Talking to the Workers on the Front Lines of Black Friday Shopping in London

This article originally appeared on VICE UK

Yesterday I wandered around London's Oxford Street shopping district speaking to the men and woman on the front line of Black Friday. Heightened security and extra staff are deemed a necessity at stores today – last year we witnessed a maelstrom of enthusiastic shoppers trying to grab, snatch and fight their way through to any deal they could get their hands on, all of it gleefully documented by the press.

Thanks to nervous corporate PR strategies, only a few would speak to me and nobody gave me their name. But those who were happy to chat talked about their individual preparations, past experiences and what they expected to see pouring throu gh the doors today.

RIVER ISLAND

VICE: Is this your first Black Friday here, or generally?
Security guard: Yeah first Black Friday, yeah.

So how have you prepared for tomorrow?
We'll come early. See if there is no rush going on on the streets. Obviously we 'll check out John Lewis. If there's madness going on over the road they'll come to our shop after they've finished and [we'll] basically just hope for the best!

So what are you expecting it to be like?
Well to be honest with you I've spoken to a few of my colleagues about what to expect and they said its gonna be really busy. So the main thing is safety of the customers and the staff and obviously the building. And apart from the theft that does go on – hopefully we limit that . And the rest is up to God.

How have you been briefed on how to deal with tomorrow?
Well there's two issues that we've been briefed on – first is obviously the safety and security of the building obviously when the sales happen make sure all the tags are correct, the shop floor is immaculate and give good customer service. And the second thing is obviously with the terrorism thing going on in Paris we 've been given a few leaflets on how and what to do if an incident happens. What to do with ourselves – hide, lock ourselves in thinks like that.

Who gave you those leaflets?
The company gave it but we've been talking to the police on the street as well and we have Oxford Street security on our tannoys here [points to walkie-talkie] to keep in touch with all the other stores.

So the stores, the police …
Everything is linked with this radio – police, other stores and internally as well.

And how are you feeling about it?
Excited. Obviously I cant go to the sales but my wife will!

ALL SAINTS

VICE: How are you preparing for tomorrow?
All Saints shop floor worker: Ummm, I actually don't know, we're not actually preparing at all I think its just like – 30 percent off and make good footfall. We're expecting it to be really hectic. I think our goal is to make 70 grand.

How much do you make on a typical day?
30-40 [thousand pounds]. On a Friday about 50 grand so yeah hopefully 70.

What are you going to do to accommodate for the wave of customers? More staff?
Yeah I think actually everyone is working – yeah we have about 150 in general I mean maybe not everyone – I think we have like 90 people working tomorrow…all our Christmas temps are in early. Usually we get temps in a lot closer to Christmas.

What do you think it'll be like?
Shop floor worker 2: It should be a busy day, y'know – everyone knows Black Friday but usually it starts today so we're expecting double amount of the customers we get today. Around more than 1,000, 2,000 customers. It's gonna be a mental day. We get free meals tomorrow. Black Friday for people and Black Friday for the staff!

You think it'll be any different tomorrow because the terror attacks in Paris recently?
You know after the 7/7 bombings and stuff everyone still got the bus and everything, y'know what I mean?

NEW LOOK

How long have you been on security here for?
Security guard: Six months, not too long

And what are you expecting on Black Friday?
I'm expecting a busy day. Busy day. For buyers coming in, for noise – for people wanting to buy the products. Yes, a busy day.

Have you been on briefed on what to do if thinks get out of control?
Yeah I've been briefed. Um… just for the safety of the customers, to protect the products from getting stolen because yes we know, it is going to be very busy. And also we are inviting more security. We 're expecting another security [guard] but he's going to be undercover. He'll be wearing plain clothes going around the shop making sure there is no fighting and stuff.

Will you have meeting with the managers to advise you on what to do?
Yes. they have confidence in us but they have briefed us about Black Friday. We started the sale today. So normally we start at 9 o'clock but today we started at 8 o 'clock. We're also expecting crazy days, crazy things from tomorrow.

Were you a security guard somewhere before here?
Yes, I was a security guard at Marks and Spencer – I worked with the security detail.

You were there for Black Friday last year?
Yes I was there for Black Friday last year. That was in Lewisham. But we didn't have a Black Friday sale or anything in Lewisham.

ALDO

Where you hear last year for Black Friday?
Aldo shop manager: I wasn't in this store I was in the Covent Garden one.

What was it like?
Yeah good, it was good. Nice and friendly. Good atmosphere, nothing too aggressive but that 's what you get in Convent Garden, its a bit more tranquil over there I'm sure here [Oxford Street] is gonna be very different a bit more … rumbustious shall we say.

And how are you preparing for it?
We're obviously over staffed, making sure we have plenty of staff here for it – designating people to certain areas. We're here to pacify people if they do tend to get aggressive. And if they do get aggressive then we 're quite happy to ask them to come back another time when they're not so aggressive.

What are you expecting tomorrow then?
Saturday times three!

Do you think anything will change due to the terrorist events that have recently occurred in Europe?
I don't think so, no. There will be people still coming out in force because they want to shop for Christmas and they want to get a bargain now. I think overall they will just forget about that for the day.

HOUSE OF FRASER

Have you worked as security on Black Friday before?
Security guard: Yeah this is my second Black Friday.

Were you here?
No, I was at another retail store.

What was it like?
Manic. Absolutely manic. The store specialised in electrical goods and obviously stores that specialise in electrical goods there seems to be a lot more customers, people going absolutely bonkers for a TVs videos and VCRs – or DVD players, I should be saying.

So how are you guys preparing for tomorrow?
We've got extra security in store and a different operation plan than usual because obviously there is a higher demand and a lot more customers and obviously with the current situation we have to be on alert. They've drafted a lot more staff to help out with key management and operation control but… yeah – it's all planned, it's all planned.

I was speaking to another security guard who had been briefed about the threat of terrorism. Do you think that might make things less manic?
I think obviously the current situation we're in there is a bit of ambiguity in regards to the public coming out and shopping in the city. However, those who wanna shop will shop and I don't think that'll stop them.

MONSOON AND UNIQLO

Will you be here at Monsoon tomorrow?
Security guard at Monsoon: No I'll be at Uniqlo, I work there too, on Oxford Street.

How are you preparing for it?
Well, we have two doors on Oxford Street. So we have to kind of be vigilant when the alarms go of, we have to ask customers – make sure there are no tags left on the items — and uh, watch out for the bad guys .

Do you think it 'll be very different tomorrow because of the terrorist …[Interrupting] Absolutely crazy.

But do you think Black Friday will be affected by what happened in Paris?
Oh… no, I don't think so – I remember the day when this happened in Paris. Next day, the Uniqlo shop on Oxford Street was busy as usual – nothing changed.

What about yourself? How are you feeling about it?
I'm expecting it any second to go off . I don't think its gonna happen in my shop, but we are ready. We are prepared.

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