Posted on 11/28/2013 4:57:15 AM PST by ExGeeEye
I haven't been in every business in town. Ever.
Certainly not in the past week.
But during the past week, at every business I've patronized, I've made it a point to ask at least one employee about their holiday schedule.
Only one will be closed today (Thanksgiving Day).
A couple will be closed Christmas Day.
One big store will be open Christmas Day, but closed Christmas Eve.
The businesses that will be open called for volunteers to work those days. All of them offered some sort of compensation: a multiple of the regular hourly rate (usually 2x), a dollar amount bonus, or another regular workday off.
One person in particular is getting Friday off in exchange for working Thanksgiving. He and his family will do "the whole bit" on Friday, and go right into the weekend. Said he'll be better off than the people who take today off and drag themselves in for one or two* more days before the weekend.
Another, a single living too many states away from home, will visit her church for an evening Thanksgiving service after work. "Nothing else to do, better to earn it than spend it", and the bump in the pay rate will help finance her trip home...for Easter Week.
Conclusion: Everyone I've talked to over the past week, who will be working today, do so voluntarily and earn extra in some way for doing it.
Even so, I'm going to assume that anyone working today really needs the money. I'm going to pull myself together and go to Denny's for breakfast, where I will leave a $20 tip on my usual under-$10 order.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
*Those whose "weekends" are Sunday-Monday.
Good point. The infrastructure that brings us our fresh water and disposes of and treats our waste water is amazing when you think about all that goes into it. A lot of people need to be on call 24/7 to keep that water flowing. So thanks to those guys as well!
My daughter would get overtime but they didn’t call her in.
Yep I lived it for 12 years. In the first 10 I felt I was doing a service for My fellow citizens and took great pride in it.
Then reality struck.
I did learn a lot though.
Happy Thanksgiving All!
Off to DIL for “Her 1st turkey” (hope it’s not dry)
I know. If you look at cost to be open vs margin based on the day of the week. With the exception of Walmart possibly. Sundays and holidays have at least the same cost to open and a lower return. The disturbing part to me is the high percentage of church goers that are shopping or even worse just looking.
Why earn it? So Obama can take it? Better to have the time with your family IMO, especially now under this regime.
In the last thirty one years before I retired, I worked for a company that had to be operational 24/7. I worked all holidays, extra time, double shifts, overtime I could get. I even examined the vacation schedules of others so I could be available for work.
Why? Because I knew it would increase my paycheck, which it did.
In thirty eight years of my working life, I only turned down two days of overtime because I was too fatigued to work. I had gotten off a midnight shift, and was called in to work an evening shift without sleep that day.
I am now retired AND LOVING IT! It all paid off.
I worked thirty one years in a power plant. Only turned down overtime twice due to shift changes with no sleep.
I got all the OT I could get.
When I was in the Marines, I volunteered for every field assignment that came along. Between 1982 and 1984, I was on pretty much every field exercise held in the Mojave Desert (i.e. Gallant Eagle).
Now they don't pay you overtime in the military but what this did do was keep me in the field where I couldn't spend any money. When you are sitting around on base, you end up spending every nickel you have. There was one stretch where I had six or seven uncashed bi-monthly paychecks sitting around. So I came out of the military with some serious money in my pocket which is more than most can say who serve a four-year hitch.
During those four years, I only had one Christmas as home. All the other Thanksgiving and Christmases I was on duty and have very fond memories of some of those holidays. Just the little things, like the Christmas Eve me and some other Marines roasted a pig in the ground in the sands of a Camp Pendleton beach and I remember watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean as we sang Christmas carols out of tune, gorging on sweet pork and drinking beers on ice that some of the officers brought in for us.
So, are we to assume, then, that you are spending the day somewhere far out in the wilderness, completely cut off from all contact? But then who is maintaining the electrical grid you are using to power your computer to send your little comments?
Have you shut off your phone so no one has to be at work keeping those calls coming in?
Have you informed the local emergency responders that if you set yourself or your house afire today they don’t need to worry, just keep eating turkey?
And I’m sure you called the local police/sheriff’s department and told them not to worry about you getting robbed or murdered, because you don’t feel you should have people “ready to service you on a holiday”?
By the way you should also call the SecDef and have him send all the deployed military members home for the day, or did you already think of that?
From what I’ve heard on the radio and TV here, the only “large” stores that are closed on Thanksgiving in our area are Nordstroms and Costco; and, the quote from a Costco person that was used was, “Our employees work hard all year, we think they should spend Thanksgiving with their families.”
I hadn’t planned on shopping today (did a lot of food shopping yesterday, including for what I’m supposed to make/bring to dinner today, food for my elderly aunt, etc.), but I forgot to get a host/hostess gift for the family members serving dinner this evening (had my nephew with me and he was getting a little impatient). So, alas, I need to run to the store to get a bottle of wine, flowers, box of candy or something to take.
Thank you for sharing the memory of your Christmas Eve - - not traditional (at least with my family over the years), but sounds delightful!
And, thank you for your service.
Best,
SC
A rather ridiculous attitude to have, considering it s that advertising that pays for the staff to work at those stations so you can get your news, parade and football game...........
Happy Thanksgiving.
LOL.
We dont mind it a bit, as we are all thankful to God every day for what we have.
++++++++++
Wonder if we can lobby for a “Like” button on here for posts like yours?
My husband is at work today. Thanksgiving is usually pretty miserable for us because by the time he gets off he’s tired, stinky and cranky. Most of our family members are retired or government workers and they just can’t relate. Next year I think we’ll either eat late (8 PM or 9) so he can get a nap and shower or skip it altogether.
It just hit 37 here and we are dancing in the streets
Happy Thanksgiving
Why? What's rather ridiculous is that people at home choosing not to shop can't even turn their TV on without holiday retail sales intervening.
Classier ads, wishing a "happy holiday" and calmly giving the hours they're open would be fine. JMHO
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