The alarm goes off and it is cold and dark outside, it’s 2 a.m and that means it is time to get up and get ready for work on Black Friday.
Thanksgiving is now over and when some are cleaning up from their holiday dinners, others are getting prepared for the big sales the following morning. While this is all happening, another group is preparing in another way, for work the next morning.
Many people wait in line at stores the night before Black Friday so that they can be the first to get all the great deals. What many do not know is that customer service representatives of these stores have been working for several months to get ready for this one day a year.
Business Insider stated that sales went up from 2010, but not as much as 2009. Last year was the mark that the United States may be out of the recession because people were buying things again.
Black Friday is marked as a day for bargains and some can get very angry and upset if the deals what they thought they were. This can cause a lot of stress for the workers of this very long day.
Many customer service representatives call Black Friday D-Day because it is a day that they dread all year. Many stores make great profit, but the day is full of stress and long crowds.
Ashley Trujillo, a customer representative at JC Penny’s, has been working there for three months. In those three months JC Penny’s has been getting ready for Black Friday.
Trujillo said that there has been a lot of inventory going on in the last three months. Inventory started long before Trujillo started there, but she started at the time when preparation was in full force for this long day.
The week leading up the event will be when the real work starts, Trujillo commented. She said that most of the final ordering happens in that final week before Black Friday. Managers decide what big items are selling and what needs to be ordered to hit the big numbers.
Managers then put out the ad that they want to promote so that customers know they have the big deals they are looking for. Managers have also been spending time making sure everyone can work and letting some know that no one can request time off for this special day.
The day before Black Friday, most stores will be stocking and getting ready for the next day.
“Register help is mostly what will be needed that morning,” Trujillo commented.
Trujillo is not very excited for Black Friday. Large numbers of people will be ready to run into this store at 3 a.m. Trujillo will be on her way to JC Penny’s at 2:30 a.m. She will be at JC Penny’s all day. The morning she will work the register and then help clean up after all of the crowds leave.
Customer service representatives aren’t as lucky, they are not able to go home and sleep after the big deal of the day, they have to stay and clean up for the next day. Black Friday may only come once a year, but stores do not close down after its over.