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An open letter to Target regarding Black Friday

Dear Target,

You know I love you. You know I shop there a lot. We have a family of 10, and that means we frequently stock up on life’s many essentials with you perched at the top of our list. Also, all of our prescriptions are filled by your pharmacy.

We are not casual customers. We know many of the employees by name and they know ours. I love walking through the doors expecting to see familiar smiling faces and great quality for the price.

But it was with huge disappointment I learned you will be opening at midnight on Black Friday. Your employees must report to work at 11pm on Thanksgiving Day. This seems like such a Wal Mart move to make. It’s ugly. It’s trashy. It’s calculated to encroach on a day of rest, tradition, family, and reflection. Your employees will have to leave their celebrations and observances to sleep so they’ll be able to work an ungodly hours their bodies aren’t used to working.

I noticed one of your managers stated in a news story: “I don’t like the fact I have to come in on Thanskgiving, but when you work in retail it’s the nature of the beast,” Schuknecht said. “I understand the value of it. Our traffic has been tremendous.”

But he’s wrong. It isn’t the nature of the beast. There isn’t some mighty evil retail monster forcing any store to open on Thanksgiving or at midnight on Black Friday. Admit you do it because you have dollars in your eyes and they are more sparkly than gratefulness, humility, rest, and family. I’m especially disappointed in you, Target, because you are a leader in many areas like fashion, food, store layout, cleanliness, innovation, convenience. But in this case, you are proving to be just another slack-jawed behemoth succumbing to peer pressure.

You are being led around by your nose.

There are people who note police, fire, hospital, transportation, and travel employees must work on Thanksgiving, so we shouldn’t feel terrible for retail workers. I contend there is a huge difference between stopping crimes or heart attacks or house fires and scanning socks at 2am. One of the above can wait. For real.

You must not feel terribly confident about your Black Friday offerings. If you did, if the deals were so fantastic, if the quality is out of this world, guess what? People would wait for you to open. You could open at noon on Friday and still have your massive crowds if there was something worth waiting for.

Do you have a low opinion of the American consumer? The rubes are willing to shop at midnight! We are just your drooling fools who are lured through doors by toys and electronics that will be broken and/or forgotten by mid-January.

Americans should feel offended by Black Friday. Not only because it’s continually encroaching on Thanksgiving but because it’s really, really insulting. 3-packs of character underwear for $4 and DVDs of mediocre movies for $5 are dangled like carrots and all of a sudden? Rioting rabbits lining up 30 people deep in check-out lanes manned by people who left the sides of those they love to scan and stock and restock.

Not only do I refuse to shop on Black Friday (and have not for the past several years), I am starting to think about things like:

~Transferring all of our prescriptions from Target to a different pharmacy. Remember, we have a family of 10. That amounts to a lot of money.

~Doing more of my necessity shopping at local grocery stores—they have diapers, too (and I have 2 in diapers!)

~Shopping online

~Checking out small businesses in my community on Small Business Saturday

~Making our own gifts/DIY

Target, my opinion of you has taken a nosedive this past week and it’s all because of your decision to open at midnight on Black Friday. I expect that from K-Mart or Wal Mart. It’s a little like Coldplay being worried about Loverboy playing a set in the bar at a bus station and demanding their manager book them, too. I suppose it’s just another sign that our world is growing increasingly more trite, flimsy, cheap, ungrateful.

Sincerely,

Gretchen

(UPDATE: thanks to Target for their quick response in the comments!)

November 16th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Life | 83 comments

Written while sporting a fever

I am writing this with a fever. It’s not the first time I’ve written something while on fire, harboring nasty germs, feeling wretched. Tonight was unusual because my husband had to go to a meeting. After spending the day in bed, I maneuvered achy joints and muscles out of my bedroom and down the stairs to the children.

The big kids were squabbling and shoving each other on the couch as they watched Netflix. I reminded them I did not feel well and was counting on their help and good behavior. Situations where mom is sick demonstrate, on a small scale, how prepared everyone is to pitch in and fly solo, at least for a short time. I spent the night alternately impressed and fuming. If fevers shot up and down based on mood, we would have had fried eggs and ice cream for dinner instead of chili dogs prepared by Ryley.

He cooked dinner. It wasn’t complicated. All he had to do was microwave hot dogs and heat chili. He plated everyone’s food. They chopped a hot dog into small bits for Teddy. It wasn’t the most nutritious dinner, but the kids ate and drank milk and from my station on the couch with my blankie, I heard them pray.

They chattered and ate. Teddy shouted the word “cheese” over and over. I was told one of the kids sliced cheddar for him. I thought about hauling my illness-battered bones up, but I felt like maybe I’d be intruding on their sense of independence and adventure. They are capable children and they care for each other, even though I had to remind them more than once to knock off the fighting as the night wore on. Please. Please. Please. They’d stop and return to loading the dishwasher or doing homework

Sam typed two paragraphs and read them aloud to me. They were clever. Then he checked Tommy’s math homework. Aidan gave Beatrix her bath. I could hear them laughing upstairs. Then she put pajamas on Archie. They made their lunches. We even sneaked in an episode of “Wheel Of Fortune.”

I always like watching game shows when I’m sick. I think they take me back to childhood when I’d stay home from school. My mom would put me on the couch, sometimes with the special red bucket with an inch of water in the bottom—just in case. I’d watch game shows and soap operas and I’d hear my mom busy in the kitchen, cooking food, running the bath, praying for me.

(I wrote this last night after my husband got home from his meeting. My eyelids were burning, I was exhausted, miserable, but somehow, I was overcome by a feeling of great blessing. Had to share and now it’s part of Just Write, Heather’s weekly round-up of free-writing).

November 15th, 2011 | Category: Life | 7 comments

Toddler Toes Love Monkey Toes

Teddy is not a fan of shoes. I know this is an odd way to begin a review of toddler shoes, but it’s true. He’s the type of boy who would scale coconut trees, propelled by bare feet and a savage thirst for adventure. Unfortunately, living in a climate like Colorado negates that dream, at least for the next couple of decades. So what should a toddler boy put on his feet while he’s biding his time and plotting his escape to the South Seas?

As long as mommy is in charge, his toes and feet need to be protected from the elements. How about some snowmen from Monkey Toes?

Curl up and die from the cute

Monkey Toes was founded 10 years ago by a creative Colorado mom of 3 named Jenny. When Monkey Toes first launched, she hand-painted every pair—which had to be a tremendous labor of love. Her company has been growing by leaps and bounds. Recently, Babble included her in their list of the Top 50 Mompreneurs of 2011. She’s a very well-deserved #1 in the clothing and shoes category.

While she no longer hand-paints each pair, she designs shoes to reflect toddlers interests and the changing seasons, maintaining the cute without sacrificing quality. Teddy has a pair of Shivers the Snowman, which are nice because they transcend Christmas and take toddler feet into winter, which we all know lasts well beyond December 25th.

The curly laces ensure a snug fit while being practically trip-proof. Toddlers are world-famous for being shaky on their feet, so I won’t make promises, but the laces do not drag on the ground or come untied because there is no tying in the first place. If they fall while wearing Monkey Toes, it’s probably because the doorbell rang and they must get there before the dog.

The insoles are firm, but have cushion. I’ve bought inexpensive canvas shoe knock-offs in the past for myself and the kids. They aren’t comfortable and they wear out quickly. The soles of Shivers the Snowman are substantial without being heavy or unwieldy to bendy, busy feet. Of course, Teddy didn’t provide these thoughts to me. I bent and twisted and even put my big toe inside one of the shoes to confirm my suspicions that these are, indeed, some pretty nice scoots.

Monkey Toes arrive in a keepsake shoebox. This is a box you will not toss and you will not loan to your 4th grader so he can make a diorama of a pizza restaurant for school. Nope. As a parent who has considered buying shoes just to get the shoebox, I promise that will not happen if you buy Monkey Toes.

Even the box is adorable

Monkey Toes tennis shoes are available in sizes 4-8. Mary Janes for the little ladies are available in sizes 3-7. They can be found at Monkey Toes or at specialty children’s shops. They retail for $29.99. Honestly, I have to admit I thought this was a bit steep when I first heard about Monkey Toes because I’m a discount shopping lady. But when you consider the quality and the fact that many kiddos can wear the shoes—being passed down because they’ll last—it’s worth every penny. It won’t be long until I pass these shoes on to a friend’s little guy.

Jenny is graciously extending an offer to readers who would like to buy Shivers the Snowman or any of her cute designs. From now through November 30th, get 25% off by entering LIFENUT11 when you check out.

(Thanks to Monkey Toes for providing a pair of Shivers the Snowmen to Teddy and to me for review. The opinions are mine because we lived with the shoes for a month now and they are like cute old friends)

November 14th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Life | 3 comments
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