This being Labor Day...this conversation from yesterday...

[mrmpa]

really pisses me off. Took my mom to dinner at Buca di Peppa's. I've been there mom never has. Dinner was very good and the waiter excellent. As I had a very good coupon the price was even better. Talking to the waiter, I told him that we came today (Sunday) as tomorrow was a holiday and the restaurant would be closed. He told me that the restaurant is open every day, Christmas and Thanksgiving included. He has a choice of taking one of those days off, he takes Thanksgiving as he is the cook at home for that day.

Give me one VALID reason this restaurant has to be open on Christmas. I'm not saying this because it is a religious holiday, but because it is a national holiday as is Labor Day, Veteran's Day, the 4th of July, Memorial Day. etc.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. While I agree with you, the reason is that this

particular franchise makes money that day hand over fist.

For the record this is why we need the kind of labor protections this worker is not having.

And yes it pisses me off. There is a reason why I do NOT go out on those days...

[sufrommich]

2. Because some people might want to go out to eat? nt

[GoCubsGo]

11. Exactly.

And, obviously, there are enough of them to warrant paying cooks, busboys, and waitstaff to keep the place open.

[Deep13]

3. Because the stress, annoyance and resentment it causes employees...

...doesn't cost the company anything.

[arcane1]

4. Reminds me of my bowling alley days

I worked there for years, and we were open 365 days a year. Indeed, Thanksgiving, New Years Eve, and Christmas were super-busy bustling days. We would all take turns working one holiday or another, but there were no days where nobody had to work. I didn't like it much, but from their perspective it made sense, providing a service on high-demand days.

[silverweb]

5. I can think of a few reasons.

Christmas, of course, is not celebrated by everyone in the U.S. Thanksgiving is actually more universal in this country, but even then, new immigrants may not celebrate it. Lots of people are alone, with no family to celebrate with.

Also, a lot of places are open on holidays out of necessity: Hospitals, emergency rooms, nursing homes, fire stations, police precincts, etc. This is why unions fought the battle for "comp time" and holiday pay.

If your waiter at Bucca di Beppo has one holiday off, and gets holiday pay or additional comp time off for the other, that's a fair arrangement.

FWIW, I work weekends and holidays all the time, mainly because my kids are grown, I live alone, and I am happy to cover for coworkers with young families, who look forward to their family holiday gatherings.

[Historic NY]

13. Chinese Restaurants never close at Christmas......people have to eat

somewhere. If they had no customers they would close.

[silverweb]

17. Absolutely right.

On any given holiday, there are people who are themselves working, or alone, or don't cook, or just don't celebrate that particular holiday. Restaurants of all sorts fill a niche on these days and do very well.

[Warpy]

6. Some restaurants choose to open and do good business on holidays

because there are people who do not cook but want to treat their families. Then there are people who simply don't want to be totally alone on holidays. There are people who are traveling away from home and then there were people like me, health care workers who had to work the night before and just couldn't get it together to cook a huge meal the day after a 12 hour night shift.

Open businesses supply services people want, or they'd close. Only office workers have the luxury of having holidays on the holidays, themselves. The rest of us have had to work some of the holidays every year for a very long time.

[Roselma]

7. That's how I worked for 17 years. I got one of the two

holidays off and got double time on the holiday that I worked. We were a 24/7 operation.

[hfojvt]

8. did you really get double time, or just a paid holiday?

[Roselma]

21. It was double time. 8 hours work - 16 hours pay.

[B Calm]

9. when I was a kid businesses closed down on holidays. The GREED now days

is sickening.

[sufrommich]

10. When you were a kid businesses closed down because

Christians had way too much say so in what was relevant and what wasn't.

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. I volunteered to work holidays back when I was in the restaurant business

Not only did it give co-workers a break to be with their families (I was far away from any relations at the time), but my GREED factor took over in that people are overly generous on holidays and those additional tips made a huge difference to me as a kid paying my way through college.

Loved every minute of it and would do it again today if I had the chance in order to give others a break.

:hi:

[Sherman A1]

12. Let me ask you this

on these holidays, do you stop to fill up, go to a grocery store, a drug store or another retail location? There are workers in those locations just as your waiter is in the restaurant you mentioned. Some businesses stay open to serve the public, some stay open for the business, some workers are forced to work those days, some are volunteers for those shifts. Not everything is black & white, it is usually a shade of gray.

[mrmpa]

16. I would post about those places being open also....

I just see this as an erosion of the meaning of holidays and the erosion of respect for our labor force.

[mulsh]

14. When I was in the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union I

worked every holiday I could get. The pay differential was great, double time for us cooks.

I have no idea if Buca di Peppa's is union but I've also had friends who worked at small, non union restaurants that had a differential for holiday pay. Lots of people like to go out for dinner on Christmas.

[mrmpa]

15. Not union I asked him eom

[Ruby the Liberal]

18. Back in my college days, I loved working holidays at Restaurants

People were more generous than usual, and for the most part, a real pleasure to wait on. Given that I didn't have family near my school, what else was I going to do?

Besides - I made a fortune on those days. Made a real difference to a college kid paying tuition out of tips. On that note, I am a consistent 20%+ tipper to this day on a normal day and extra on holidays.

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

In addition, with my family aging, it is easier on everyone to go out to eat on holidays than to try to accomodate them from one home to another (that isn't as handicap friendly as restaurants are).

[Omaha Steve]

20. The Omaha location closed ages ago

Now I know why.