Why stores opening on T-day bugs me
It is not the treatment of employees. Low wage retail workers are not the only low wage employees working on T-day. Lots of restaurants, including fast food restaurants, are open T-day. Gas stations are open. They are still collecting tolls in the manned toll booths. There are also lots of people who earn more than minimum wage who work on T-day: police, firefighters, pilots, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, grocery store clerks (assuming they belong to a union otherwise they may be minimum wage workers), football players, prison guards, nurses, doctors, military personnel, etc. There is never a day in this country when no one works.
Many of the people who are working on T-day provide essential services. I think we all feel bad that they have to work but deeply appreciate that they are there. Others provide convenience or services which are essential only because we've gotten bad at planning ahead. I'm less comfortable with them being open but confess that I've taken advantage of it (sometimes not by choice). Some jobs are just hard to stop - how do you stop all in-coming and out-going flights in the US in such a way to ensure that people employed in the air travel industry don't have to work T-day ... and when does T-day start and end?
What is offensive about retail outlets opening is not just the treatment of their employees - for most of the retail outlets in question the treatment of their employees is offensive every day - it is what being open on T-day says about us as a society. It says that believing that we have gotten a great deal on a consumer product (sometimes the Black Friday deals are not the best deals) is more important or more necessary (acknowledging that financial difficulties contribute) to us than having a day of rest to spend with family. That either our personal need or the pressure on us to consume is so great that it trumps any concern for the well-being of retail workers. That consuming has become "something to do" so we aren't bored and are entertained. And it shows that retail corporations have become so cut throat that as soon as one store does it, they all have to follow suit. That's what's so creepy about it.
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