Is it a volunteer thing to work in the stores on Thanksgiving? I used to volunteer to work in my customer service job on holidays. I got holiday pay (double time and a half) for working then, the bosses brought in amazing meals for us, and all of us - coworkers and customers - were upbeat. We still enjoyed the holiday with our families - it wasn't like we worked 24 hour shifts.

I thought Kmart alway have been open on turkey day?? My DH was a Peace Office for 34 years, worked lots of holidays. My DIL is an RN and works holidays~~~I think dept stores staying open is wrong;(

I know Walmart pays holiday pay..I would think Kmart does as well.

It's often a choice to work.

One of my favorite stores to shop in is Belks, kinda like Fileens. It is a high end dept. store. That is where I shop for my Estee Lauder make up, so you get the idea. Anyhoo it is starting their Black Friday at 8PM on Thanksgiving Day. We will be in GA right next to a mall that has a big Belks in it. I plan on being there around 6 & stand in line til they open. I want a pair of cowboy boots that will be $19,99 that are regularly $78.00. I will probably finish up my Christmas shopping there.

I will drag my DH & DS with me, especially my DS. He will need work clothes when he graduates in January and I want him to pick out some clothes. Got my DH covered for Christmas already.

I see no problem with stores being open on Thanksgiving. I believe most stores do volunteer workers and give them holiday pay.I am going because of the great deals & it beats sitting around a hotel room watching TV....

JMO

I think it's awful. It's the one holiday for families to be together with no commercialism involved. Next you'll see the stores will be open Xmas day for those to exchange the gifts they got an hour earlier or shop for next Xmas. Crazy. Black Friday is too.

I wonder how Kmart is still in business. Ours is an outdated horrible store.

I'm not sure why I feel differently than most about T'giving. If I had had that kind of job and had an opportunity for lucrative holiday pay.....sign me up!

Same for Xmas, but I'm not a Christian! Years ago, I worked in a gift store as one of my putting-myself-through-school jobs. I went in on Xmas for the three years I worked there, to prepare the store for Black Friday. I put most of the decorations away, changed the store front windows, and prepared sale tables. GREAT fun for me......plus I didn't have to work on Black Friday!! Holiday pay+no black friday=reason to celebrate. :-)

Our Kmart was open for Thanksgiving the last couple of years at least. I don't know why this is news now. I think it makes good business sense to be one of a few stores open on Thanksgiving. I know I stopped there on my way home just to walk around after eating a big meal.

That being said - my Kmart has closed along with many others around here. The closest Kmart to me just took out their Garden Department which was the main reason I went there.

People who work in hospitals, law enforcement, etc., have to work holidays. The employees could celebrate their holidays the next day, before work, after work...I'm fine with it.

Our K-Mart has been closed for many years also. If this is what it takes for businesses to remain open and provide jobs, it's fine by me. I see many department stores are opening at 8 on Thanksgiving getting a jump on Black Friday sales, even the upscale department stores.

Maybe some people don't have any family close or don't really want to be with the family they do have. Many many years ago I had to work on a Thanksgiving but didn't care. DH took our kids and went to his family's house. I was very OK with that. Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday, to some people it's just another day.

I see no problem with it. I've spent many holidays at work.

Aren't we all on budgets? It doesn't matter if a store opens early, stays open later and is open more days this year than last.
I am still only going to spend what I have planned for.
Is this ruse supposed to get people all hyped and and then in turn go into debt?

Kmart is always open on Easter as well. If people shop, why not? Heading there today-I read there are unmarked clothes scanning for 10 cents. Sounds like a fun day hunting!

My famly sets every sunday aside to stop the rat race once a week. Its good for the soul and good for family time. Society would benefit from similar attitudes but money, fame, and getting ahead are the values of society. That wont change.....so the only place, once again, where such things can be established is in the home. My value as mother is huge as I have a significant impact on the lives of four humans and I am grateful for the job.
K mart smells gross anyway.

I have no problem with it at all. If people want to shop, it's their choice. Not everyone thinks a holiday is sacred, and many are grateful for the opportunity to get extra pay.

As for being a ruse to get people to go into debt - stores don't put people in debt, people put people into debt. Whether the store is open on Thanksgiving or not. MHO.

Only a vaccine for cancer would get me to one of these mob scenes now, ANY day of the year.

I have shopped special sales in the past, but only for big ticket items like orientals or quality furniture.

There must be something wrong with the "hunter-gatherer" portion of my DNA.

I think it is a misguided stunt. If K-mart wants to make more money, they need to make some improvements to the store, merchandise, and customer service. I used to shop there because they had trendy clothes at good prices. Then the quality went down. I'd still shop there at times just so I didn't have to deal with the Wal-Mart crowd.

I don't have a problem with people working on the holidays if they choose. I worked Christmas day back in high school because our family did our celebrating on Christmas Eve. I got the most tips i had ever made that day because we were one of three restaurants open around town. Travelers passing through the area needed a place to eat.

Anyone remember when ALL stores were closes on Sundays and holidays? Too bad there are so many greedy people out there that have the "need" to make as much money as possible....I do believe stores should be closed on holidays and like Chisue posted, wouldn't find me in any of those mobs.....
My dear late Mother was a nurse and in her later years, she would make sure she was on the schedule to work on the holidays so the younger nurses could spend the day with their families..

I have been surprised to learn how many families do not celebrate Thanksgiving in any special way.

As a stay at home mom and a former teacher, I volunteered at my kids' elementary school a lot. One 3rd grade teacher asked me to help her teach writing. Before long, she explained to me that I would be the lead writing teacher, and she would assist me. And that is how it all began. One problem with asking little ones to write is that they don't have a lot of experiences to write about. So if we had a special assembly, for example, I would ask them to write about that.

One year for the two teachers who teamed in 3rd grade, I asked the class to write about the family Thanksgiving. The assignment was that their little friend from Mars stopped by, and they asked him to join the family for the holiday, or something like that. I was surprised every year at the number of kids who did not celebrate Thanksgiving as a family. Many went to the movies or Disneyland or just watched rental movies all day long.

I am being long winded to say that lots of people do nothing special on Thanksgiving and so have lots of time on their hands to shop or go to movies or whatever.

My son explained to me last year that our daughter-in-law much prefers coming to our house for Thanksgiving because her family does nothing special for the day--no turkey, no dressing, no special meal.

I am torn about it. If only workers who volunteered to work are the workers, then it'd be ok. There are some who don't want to be alone on holidays and it'd give them something to do?

On the other hand, I won't patronize places ever on holidays, not even the movies on Christmas or get gas for the car or..., so that I'm not encouraging businesses to be open (Christmas isn't just a christian holiday, it's also secular. But that doesn't mean everyone observes it, they too want to do something on Christmas). That's up to them and the workers working it. If no one wants to work it, they should be allowed to be off.

Although, less and less do I get to be with all of my family on that day. It takes several times for getting to see everyone on holidays since we all have our extended family to see in addition to our immediate family. The older I get, the more the actual day itself doesn't really matter. Sometimes, but not really.

It could be the being alone thing on the holidays or maybe they just want to about their normal lives because they just don't observe the day. I don't shop on Black Friday, so I sure as heck won't be shopping on Thursday. More of that, I'll not encourage them to be open, but I could see why they would.

Good point, Sheilajoyce. My dh and I do not celebrate Thanksgiving. Not because we are anti holiday or anything, but - it's just the two of us. I'm not a big eater at all, and cooking a full blown, traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us seems like a waste.

We won't go shopping, but that's only because we tend to do most of our Christmas shopping online.

I don't see how shopping is any worse or more commercial that consuming a vast meal full of calories that most of us don't need and then vegging out in front of the TV for parades and football (loaded with commercials). At least when you are shopping you are presumably getting *some* exercise, which is healthy.

We work every day of the year, so I guess it doesn't make much difference to me.

We always go to the movies on Thanksgiving - so those folks always have had to work that day.

It's a changing world. Nothing stays the same.

"Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday, to
some people it's just another day."

And with no intention to be disrespectful, do remember that many people don't practice a religion and for them even days that have religious significance for some are also just a other day.

People should feel free to do or not do what they wish, without attracting efforts from others to tell them what to do. If you want to go shopping or do something else on Christmas, or Ramadan, or Kwanzaa, or on a Jewish holiday or whatever, please do!