Black

As a mall employee, Black Friday Weekend, or "Green" Friday as we like to call it, is what we live for. The hustle and bustle atmosphere at the mall is one of the best times of the year. There is always something to do, a ton of people working, and crazy stories about mad customers.

This holiday season is my second as an American Eagle employee. I have been working for just over a year now, so I knew it was going to be crazy -- just not how crazy.

On Green Friday, Westfield Franklin Park Mall was scheduled to open at 5 a.m. However, in order to get the store ready to open, employees at American Eagle had to be at work at 3 a.m.

Even though the mall was set to open at 5 a.m., American Eagle and several other stores in the mall were planning on opening an hour earlier.

But even at 2 p.m., the people who had been there since 4 a.m. were still in great moods and still willing to help out people and treat them well.

From what I heard, the morning shift was absolutely insane. By the time that I arrived to work at 1:50 p.m., the store was a disaster. There were masses of people even at that time of the day and the tables that normally hoist up folded clothes were a complete disaster.

We had a potluck in the back room, which kept us going all weekend long. We pigged out not only on our breaks, but any time we had to go to the stockroom, grabbing a cookie or chip on our way out.

For the new employees, this was undoubtedly a totally crazy experience for them. For some new people, it was even their first day on the job. This overwhelming experience really only helps them because if they can handle this, they can handle anything at the mall.

I worked for three hours before taking my half hour break. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., I stood at the cash register, or cash-n-wrap as we like to say, and rang out customers. Time seemed to fly by because there was a constant line of people.

For the most part, customers seemed to be in good moods. No huge arguments over the last sweatshirt since we were well-stocked and able to handle all situations.

One customer did, however, come back to our store on Saturday complaining that she did not receive her $20 coupon discount. Since she had that coupon along with a 40 percent off coupon, we had to take the $20 off one item. Even though I thoroughly explained this before she left, she still came back and received some money back for the difference.

But I don't let customers like that ruin everything for me. Almost every customer I rang out commented on how helpful or great a job someone was doing. It was nice to hear that since it is such a customer-focused job.

Even though I was scheduled to work until 11 p.m. that night, I volunteered to stay later. I wasn't sure exactly how late those closing the store were going to be staying, but because of the condition of the store, I knew it would be a while.

People who were scheduled the latest were supposed to work until 1 a.m. the following morning, but we ended up staying a little bit later, clocking out at exactly 1:35 a.m. It took us over two and a half hours to recover from the fallout in the store. We all felt people didn't seem to realize exactly how much work it takes in order to get a store ready for the next day, but Green Friday is worse.

Walking out of the store was especially weird. I was parked too far to walk by myself so someone had to drive me to my car. We knew we took a long time to close when we realized the only cars left in the parking lot were our own.

The next day, I had to go in to work a seven hour shift, working from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I worked for three hours, took a break, and worked another three hours.

Before I clocked into work, I put my purse in my locker and hung my coat on the door of the locker like others had done.

I had my break at about 1:30p.m., and after that, I rang people up for the rest of my shift. As soon as I went into the back room to grab my bag and coat, I realized my coat wasn't there. It turns out my coat was placed among other coats on the store floor, and was sold to a customer all within an hour.

I panicked and ran to my manager and told him what happened. He was able to look up the family's transaction and saw they had paid with a check, which had their phone number on it.

My manager left a voicemail with them explaining the situation, but as of right now, they have not called back. I'm still hoping they return my coat; but if not, I will be reimbursed by American Eagle, so either way, no real harm done.