Materialism following a time of thanks

Black Friday is a crazy time of the year when all of America decides to fight random strangers over items they probably don’t need, a day after they were giving thanks for all the things in their lives. Also, as the years go by it seems that the stores are opening earlier and earlier. People used to complain about getting up at five o’clock in the morning to go shopping. This year, however, people who work in stores such as Walmart, had to report to work much earlier this year. “I had to be at work at 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. We had our first big release at 6 p.m. I was working until midnight that night and then had to come back in to work at eight o’clock Friday morning,” Veronica Spurling said. Spurling is an employee of Walmart in Keyser, WV. Many people were outraged at the fact that employees were leaving their homes before dinner time on Thanksgiving to prepare for a sale that is called black “Friday”. “It’s not fair. People should be spending Thanksgiving with their families. They shouldn’t have to come to work on a day that is meant for giving thanks,” Maddie Bohrer said. Bohrer claims that she did participate in the black Friday madness, however, she did not start shopping until midnight on Friday. “It took the fun out of watching crazy people fight over a cheap television. By the time I got to the Country Club Mall in LaVale at midnight, Walmart was not busy at all. The mall opened at midnight, though, so it was well attended,” Bohrer explained. The mall was especially busy in stores such as American Eagle, Aeropostale, Bath and Body Works, JC Penney, and Game Stop. People rushed through the stores trying to find the best deals. However, once people found what they wanted to buy, they soon realized they would be waiting in lines for quite a while to make their final purchases. “I waited in a line at American Eagle for about 35 minutes. But everything was 50% off! You just can’t beat that!” Bohrer exclaimed excitedly. Obviously, this was a favorite store among many teenage girls because the place was crawling with them. When asked about the lack of attendance in Walmart all night, Spurling said, “It was definitely busy at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. when the sale items were released, but it was pretty calm the rest of the night. I think this might have hurt the stores’ whole sales by sending people out so early in the evening.” There was a final release at 8 in the morning on Friday morning. This left the rest of the night open for people to shop at other stores in the Country Club Mall. However, some people still choose not to participate in black Friday shopping for many reasons. “There is nothing I want or need that badly to be shopping in the middle of the night. I’d much rather shop online in the comfort of my own home,” Diane Long said. Black Friday is a huge event throughout the United States, whether people are shopping for great deals, or just simply watching two people fight over a pair of boots, it seems to get a lot of attention.