Marissa Ryan

SETTING UP Senior Natalie Crispin sets up a clothing display at Francesca’s. Crispin said working on Black Friday was hard because she couldn’t take her time helping customers.

Many students at CHS participate in Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores have hefty sales on many of their products. Although it can be stressful to try and find the best sale, it’s often more stressful for the employees. Senior Natalie Crispin said she knows how it feels to be working retail on Black Friday as she has worked at Francesca’s for almost a year and a half.

Crispin said, “It’s really different to work on Black Friday than it is any other day because there’s not much room in the store and you’re usually stuck doing one thing the entire time because people keep coming up to you.”

Since Black Friday is so stressful, workers find it much harder to follow the store policies than on a regular day.

“The store policies are the same, it’s just a little bit harder to do all the things that we’re supposed to do when guests come in (because we have to) ask them a bunch of questions to get information on them. On Black Friday, it’s so hard to do that because there are so many people coming in that you can’t always ask every question to everyone,” Crispin said.

Annie Rose, worker at American Eagle and senior, said she agrees that Black Friday is stressful. Rose has worked at American Eagle for about a month, and although she has never worked on Black Friday, she understands the intensity of it.

“It already can be super stressful on a normal Saturday when everyone is shopping, so I can’t even imagine what Black Friday (would) be like,” Rose said.

Some may question the benefit stores receive from an event like Black Friday. Economics teacher Paul Clayton explained why stores continue to stay open on the holiday.

“(Stores benefit from Black Friday because it) increases sales and it promotes the beginning of the holiday shopping season,” Clayton said.

The more sales on Black Friday, the more the stores are able to compensate for the increased amount of employees needed to work that day.

“Generally, more sales would off-set the higher employee costs,” Clayton said.

Although Black Friday is a very demanding day, interesting stories can result from it.

“We had this older lady come into the store and she saw that we were selling holiday candles and said, ‘Those are good gifts (for) anyone who comes to my house; I’ll take them all.’ She spent over $400 on candles alone,” Crispin said.