THE ECHO

by Cara Meissner

Chaos, frenzies of holiday shoppers, and employees working overtime are all words associated with the day following Thanksgiving, Black Friday.  

“My managers warned us to ‘get ready’,” said senior and former Dick’s Sporting Goods cashier, Dagem Messele. “It was really shocking to see it [the store] in that state.”  

Messele remembered being scheduled along with all her coworkers, working from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., only getting one 30-minute lunch break. Her day was spent scanning items for six straight hours.  

“The line would curve back and around, with 20-30 people in line despite six registers open, which is kind of uncommon for Dick’s,” said Messele.  

The same pressure was hitting another Avon senior working at Kohls, Irene Thang. In the bright florescent lights and surround sound “Top Clean Pop Hits” radio over the speakers, Thang could feel the intensity of Black Friday. 

“It was like Kohls threw up,” said Thang. “I saw a family and random mom fighting over a toy.”  

Not only was Thang watching how insane her store seemed compared to the usual, but she also witnessed the changes of Black Friday throughout the last few years.  

“There was a line out that day, similar to how old Black Friday used to be,” said Thang. “But no one got injured like you use to hear about a few years ago.”  

Messele recalled these old stories of Black Friday, how her parents never let her go out and shop out of fear of what was told in the news and on TV. 

“Black Fridays have been more lax now compared to what they used to be. Everyone shops online now,” said Messele. “Not as many people as you thought would be there were there, but it was still like 10 times more the number of people than usual.” 

After working a combined 14 hours, both seniors felt accomplished on finishing the day, despite the soreness of their legs from standing and the foreshadowing of the cleaning up to come. 

“At the end of the day, just breathe and remember you’re getting paid for this,” said Thang, giving out advice to retail workers for this Friday.