We have been in the new place for a little more than a week. Thanksgiving has passed, as has the seasonal restraint on celebrating Christmas in September or October. There are other significant milestones in the calendar, of course. Down on The Farm, there would be the urge to get the daily observation on the wire, take a gaze at what is happening out in the larger circus beyond our thankful shores and try to see what is going to be happening next.
There are a bunch of possibilities out there. Melissa is much more aware of the events that go into a day than the rest of the crew. She was already getting ready before the rest of us got completely through the third cup of Chock Full o’ Nuts. She is not a maniacal shopper, but being back in an urban environment after rural isolation, she thought she would avail herself of an unofficial holiday that comes not from books of holy script but from common sense.
“Black Friday,” she said, picking up an umbrella and looking out over the balcony. “There is a national inventory crisis to go with all the other ones. They need to clear the shelves for the purely seasonal items. With a possible rail strike coming on December 9th, there is some urgency in getting stocks up and moving out the transitional items. They didn’t close the Macy’s over at the mall, and I am going to do my best to get done with the shopping. Then we can go back to socializing.”
“And break out some carols,” said Rocket, looking as though he might burst into song.
Loma looked over at Buck for economic insight. “We all pitched in for the dinner yesterday. The Bird was good, since we didn’t have to cook it.” There were smiles about the green-bean-thing we did, done to Mom’s specifications.
Buck was practical about it, and waved his tablet featuring a screen with a Walmart ad about millions of edible items and guaranteed two-day delivery. He allowed the tablet to settle into his lap. “The skinny green things, a can or two of mushroom soup and those crispy fried onions from Frenches. You only need two tools, a can opener and a decent spoon.”
“We are done with cooking for this weekend, anyway. So, the purpose of the Friday after Thanksgiving is not dining but shopping.” Melissa looked pretty determined and no one in their right mind could deal with it.
“Do you really know why the day is called “Black Friday?” she asked with a rhetorical flourish. “The story goes that with a Friday open after travel and meals it was the break-even point for a lot of merchants.”
“Maybe you’re familiar with the legend that goes along with the day,” said Buck in his professorial voice. “The passing of Turkey Day leaves the next month filled with time to get the perfect gifts for everyone in the family. The surge in shoppers eager to spend their cash put retailers “in the black” for the year. Everything else in the year has been taken care of and the real profits come from here until the end of the year.”
“So, that is Black Friday?” Splash looked relieved that the mercantile trade was covered in expense for what has been a challenging year.
“No,” said Buck. “There is a better version that tells a different story. When you use a term referring to color combined with a specific day, it can have a more ominous meaning.” He picked up his tablet and pressed an indix finger against the screen. “The earliest use of the phrase ‘Black Friday’ goes back to 1869, just four years after the conclusion of the American Civil War. The readjustment in finances from debt caused by conflict and had nothing to do with seasonal shopping. Instead, it was a panic about cash holdings. And we were on the gold standard then. Our money was backed with gold, and the Rush out west had not happened yet. The dislocation in spending caused gold prices to drop off a cliff. The crash went on for years.”
“That was the real Black Friday?”
“Well, it was certainly one of them. It took a while for folks to get their minds straight and think about building railroads and heading out of town to the west.”
“I have always heard the current use of the term didn’t show up until we were alive and on the planet. The first mention of Black Friday as a shopping term rather than a panic was from Philadelphia back in the 1950s, and it wasn’t from the retail trade. It was the traffic cops who used the term to describe what they had to deal with downtown before there were shopping malls. The snarl to get into the city and get shopping was different than heading out to vast parking lots around square universal buildings. Instead, there was curbside parking and confusion that manifested itself in jammed downtown stores.”
“Black Friday now officially opens the Christmas shopping season in the malls across the nation. But there is a problem with that, of course. The Covid panic- and I don’t mean ‘pandemic-’ changed the notion of the term. The malls had killed the city centers as shopping destinations. Now, the desire not to get too close to our fellow citizens has killed the way we shop. We are perfectly happy to do it on line and not drive anywhere.”
“Isn’t that Cyber Monday?” Loma looked disoriented/
“I am not going to wait. With a rail strike possible, I already did some shopping on the same trip to town when I was looking for fresh green beans,” said Loma.
“It isn’t traffic any more, since the gas costs so much. Which is another factor with our response to the communicable disease. We made it possible for people to work from home and not have to use their cars. Instead, they were trapped in front of computer screens and it was easier to shop from where they sat.”
“The problem in staffing for the stores was reflected in the seasonal hiring to ramp up the percentage of ‘sales’ personnel to shoppers. The need for humans to do that used to impact the day after all the crispy fried onions were soggy and the green bean casserole was gone. Back then, the regular sales staff had a habit back then to take a ‘sick day’ to extend the Turkey holiday weekend. It made some industry commentators characterize it as ‘rampant absenteeism’ on the Fridays after the big feast. It made shopping a complete zoo at the stores.”
“That was people actually went to the stores” Loma observed with a grimace. “The plague has had an effect that we have not seen before. You can see part of it with the people on the flat screen. The men don’t feel the need to wear ties on television. That is just a reflection of the way our behavior has been altered.”
Buck looked at Splash for a moment before speaking. “It sure has. But we can’t even be sure what is temporary and what is a real change in the way we act. It may take another couple Black Fridays to see what the real impact is.”
“Black Friday had to be changed from a negative to a positive impact. They tried changing the color used in the term to one reflecting ‘size.’ “You mean ‘Big Friday?’ That just sounds like something the Mondays in the week would do.”
“There is some Saturday resentment for Friday getting special treatment, since all the leftovers are starting to get thin by then.”
“True. But the Saturday folks didn’t make much progress. Everyone was ready on Monday, and that is when things used to get rolling. Everything is different now. Dragging the family to the mall isn’t as central to the season as it used to be. In fact, that sort of behavior means masking up or getting another vaccination. They announced something about that last Wednesday.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just do it from home?”
“We may already be there,” said Splash. But his opinion was deflected a bit, since Melissa was by the door unfurling her umbrella.
“I may be out of the current cycle on this, but it is a Gray Friday with rain out there. And I am going to be done with it.” She smiled broadly, opened the door and disappeared into the featureless hallway. There were some general nods of agreement and a couple laptops appeared. The group appeared to be of the opinion they could make a token effort and be generally compliant with the season before Melissa even got to the mall.
We will report on how she does on that one. But since none of the boys had to shave or get out of their comfy sleepwear, the new means of celebrating the shopping season seemed to work just fine.
What that does to “getting in the black” for business is another matter altogether. But we can start saying ‘Ho Ho Ho’ without irony for a while. And the Hallmark movie marathon leading into December already has us wondering if the cute couple will come to their senses and stop the emotional maelstrom in the scripts with a decent kiss signifying a bright and joyous season.
Increased parking facilities, additional police officers to ensure the cars keep moving, and there are clerks at the registers may not be the same critical factors they used to be. But it certainly is different living in town rather than way out in the country, you know?
Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
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