If you are a real Canadian, you already know what Black Friday is and what to expect: huge lines and mind blowing discounts. it may still be a thing Canada copied from their southern neighbors, yet everyone knows what Black Friday is. But some people are new to this, while others don’t have time to shop because they have to work. Most of those were to be seen in Masonville, London’s biggest mall.
“I was kind of disappointed”, says Maciek Podkowinski, a Polish exchange student. “There were way too many people for me to have a good time. Of course, I knew it would be crowded, but I wanted to give it a shot. Turns out it was nothing for me. I also didn’t find anything special for myself and I didn’t find any good deals or discounts. It appeared to me that shop owners just want to use the concept of Black Friday to get you to shop, but not actually give you the same deals as in the States. I think it is a bit overhyped.”
Cato Dhollander, a Belgian exchange student, had a whole other experience on Black Friday: “It was very nice. It was very crowded and I didn’t expect it to be that busy on a Black Friday in Canada. I bought a lot of stuff and they gave me some good deals. The last couple of years, Black Friday is also getting attention in Belgium, and some companies have already started doing Black Friday sales. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Belgium so our big sales begin the day after Christmas, like Boxing Day in the UK. I think those sales are still better than the Canadian Black Friday sales, because most of the times you get 30% to 70% off.”
But not everybody has the privilege to go shopping all day on Black Friday. Some people have to work and get through what is maybe the busiest day of the year for them. One of those is Katie Van Egmond, who works at Aldo in Masonville. This is already the fourth year in a row that she worked on a Black Friday, in a mall. “Working on a day like this isn’t too bad. Time goes by quickly because there is always something to do. At the same time, it was also stressful because of the amount of people that need something from me. Luckily, my shift was ‘only’ eight hours. That’s not bad if you know my manager has been there from the very beginning to the very end. We also have more people working on that day, so it wasn’t that chaotic. Everybody had their own job or function in order for everything to run smoothly. For example, I was in charge of stock, so I ran all day around with shoeboxes to help people find the perfect size. I don’t mind working every year on Black Friday, but you can’t underestimate the stress that comes with it”, says Katie.
