Black Friday is a day full of sales and is great for the consumer. But what is it like for the retailers?
A consumer centred event that has crossed the Atlantic from America, Black Friday means big discounts in lots of shops nation wide. This ensures shops to be even busier than usual at this time of year and this is bound to take a toll on the staff.
“I hate working Black Friday more than any other day,” said Luke, 23, a John Lewis employee. “While the shop is usually busy, it’s so much worse on Black Friday. People also seem to think that because there’s a sale, they get to be rude to the customer service team. It’s just not a great time to be working.”
Rude behaviour from customers seems to not apply just to the staff, but to each other as well.
“I’ve seen customers argue in the middle of an aisle before,” said Mary, 22, an employee at Debenhams. “There wasn’t any shouting or anything, but some nasty insults were exchanged. It was all a bit ridiculous, to be honest. I didn’t really know how to deal with it because it was making everyone uncomfortable, so I went and got my manager.”
A desolate street after Black Friday madness
It also appears that most big companies aren’t willing to stop at Black Friday. John Lewis along with other companies are also employing Cyber Monday on the week after Black Friday as well as other shops continue their sales into the weekend.
Hello Cardiff! Our Black Friday offer continues through the weekend with 25% off everything in store. #welovepg #blackfriday pic.twitter.com/0Xcm5p7Al9
— Pretty Green Cardiff (@PG_Cardiff) November 26, 2016
This continues the discounts for online purchases, which may bring a little comfort to the sales teams as they don’t have to be present for that wave of consumers.
Websites of many companies, such as John Lewis and Debenhams even have a countdown webpage for Black Friday deals for the next year, showing just how seriously this tradition is now being taken.
With a drastic increase in customers and apparent rude behaviour to staff as well as other consumers, it’s no wonder that the customer service team dread the day.