Last year on Black Friday, NASA did a special Twitter feed all day with the hashtag #BlackHoleFriday. I came in pretty late on the feed, and that was when I decided to write my Thanksgiving post this year about Black Hole Friday. I was so psyched!
Unfortunately, my tweeted questions to NASA as to whether or not they will be doing it again this year have gone unanswered. I was all ready for today to be another one of my space geeking out posts. Instead I am going off on a new trend – the beginning of the end of Black Friday.
I loved Black Friday’s infancy, when they gave away gifts to the people crazy enough to line up outside a Mervyn’s at 6 am the day after Thanksgiving. It was fun and not a major deal. The last few years, the stores have been opening earlier and earlier, and then suddenly Black Friday became sales that started on Thanksgiving Day. After working in a customer service setting with no down time, I couldn’t do that to the store employees.
When REI announced that it was giving all of its employees Black Friday off, I cheered. Then it became a source of pride for stores to announce that they were not opening on Thanksgiving. At the same time, the sales started well before the Thanksgiving holiday. I don’t know why it shocked me, especially since there are often Christmas displays before Halloween. It’s sad to me, though – like the end of an era.
So what will I be doing tomorrow? Black Hole Friday if it happens again, and definitely a hike in honor of the REI employees.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday, however you choose to celebrate them.
Does anyone else remember the early days of Black Friday? Or What is everyone else doing for the holiday?
Grown Up, Now What? 