Rude shoppers, long lines and mountains of messy clothes. All of these were seen recently at the annual Black Friday sales. While shopping on this day may be fun and exciting, working at the stores that take part can be a challenge. 

   On the most hectic shopping day of the year, everyone is after a bargain. The prices  are low, the tension is high and customers will stop at nothing to get what they’re after. Because the employees must deal with these crazed shoppers, they are responsible for calming the angry, checking prices and retrieving that last blue sweater that’s suspended 50 feet in the air on a mannequin. “The shoppers were annoying because after I fixed a table, I would come back a few minutes later and it would be destroyed again,” senior  and Old Navy employee Hannah Cottrell said.

   This “holiday” also requires workers to be focused and constantly at the top of their game, and although they always should be, it becomes difficult when they are running on little or no sleep. Try having people blow the smallest issues out of proportion at four in the morning and remaining kind and efficient. It’s not easy. “I always regret working on Black Friday,” senior and Maurice’s employee Ashley Hanna said. “It usually turns out to be a miserable day for me.”

   Finally, there’s the cleanup. After the day long shopping extravaganza, there are items everywhere, and each one of them must be picked up and put back in its original place. The store should look as good, or better, than it did before. “I expected things to be pretty hectic, but we actually had fewer customers than normal,” senior and Arby’s employee Tyler Bahr said.

   Once a worker has made it through this dreadful day, they are free to go home, sleep for three days straight and try their hardest not to think about next year.