Black Friday is History

Our 6^th week at Amazon contained our first Holiday and our first overtime.  Our shift will normally work overtime on Thursdays, except for this past week.  It was shifted to Friday due to Thursday’s holiday. 

For Thanksgiving Day, we had read about some of the Tennessee state parks that have restaurants, and some of them had planned to have a holiday buffet.  The one nearest to us was about 45 to 50 minutes away.  After Dave and Nancy finished their ½ day shift, we loaded up for Henry Horton State Park only to arrive and find a crowd outside with a 2 hour wait to be seated.  We don’t care how great the food might be, very few places might be worth that time, plus we all had to work again on Friday.  We opted for “Plan B” and headed off to parts of Tennessee we had not seen before.  As luck would have it, we happened upon a small restaurant with a gift shop and gas pumps out front.  It was like a mini-Cracker Barrel, with immediate seating, a huge menu, and a Thanksgiving dinner for the special of the day.  It was also quiet enough to have a great conversation.  We had a leisurely dinner and ended up enjoying this very small restaurant.  As this is a time to give thanks, we are particularly thankful that we have the health and stamina to put in the 10 hour days at Amazon, but also thankful that it is a choice we've made and that we don't need to work like this.

Friday was supposedly the biggest shopping day of the year, but that must be in the malls only.  Amazon had geared up in anticipation of a busy Black Friday, but we didn’t have much to do in the morning.  The afternoon was a little busier, but the morning was very slow.  Maybe this will change on Cyber Monday – we will see.

Saturday, as this is being written, is our normal day off.  We hosted our niece, Jamie, and her family for a lasagna dinner and a fun time.  It was so great to see them again! 

Now we have quiet time, before making up tomorrow’s lunch bag and getting ready to start a normal 50-hr week.  Only 3 full weeks left – we see the light at the end of the tunnel!!