Thanksgiving, a time to get together with loved ones and give thanks for our time together. I'm not saying we can't do this at any other time of the year, but most people have grown up, married and settled elsewhere to start a family and - or career that demands most of our attention. And the holidays are time that some get a break to visit home again to reunite with loved ones and watch football. It seems that Thanksgiving is becoming just another day at the office though. Malls, department stores and other major corporations are opening their doors for people to abandon this tradition and spend time and money away from their family instead. I can't tell you the amount of people who are disgusted by this. Not only from the people who have to go in and work, but the families as well. Comments like "I'm not having a Thanksgiving this year, because my family has to work so I'll be alone this year." Or "I guess my family is eating without me I have to work." These are just a couple statements I heard at work this passed week. I know some people can work around it, but not everyone can.
I am not attacking relevant careers or causes at all. Fields like law enforcement, medicine, our military etc, we know you can't take the day off and we thank you for your services! Volunteers helping in, the community to feed the homeless, making sure that these people are being fed and given shelter is important. Small business-owners opening their doors to share a Thanksgiving meal for those who don't have family is heart warming, and usually done out of the kindness of their hearts. I'm mainly disappointed in the major corporations that choose to open or stay open to make a buck. To encourage people who work so hard throughout the year to give up this one day set aside for family. I know not everyone has family or can stand their family, but it doesn't make it any better.
Major corporations don't care about family and I know first hand. I was even given ultimatums over if I was going to choose my family or my job. If I chose my family then I wouldn't get a promotion and I needed to dedicate 100% of my life to this company. This meant working 10 hours on holiday even though I was promised I'd only have to work 5! They even went as far as to say that my husband was holding me back with his disability and it was hurting my career. My husband was not holding me back, he had just has a hip replacement with extensive surgery and was on bed rest!
Once I realized I would ultimately have to sell my soul, hardly ever see my family, and give up my roll as mom, I felt lost. If it were not for the times I ended up in the hospital , I would probably still be there working today even. Not every person who works in these major corporations are like that, but most are. The CEO's of these corporations get the time to spend with their families so why can't the rest of the employees?
Main point guys keeping the malls, departments stores and other chains open on the holidays is just ridiculous! People nearly kill each other as it is on Black Friday over a stupid toy! Do we really want to start a day earlier? Thanksgiving is also one of the biggest bar nights of the year. So keeping these businesses open will cause more accidents with more people out on the roads!
If you are choosing to go out this evening or tomorrow to do holiday shopping please be safe!
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!
Christina Peck
