I have wondered for a long while, why the name Black Friday?  (My curiosity started after hearing someone I care about say that they thought Black Friday should not be called such and thus called it Purple Friday… you know who you are yet I don’t call it that, maybe I should.)

I have hardly loved this day of shopping and crazy stress of getting the deals that will never be offered again (until next year? until the day after Christmas? until January when stores are still stocked with items that didn’t sell in December?) It is one of the reasons I may not love Thanksgiving either. We follow a stressful day of cooking for hours – eating for 15 minutes, then cleaning up for hours – by a day of early door busters, standing in the cold or waiting for the spinning reload on your browser to see if you can get the ______ (whatever you need to fill in the blank with your most sought after deal of the season) but not getting the deal or not feeling that it was worth it.

I don’t seek the deal, I don’t get joy out of the hunt – yes, I do like to shop, but I can’t help but think that it is too, too much. Do we REALLY need that much stuff? Do I fall into the trap? Don’t my kids have way too much and others have so little?

The theory I finally settled on and still thought was terrible, was that retailers were in the red until the holiday season when they could change their accounting ledger tally from red (a loss) into black (a gain.) However, this makes me think… If you as a business owner go all year until Thanksgiving running at a loss, you are doing it wrong. Totally wrong. Really. You are doing it wrong. Someone needs to help you. Soon. Like yesterday. Get help now.

Now I read that it had to do with other “theories” too:

• Too much traffic in the cities filled with people shopping and less traffic officers to cover the streets.
• Too many people taking off the day because they are “cough, cough” – too sick to work.
• Or maybe it was too many people who were actually sick, hungover and/or ill from 4000+ calories of turkey, stuffing, gravy and pie eaten in one sitting.
• the list went on…

But nothing is definitive and I won’t judge those who shop, or the retailers who try to make their best grab at the limited funds available to be spent this season, I just know that I can’t join in the fray of what we have come to know by a name…you are free to call it purple or black or red or grey. It is just one day. It isn’t everything.

I hope that it doesn’t make you feel like you missed out on something. Spend this day shopping or with family, or relaxing, or decorating your house… Call it what you will just be happy that you are able to make the choice – to shop or not to shop – to work or not to work – forget about that “why” and just make it what you want it to be. The name has nothing to do with it. It is just a name, regardless of the why.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl