Don't be An Asshole, Don't Shop on Thanksgiving

Don't shop on Thanksgiving.  I am going to repeat this, probably more than once, just to make sure you read it and understand it, because I am assuming that if you are inclined to go out today, you a thick-headed, cold-hearted, self-centered, greedy asshole --- or are in serious danger of becoming one.  DON"T SHOP ON THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Okay, so most people who are inclined to do so are probably not going to heed this.  I am assuming those sorts of people believe they are always right and that everything they do is right, and they don't feel bad about making people work instead of spend time with their families.  Those sorts of people will go out anyway and treat the workers like shit, and act like animals, and prove that they are really the ones who are classless.

Maybe I am wrong.  Maybe times are changing.  Or have changed, rather --- and I just need to catch up.  It's entirely possible: I grew up with the silly backwards notion that some traditions are important.  Traditions like, for just one day, helping to cook a huge meal and then relaxing and enjoying being with the people who you care about.  Maybe that sort of tradition is so last century.  Maybe it's not time to relax, to spend the day with family, and/or friends, to be thankful for what we've got, maybe it's just that time of year where it's okay for our greed to consume us.  To let our capitalist overlords know that they are right, that they know what they are doing, that they know how human nature works: that we all can't just be satisfied with what we've got.  It's not about what you have, it's about what you don't have.  It's about going out and spending money you don't have on things you don't need.  Nothing is sacred.

But wait, isn't that why Black Friday got started, and Cyber Monday?  We have those to satisfy our inner materialists, so can't we still have at least one day to be lazy and to get fat and to watch football or the Harry Potter marathon that is probably on TBS, or whatever...  To play games?  Have conversations?  Read?  Watch movies on Netflix?  Hell, even set up the Christmas tree?  Can't we just take one break from the mad greed, or at least redirect the greed as gluttony?

When you shop on Thanksgiving, you are basically supporting the idea that the people who work at the places where you shop don't deserve to have the holidays off because they work at a job that isn't respected.  If you wouldn't want to work on Thanksgiving, then don't give retailers the excuse to open.  If you shop on Thanksgiving, you don't respect people who work in retail.  If you didn't shop, if people weren't going out, then stores wouldn't open.

Those "savings" aren't worth it.  You are probably going to get just as good of deals, or almost as good, if you go out a different day or shop online.  Don't send retailers the message that you approve of their disrespecting of their workers.  Trust me, I have been there: those people all have families and friends and would much rather be spending their time with those families and friends than they would be spending their day dealing with self-centered, greedy assholes who degrade them and treat them like indentured servants.  It's bad enough that they have to get up early and do it all again tomorrow and virtually every day between now and Christmas.  Give them at least one day of rest.  Give them the peace and relaxation that everyone deserves on Thanksgiving.

If you hate your family and spending time with loved ones, don't take it out on the people who are forced against their will to work on a day that no one should have to work.  Don't be an asshole, don't shop on Thanksgiving.