I'm trying to stay out of things that are none of my business, but the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree just gets to me. Even though I would rather have an ear cut off than to do it myself, I don't care that people get up at 2:30 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving for sport shopping; everybody has to have a hobby. It's not much different than hunters getting up at 2:30 a.m. so they can draw a bead on an elk at sunrise.
But elk don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and they get up early anyway. What bugs me is that, as the link above reports, stores like Best Buy, which normally have 50 people on duty, brought in all 140 Billings employees at 5 a.m. Friday to meet the rush.
Thanksgiving always has been my favorite holiday, with all the perks of Christmas without the pressure. More than that, it is a uniquely American holiday, a day for pulling together the disparate bonds that hold us as a nation. To see it cut short for millions of retail employees just for sport -- well, it gets to me. And I would feel the same way if I knew that every single one of those employees was pleased as punch to be up at that hour. They ought to know better.
It's un-American. As for the sport shoppers who make it happen, I'm with Ari LeVaux: Let's get the FBI after them.
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3 comments:
David, I agree. Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year, but it almost run over by Christmas when displays are up before Halloween, and the bum's rush that takes over on November 1st. Also, while I am a "live and let live" person, it bothers me to see the amount of spending by people who, by all news accounts, don't have sufficient funds to spend.
You can't ask Americans not to shop. It's like asking elk to sleep in.
I like how you were honest, and I agree.
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