backs are all of the items that customers return or that other employees find that are out of place from customers leaving them around the store. My day was practically running around the store, dodging groups of shoppers, to put items back up on the shelves. The work day went by pretty fast because of all of the commotion and craziness. After 8 ½ hours of explaining to customers why the Legos were not on sale, I finally got to go home. Mentally and physically exhausted, it was nice being able to spend a little bit more time with my family over the weekend before school started up again that Monday.

Black Friday may be a great time to get crazy deals, but it is not a great time for the people who work it. Next time you go Black Friday shopping, be patient with employees, and understand that not everything is on sale. Even consider shopping online during Cyber Monday just a couple days later.