Morons at the Movies: Black Friday =/= Racist

With all this talk about Black Friday on the news and how Wal-Mart is going to try to prevent its yearly death knell (good luck, I say), a co-worker of mine was asking me the other day about Black Friday at the movies. I gave him the basic rundown on what usually happens. It’s not as bad as you would think. The day after Christmas, however, is a different story.

Then, out of nowhere, he asked why it is called Black Friday. Now, this guy is not ignorant by any stretch. He’s very clever, hard-working, and above all else productive in what he does around the theatre. However, given how he casually acts, one cannot help but wonder if he is one of the many kids out there that had such a difficult time in school that they are lucky to graduate at all. And he did graduate, that much I know.

So I let him rant to see where this was going, and he assumed that the term Black Friday was racist.

I then explained to him that it’s actually an accounting term. Red numbers means you’re losing money; black numbers means you’re making a profit. They reason they use this color system is so it is easier for them to check if they are making or losing money over the year/month/week.

Now, he got the explanation and added the knowledge to his memory banks. But the story doesn’t end there.

While I was covering breaks, I overheard a customer talk to their friend about the same thing. Both of these people look like they were well educated and possibly went to college. If I had to guess as to what they did for a living, I’d say they are a part of corporate America judging by their dress. Neither one of them knew why Black Friday was called Black Friday and made the off-collar comment about it being racist.

What makes this story even stranger is the ethnicity of these people pondering the term. My co-worker is a early 20-year-old black man. The customers I overheard were a white couple in their late 40s, possibly early 50s.

Well, I kindly took the time to explain to them what I just told my co-worker, and they had the oddest reply. The man said, “Well, I guess that makes sense, but it still sounds racist. Can’t accountants use, like, green or some other color to show they are making money?”

Yeah… because a green-and-red accounting book is easier to read than one with a high contrast of black and red. And the best part is that it’s like Christmas every time you open it to check your numbers! Fun!