I was at my local Bruegger’s this morning and asked the manager (who I know well) how business was yesterday – Black Friday. He said that it was OK but that he was still ticked off about Thanksgiving. I asked what he meant.

In years past they were open from 6 or 7 AM to 11AM or noon. This year he was instructed to stay open until 3PM. This “ruined my entire day and for what? We had less than fifteen customers in those three hours after noon. What a waste. Some genius at corporate who doesn’t have to actually do the work made THAT decision.” He went on to say, “You know me, I like my company and don’t want to sound negative but c’mon….”

I was surprised too. Let’s face it. How many people are looking for a bagel on Thanksgiving afternoon? I compared that decision to the one made at the golf course down the street. They were open all day but after 3PM there were no carts allowed. In other words, you could play but you had to walk because the entire staff was going to be home and there would be no golf carts to ride in. In talking with the golf pro about this he said, “We aren’t going to have many people wanting to play golf that late and it is more important to get our employees home to their families.” Nice. Sounds like a bit of leadership going on there.

I thought I was done with my thinking about work on Thanksgiving until today I looked at the Thursday sale circular from Michaels. They are a big box chain arts and crafts store. I was absolutely amazed to read that they were open from 6-9PM on Thanksgiving night. Is nothing sacred? Must we shop every day? What is the point of being open for those 3 hours? Now, I know there are some employees who would rather work and some customers who would rather shop on Thanksgiving but how many? It CAN’T be enough to justify being open across the nation. Maybe they asked employees to volunteer. I don’t know but what I do know is the message they sent to employees and customers is that an important holiday like Thanksgiving really isn’t that important to us. We will do whatever we can to make a few extra dollars even if it means we ruin your holiday. Quite frankly, I am disappointed. I knew it would happen eventually but I hoped it wouldn’t.

Of course, this means that Christmas isn’t too far behind. I can see the commercials now, “We are open at 6PM on Christmas Day so you can beat the crowd and return the stuff you don’t want.”

All this really means that employees aren’t important. The almighty dollar is. But the real truth is that you can’t make an almighty dollar without a loyal and productive workforce. Work ‘em everyday of the year and they will learn that they don’t matter to you. The rest is easy, just look at Circuit City – who just went bankrupt.

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