This is my 16th holiday season in retail, and my BigBox store is open ... along with nearly every other retailer. Those select few that close so their employees can enjoy family time? Those are the retailers that we should endorse, embrace, and spend our money with them. Home Depot comes to mind -- and come the weekend when I have an opportunity to shop, that's where I'm headed. (Hope Mom and Sis like tools for Christmas! haha)
I was vexed all day at work, because this year, for the first time, our store is bent on saving payroll dollars. Mind you, in order to have a successful "Black Friday", customers need to be able to come in and purchase those special items that have been advertised for the past two weeks - ad nauseam, I might add. In the past, we have all worked a 40 hour week in order to set up and get things ready for Black Friday. There would be an additional 8 hours of holiday pay on our paycheck, which most of us retail workers would use on the special discount day to make our Christmas purchases. This year, they cut our work hours to 32 hours; with holiday pay, we will have our normal 40 hour paycheck -- without any extra spending money to make purchases. Historically, I have spent $350-400 on that one special shopping day, knowing that I would have a little extra in my check to pay it off. I was SO looking forward to upgrading from my 12 year old TV to a flat screen. Sorry, BigBox store, I won't be adding to your sales figures, I will only be making my usual $100/week grocery shopping. Seems to me like they're ... what's that old saying? Cutting off their nose to spite their face. Sure, they're saving payroll dollars. But that extra $100 you saved in payroll means you won't be gaining my shopping spree of $350. So did they really save anything???
Sometimes the people who make decisions based on numbers alone don't think about the bigger picture. (I know our store is guilty of that in many, many different ways!) Or maybe the higher ups are hoping the numbers will "look good on paper" and their own end of year bonus will be a big one.
But this is one retail worker who is particular. I have a network of friends who do what I do at other locations, and you know, if I decide to go ahead and make the splurge and update my TV situation, I will spend my hard earned dollars at the store where the store manager looked out for his/her employees, didn't take away that extra day's pay from people who work very hard at a job that isn't very glamorous and doesn't pay all that well.
Maybe this is a sign that I start looking for a store
who's overall outlook is more similar to my own.
It seems logical that I would be happier in the long run.
In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to you!
And even though work issues are in the forefront for the moment,
I'm so thankful for my family, my friends and my health.
“We must find time to stop and thank the people
who make a difference in our lives.”
-- John F. Kennedy
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