Target plans to begin their Black Friday sales this year at midnight and while that may mean their customers won’t have to wake up at 3 in the morning to take part in the stores deals it also means some employees will have to come into work after a long day with the family, a fact that has led parking lot attendant Anthony Hardwick to fight against the new sales time.
As Hardwick tells Bloomberg he and fellow employees were forced to accept the holiday hours “because the economy is bad and so our employer has us over a barrel.”
Hardwick is scheduled for a 10 hour shift which starts on 11pm on Thursday which means he’ll have to go to bed in the early afternoon just so he’ll be awake and alert for his long shift.
In response to his company’s demands Hardwick has started a Change.org permission which is asking people to help “save Thanksgiving” by instead having Target stores around the nation open at 5am.
In the two weeks since Hardwick has started the petition it has received 85,000 signatures and now he fears that the company he stood up against may force him to resign.
In the meantime it isn’t just Target employees who have been told they will be reporting to work during the national holiday, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Best Buy open at midnight while Toys ‘R’ Us, Kmart, Gap, and Old Navy stores plan to open even earlier on Thanksgiving day.
While I understand the importance of Black Friday sales in terms of yearly profits for many organizations I can’t help but think that the way these businesses are treating their employees is selfish. In terms of Target they simply can’t seem to get anything right lately .
Will you be heading out on or before midnight on Thanksgiving day to complete some or all of your holiday gift buying?
