so.
for the record. I'm totally down with putting the emphasis on thank in
thanksgiving. DID IT. Patrick's indian and pilgrim costumes made me
certain that america and me are not karoming off the rails.
but
seeing as how i'm going home at 10 to put my kids in bed and then being
free to do whatever i want cuz the pilgrims and indians found peace and gave me the american freedom i have til they wake up the next morning, i'm
obligated by my interest in preserving my wealth to pounce on the
savings offered me by the AMERICAN PEOPLE and endowment and pension funds and mutual funds who own the shares of the
companies the Executives are paid to enrich through their stewardship of
the organizations they dictate will be open at weird times on
Thanksgiving night to win the most business they can in the dangerously
perilous retail marketspace in which they play.
Ne'er
should a consumer be villified for choosing to action the opportunity
to save many dollars by spending a day being frenetic and pumping some
juice into a long-time-now sodden economy. The person standing in line
outside the bestbuy at noon on Wednesday to save 200 bucks on a
flatscreen they otherwise couldn't afford is exercising their choice of
Thanksgiving and is thankful to be off of work and able to have the
chance to save that money.
We
sha'nt besmirch those that buy the items at Christmas time. Its big
business, in the end, that forces the retail workers to sacrifice family
time as part of the cost of being in a position to even turn on the
lights to give us all the quality of life we so richly enjoy and are
thankful for the other 364 days of the year apart from Black friday.
There's nothing anyone can do to effectively turn back the clock and say
to retailers you're all heathens for trying to win at the game you play.
We can wish perhaps that we didn't have to go at midnight to get the
deals but i have a great interest in saving my money when spending and
can get some pretty cool stuff for way cheap, so i will. If
you are unhappy with the people in line at
noon, go up to Target and yell at them from your car. See if anything changes, or if you actually feel better.That would be
considered poor form I'd venture to guess even from most people's view.
The
executives of the retail organizations celebrate Black Friday because
its traditionally the day their companies move from fiscally red to black. So... It takes til November, 11 months, while not making a profit all-the-while providing jobs and benefits and the very
services and goods each store carries to the general public to make any money. As i write this,
although i would find it pretty dang hard to have to trudge into work at
9pm on Thursday night. However, if that's what I have to do to help give me my
job, I ought to be happy that consumers are willing to come out of THEIR
homes at 9pm on Thanksgiving to support my company that pays to turn on
the lights at my house.
IN SUMMARY
A. the consumer would certainly rather shop on Friday at 11AM than midnight or 8pm on thanksgiving, however, we have since Geo Washington been working for a better standard of living for us and our kids and this is the current process.
B. the
marketplace demands companies to be aggressively competitive in order
to be able to 1. pay dividends to shareholders 2. provide jobs for their
workers 3. deliver on their given mission vision and values to the
public who buy the shares and purchase the goods that pay for their electric each day.
C.
suggesting that companies all agree to not compete and take the day off is
in a way suggesting they collude to not compete, which companies get in
big trouble for doing for a reason, cuz, well... that's bad.
D.
If there wasn't retail competing like crazy on thursday night into
friday, i wouldnt have as great a job to work cuz there would be not be big
retailers paying my wages by engaging my firm for pension and benefits consulting, or those companies wouldnt pay to have an incentive
program or market research study done by a marketing research and employee incentive company, and those retail
employees wouldnt have the jobs they do that make them able to get
sandwiches from franchise restaurants, or pay the taxes they do to put fire
hydrants on corners or build bridges and roads or install speaker systems in
courtrooms and university lecture halls, or go see a doctor and get a
surgery performed or have a need for health insurance claim processing, or
maybe go to
nightschool. IS Enough Enough? maybe for one. But, theres a sad truth that you cant rest on your laurels. Somebody else is waiting to overtake. ALWAYS.
The
social contract. We're all in this together and every thing is
interdependent on everything. So, since you wont change any of this unless
you become President of the Universe everyone should all stop
complaining about progress's side effects, recast your disdain for
change as wistul nostalgia, make the decision for yourself that you
think is best and come shopping.
So,
i thank retail for opening Thursday at 9. And i dont look down my nose
at any of the players. Wistfulness is great, but the shareholders, employees and all people in the economic food chain need these people to
spend money at these stores, so everyone needs consumers.
I'm
thankful for retail. And i wish that they werent open on Thursday. But
I'm going shopping Thursday night, and I'm going to be thankful for the
unofficial start of the holiday season, the happiest 40 days of the year, and i'm going
to be thankful for the money I spend into the system that drives a
better life for my entire family and the world over.
I'm thankful for every American ancestor
who has worked hard to get our American economic society to the place we are now. 14.4 million Americans earn a paycheck from retail companies, and who knows how many in America and how many more the world over are involved in researching, developing, packaging, delivering, marketing the products on the shelves (OR MAKING THE SHELVES, OR the lightbulb, or the fire suppression system, or hoteling the people who consulted on those things while they were traveling.) I wish progress wasnt so, but it is, and theres no going back. My favorite Bob Dylan Quote: "Those not busy being born, are busy dying". Earning that dime is the best prospect the third world kid has to get born... hopefully it'll lead that kid to want a better easier wealthier way, so maybe
it can help that kid compete fiercely to get a better job paying a
little bit more. And then BOOYAH.... "They all come to Look for Uh Mayyyyyyre Ick Uh"
Foodchain.
It's darwin. Circle of Life, Natural selection, whatever..., the weaker companies will die
off, and those jobs would be lost, so CEOs and Boards of public and private family companies are entrusted with doing what
it takes to get people to choose their store to spend their money in
to keep the company afloat.
I'm thankful. Retail workers might think of
High Fiving the people who line up. Maybe a kick in the pants to the CEO
who crossed the line is in order... but thats long since gone. Nostalgia gets you
nothing and getting riled up about any of the players in the Shopping
craze that is Christmas is a pretty big waste of time. I love my kids, i love my wife, i love my God, i love my
family. What else is going on around me,... I could give a shit. I am responsible for and only able to action change on myself.
to
close, i own stock in BP and ExxonMobil and a cigarette paper company i
cant think of the name of. i call the oil investments a hedge on my canyonero-wagoncrusher, and the cigarette company was frankly a great buy. My scruples are
intact. I need to make money and i am not afraid to Darwin it up. I am
compassionate and i have tremendous morals and work ethic, thanks to mom dad my siblings and my faith. I am doing
the best i can each day to make a great life for me and mine and my
conscience is clear. I went shopping Thanksgiving's after, Black Friday,
and actually stood in two lines; one to get in Old Navy when I arrived
at 12:15AM and the other from 12:37 til 1:51 AM inside old Navy to check
out. Things were festive. There were families there in matching shirts
and Black Friday sales are their tradition. Then there was me, full of
thanksgiving grub, mildly balding, tired as hell in middle age silently lamenting the food coma that was pushing in at the edges of my being. There was me, building the 84 minute intimate
relationship that forms amongst line waiters. I saved some 24
dollars when it was all said and done. Thats 24 dollars i can parlay into savings for my kids education. Its wealthbuilding, at the hands of
the retail workers that set out Thanksgiving day from their own family
parties to move the world, and their own worlds, along. I left there and
spent that 24 dollars at Kohl's. Quickly. But at Kohls I saved 100
dollars.And I'm alright. We're All Alright. We're All Alright.
So What I am hoping santa will bring this year, is a hair clipper, with a few attachments, 1, 2, 3 and 4....
and then i can do some sweet freestyle carves on the boys...
