What do you wish people knew about working retail on Black Friday?

"If you are heading into a store on Friday at any time, odds are the person helping you has either been there overnight, on their second full shift in 24 hours, or missing a family event that they probably wanted to attend but weren't able to because Thanksgiving to New Years are vacation blackout dates. Be nice! And if you have a friend working retail on Black Friday, bring them snacks!" — Becci

"I wish people knew that telling me 'It sucks you have to work' doesn’t really make it better. Especially when they would say that to my coworkers working on Thanksgiving. If you really cared, you'd stop shopping on Thanksgiving that way stores could close and retail workers could spend time with their families. I also wish people understood just how exhausted we are, and that we are actually human beings. Often times I felt I wasn't treated like an actual person, and I know that's the same for a lot of others. I once went to Best Buy before my shift with my cousin, brother, and best friend just to grab a pair of headphones, and I remember the worker started crying because she said we were being so nice to her. In reality, we really just said 'please' and 'thank you.'" — Kristen

"Please, dear God, just be nice to the retail employees. Sure, we volunteered and applied to work on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but it's a very stressful, overwhelming experience. The customers are the ones who willingly chose to shop on the busiest retail day of the year, and we are only there to help make things as smooth as possible. If you cannot handle long lines, messy stores, and employees only trying to do their best, do not shop Black Friday. You chose to go out shopping, along with the rest of America, so of course, there will be lines of 20+ people at a time, there will be lines for the fitting room, and not every pair of jeans will be neatly folded. Also, if you are shopping, please do not say, 'I'm so sorry / I feel so bad you have to work on Thanksgiving / Black Friday,' because you, the customer, are the reason we are working these days." — Allison

"Please please please be kind to the employees!!! The majority of them are temporary employees and only started a few weeks before at the very most so they barely know whats going on, how to fix a register malfunction, or are able to answer your questions thoroughly. They aren't trained too carefully either because of how busy the holiday season is. So be kind, make conversation with them, and don't mention anything about not being with their families or not having the day off. Even if you mean well, it's just a sucky reminder. Despite the snacks and the extra perks we get, it's never enough to deal with some people's B.S." — Raegan