Black Friday: the one day a year it’s normal to see clothes strewn everywhere on the floor, people fighting over a large screen TV and customers running violently through a store, hyped up on caffeine.
But what about when the madness expands to encompass Thanksgiving Day?
This year, retailers are opening their doors even earlier on Thanksgiving Day, trying to gain a competitive edge on competitors, according to an article on the Sentinel Cumberlink website.
“Crazy people, you always got that crazy person,” Jaszmine Delarosa, a junior psychology major at Cal State University Long Beach who works at Windsor, said about the Black Friday shoppers.
Stores such as Kmart, RadioShack, RiteAid and Walgreens, are opening at 8 a.m. Thanksgiving, according to the Black Friday website. Others like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart and Best Buy are opening their doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Macy’s and Bloomingdales plan to hire 86,000 people nationwide for the upcoming holiday season. The stores hired 83,000 in 2013. This year’s mass hiring would result in a 3.6 percent increase from last year, according to a Macy’s Inc. press release.
David Quintero, a 19-year-old student at Santa Monica Community College, is a sales associate for Macy’s and said he considers Black Friday a materialistic and capitalistic holiday that runs the country.
“Working on Black Friday is hilarious, it’s like watching sheep get herded,” Quintero said. “It shows how easy it is to manipulate the masses just by fluctuating prices on shoppers.”
Some students who aren’t working the holiday still go to the mall to enjoy the sales.
“I’m just excited to go shopping!” said Jessica Vila, a junior social work major at CSULB who said she looks forward to and enjoys shopping on Black Friday.
Vila said she has previous Black Friday experience, but not from behind the counter.
“Last year, I slept outside of Best Buy,” Vila said.
Delarosa said she is experiencing the Black Friday madness at Windsor this year, where doors open at 7 p.m., Thanksgiving Day. Her store is offering the first 50 people in line $100 gift cards. Delarosa said the lines are expected to be crazy this year.
Delarosa will be working Thanksgiving Day from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. and will most likely come back again to work on Friday.
“It kind of sucks, you don’t get to be with your parents,” Delarosa said about missing dinner with her family on Thanksgiving. “Time and a half doesn’t make up for missing time with my family.”
Estephany Pleitez, a junior human development major at CSULB, will be working at Wells Fargo on Black Friday.
Pleitez said she is expecting a rush of people coming in about declined cards and fraudulent purchases.
“We have [a] counterfeit [system], we can see [if money is fake],” said Pleitez. “Everyone gets paid Friday – they’ll want their money.”
Some students are staying in the comfort of their own home though, avoiding the crowds but reaping from the sales online.
“I’ll do my shopping on Cyber Monday, no fights or lines for me,” Daniel Barriga, a junior philosophy major at CSULB, said.
Though many stores are opening at earlier times, not all stores are following the trend of opening during Thanksgiving. Stores such as Barnes and Noble, Costco, Nordstrom and TJ Maxx will remain closed on Thanksgiving, according to the Black Friday website. Costco has said that their workers “deserve the day off.”