You weren’t all that attached to the idea of quality time with your family, right? Last year, Target opened its doors at 9 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day, and Walmart, Sears, and some Toys ‘R’ Us stores welcomed shoppers at 8 P.M. Now we’ve received word that Macy’s is asking its employees about their availability to work on Turkey Day itself.

Last year, most other retailers managed to hold off until the early hours of Friday morning, or at least midnight. Macy’s has been one of these, which at least gives most employees time to have some dinner and pie…if their family celebrates the holiday within easy commuting distance of their home. That is, unless they’re working on crowd control or stocking the shelves. Those workers come in earlier: one security guard told us that his employer asked him to come in at 4 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day.

A tipster passed along some of the poll questions to Consumerist. We can’t say where our source works, but it’s not a regional flagship store or Herald Square.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is also a critical time and we are counting on you to help make it successful. Your store will open at 8 pm on Thursday, November 28th. We would like to know if you are able to work an opening shift beginning at 7:30 pm on Thursday, November 28th.

After the employee ticks the box for “Sure!” or “HELL NO!” (we paraphrase) they’re taken to another page that explains that they may not have a choice.

We will do our best to honor your preferences. Based on the needs of the business we may still need you to work an opening shift. Please be sure to review your schedule for any assigned shifts.

We called the Macy’s media relations office, and they told us that they haven’t released their Thanksgiving/Black Friday hours yet. We sincerely hope that they’ll take the results of this poll into consideration.

Our tipster wasn’t keen to volunteer. “My prediction is that soon (within the next few years) many stores will do away with thanksgiving time off for employees altogether,” they mused. “That way people can get back to focusing on what really matters most without the distraction of family or friends: money.” Let’s hope that retailers keep their priorities straight, Tipster. But they probably won’t.

RELATED:
Moving Black Friday Up A Week Could Save Thanksgiving
Black Friday Creep: A Security Guard’s Perspective

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