With the creep of Black Friday into Thanksgiving day (I believe Walmart and Target are both opening their stores on Thursday evening around 8:00 pm) with slashed prices to bring in shoppers, many people are going to have to work on Thanksgiving day. Several groups have started online petitions to pressure the giant retailers to give these people time back with their families. Do you think this is unfair or just part of a job in the retail industry? Many people in the manufacturing industries have had to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas since 24 hour/7 day a week operations began a century ago or more. People work on holidays. All essential services are staffed, supermarkets and other food purveyors are open, convenience stores are open, movie theaters are open, restaurants are open. So, some Target and Walmart employees get to have their Thanksgiving dinner with their families before going to work the night shift. What bugs me more is the slavish devotion to Black Friday that is encouraging retailers to get a jump on the competition because a midnight opening isn't early enough. I wonder how many jerks are going to skip the turkey to line up at stores, so they can get the best deals. I guess it depends on the environment. Black Friday at the mall sucks ASS. Black Friday at Blockbuster wasn't as big of a deal. When I worked retail and was low man on the totem pole, I generally had to work 8-hour shifts