Thanksgiving is labor day for many

[Omaha Steve]

I worked yesterday too. I got today through Sunday off. The day after Thanksgiving is a holiday too. I got Sunday (a regular work day for me) for working yesterday. Our plant runs 24 hours a day. We have been on minimum staff as required Since Monday. I have enough seniority to take it off. But my shift ended at 3:30 PM. Plenty of time to get to dinner at out daughters. I got dbl time & 1/2. My benefits are valued at about 1/3 of my bargained for pay. Many are not so fortunate. My mom worked at a hospital. She cleaned bed pans and surgical instruments. I remember many holidays she had to work. This story is for those like my mom.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=98308

By Marge Neal
News-Post Staff

Most of the nation's residents paused Thursday to give thanks for the many blessings in their lives.

For others, Thanksgiving Day was just another day at work.

Whether tending to sick patients at Frederick Memorial Hospital, selling coffee at the local convenience store or towing a disabled car, thousands of Fredericktonians were at work instead of feasting with loved ones.

At Lucky Liquors, owner Rick Sun doesn't know the meaning of the word "holiday."


Photo by Sam Yu
Working on Thanksgiving was just part of the job for the crew at the Dunkin’ Donuts on West Patrick Street in Frederick. Manager Gary Patel hands over a container of coffee to Laurie Watkins of Monrovia, who was taking the coffee to a Thanksgiving dinner. In the background are employees Miriam Mazariegos and Sani Kawsar.

"I work every day," he said while tending to the steady stream of customers in his shop.

Even Christmas Day?

"Every day," he said. "Every day is a work day -- when you own a business, a holiday is just another day."

FULL story at link.

[Oldtimeralso]

1. When I Hired On at a Railroad in 1972

I was told be ready for a job on 364 days a year except leap year, then it is 365 days a year. The trains run 24/7 and in some jobs today it takes over 30 years seniority to have weekends off. I am thankful that I am now retired!

[MadHound]

2. This has been a growing, and frankly disheartening trend throughout my life time

When I was a kid, most places shut down on Sundays and especially holidays. Sure, a few gas stations on the highway, perhaps a convenience store or grocery store somewhere, and of course safety services (though even the fire and police departments had on smaller crews).

Then the Sundays started disappearing, then the "non-important" holidays like Veteran's Day and President's Day. Now it seems that more and more businesses are staying open all the time.

Why, can't people take stock of the fact that a business is going to be closed and pick up what they need beforehand. Do you really need to go down to Kinko's Christmas day and do some copying?

I've always detested working holidays, and have always felt for those that have to.

[hfojvt]

3. I am noticing it more and more

even at my job I worked on Armistice day and it was the same last year. I drove home on the 4th of July this year and did not even think about it until I was entering Missouri that it was odd that so many places were open. It was kinda handy since you cannot buy enough gas on the 3rd to get you from Wisconsin to Kansas, at least not in my car. I also noticed when I rang bells on the day before Thanksgiving that the grocery store had a sign that said "we will be open regular hours on Thanksgiving". It seems that more and more, the notion of a holiday is vanishing.

I used to find it annoying in the 1980s when I had a holiday because there was nothing to do. I could not goto the library, I could not go shopping. So I was kinda stuck at home all day, and mostly bored (my family was 1,000 miles away). Of course, now I would have the internet to entertain me, and computers too with various video games.

It's one thing if a business owner decides to be open on a holiday, but it's another when employees have to work them. But when I had a business I had holidays, they just were not paid. I used to have a store in a downtown and people complained that the downtown was not open on Sundays (but the strip mall was). Yet when we were open on Sundays during December I got almost no business. So what would have been the point of being open on Sundays for the rest of the year?

[EFerrari]

4. I used to be one of those operators that spent every holiday weekend apologizing

for not being able to put your call through.

Thursday, a worker that helps us out here on the ranch helped me get the place together for company, he tended to the animals so I could cook, and while he was at it, he fixed a bad valve in one of the bathtubs.

Every day is a work day.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Because I am not from here, and have travelled a lot...

I can say that the U.S. has the hardest workers, with the longest hours, of any of the advanced nations of the world.

[Omaha Steve]

6. Kick