Thanksgiving Day is an annual celebration across the nation; a day where families come together, share food, watch a football game, and spend quality time under the same roof. The Friday following Thanksgiving Day is famously known as “Black Friday.” Black Friday is a nationwide sale that most stores participate in. Sales previously would begin no earlier than midnight on Black Friday; however, stores are now moving up the time to open in the middle of Thanksgiving Day. J.C. Penny, in particular, is progressively moving its opening time into Thanksgiving Day; the open time is set for 3:00 p.m. this year. Therefore, Marvin R. Ellison, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of J.C. Penny needs take steps to remain closed all of Thanksgiving …show more content…
This also requires the employees to come in several hours before the store opens, in order to stock the shelves and prepare the store for the flood of people that are about to enter. While some do not mind working on Thanksgiving, others do; not giving them the full day off requires that they be in the store early in the morning, robbing them of the entire day to spend at home. J.C. Penny was not originally a store that viewed its employees as simply employees. It used to value its workers and should continue to do so. David Delbert Kruger, author of “This Was J.C. Penny: A Century of James Penney's Main Street Department Stores in the Rocky Mountain West,” states in his article that Penny did not ever want his employees to be seen as just workers; he notes “In the spirit of doing unto others, Penny conceived of associate partnerships” (6). Penny’s employees are more than just worker. His employees are called associates because they have a say in the business. Asking employees to come in just because they are employees was not what Penny envisioned the store to be. Kruger goes on to say that the term “associate” holds a deeper meaning than employee does because it gives more opportunity and respect (6). Being asked to come in and work, however, takes away from that respect. Those that would rather work, however, sometimes do so for the extra money, which makes it worth