Can we all agree that it's shitty to make department store employees work on Thanksgiving...

[LostInAnomie]

... just so we have something to do when we're bored between meals?

Seriously, is our need for cheap crap so extreme that we can't allow some of the lowest paid workers in the country a chance to be home with their families?

[Lucian]

1. No shit.

I find it reprehensible that any business is open today.

[Swede]

2. Or these 24/7 grocery stores.

I pity the folks that have that late shift.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. I hope it was a bust sales-wise.

There's nothing stores have to offer that can't wait a day.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Well I work on Thanksgiving

I get paid very well for it, but I haven't had a Thanksgiving since 2000. But if folks really want a gathering, they should work together to schedule get togethers around everybody's work schedule, etc.

[tabasco]

5. A lot of people don't really give a shit about holidays. n/t

[bluerum]

6. Didn't use to be this way. When I was a kid everyone had the time off.

Then the corpo's started in. You either work, or go away. It's called indentured servitude. They will push that until outright slavery becomes a more acceptable option.

[bluestateguy]

7. Yes, it should not be mandatory

nt

[zappaman]

8. I don't have a problem with it

I worked my job today for a few hours and got paid overtime.
Still plenty of time to eat and if not, I make a turkey the day after.
what's the big deal?

[TorchTheWitch]

9. plenty of people would be thrilled to work the holiday

especially those that a) really need the money, and b) don't have anywhere to go anyway.

My family doesn't do traditional holiday get-togethers and hasn't for a couple decades. I love working holidays since I'd just be sitting home alone anyway like I'm doing right now.

[DesertFlower]

10. our grocery store is open but the

employees are paid triple time. one woman i know was working 6 hours. getting off at 2pm with enough time to cook for her family.

[virgogal]

25. If I were that woman I'd have the family cook for me,

[DesertFlower]

48. she's almost 70 and raising her 2 grandsons.

they're too young to cook but i don't know about her husband.

[knitter4democracy]

74. I was glad my store was open yesterday. I thanked everyone there I saw.

The gal at check-out said she was getting off in time for her family's celebration. Ours is today (got to go baste the turkey in a minute), and I'd realized yesterday I was out of some major stuff.

[Heddi]

11. I'm a nurse, so I will always work holidays...hospitals don't close, but I agree about store workers

I really don't mind working holidays because my husband and I aren't real traditionalists, and we're 3000 miles from our family. Even when we lived close, we weren't big on Day-long holidays because he's got a mom & stepdad, dad & stepmom, 2 sisters & their families. THEN there's my mom & her boyfriend, and my grandmother, and cousins and all that shit.

So in teh end, it always ended up being about whose feelings we wanted to hurt the least because in the 13 years we've been together, the respective families have never figured out that we are not time travelers and cannot go to 18 different houses, that are all 4 hours apart, in one day.

THAT BEING SAID---I hate that there is the "new" tradition for stores to be open for Early shopping on Thanksgiving. FUCK THAT> no one needs a doo-dad that fucking bad. When I was a teenager and worked in fast food, they'd make us be open on T'giving and Xmas day and all that....and we would have ONE CUSTOMER ALL DAY. Such a waste. A waste of my time, a waste of Co. $$, and a waste of a holiday.

[Terra Alta]

12. I work at Wal-mart, and worked all day today.

I've had one Thanksgiving off since I started working there in 2005. I've gotten used to it, but it would be nice to have a Thanksgiving with my family once in a while. Only time Wal-mart is closed is Christmas Day -- and I have a feeling that's going to change within the next few years. They used to close at 6 on Christmas Eve; last year it was 7, this year it's 9. Eventually they're going to be open all night Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well. The bottom line is all they care about.

[LostInAnomie]

13. I worked as a seasonal at Walmart a few years ago...

... they shut down the store at 9pm on xmas eve for all the floor employees. The guys in the back had to stay working though.

[Lucian]

14. I also work at Walmart and I called in today.

I don't let them own me on holidays.

[Terra Alta]

21. I would have called in

but that would mean I'd lose my holiday pay and I need all the money I can get now, especially with Christmas coming up.

[Lucian]

22. I don't care if I don't get my holiday pay.

I would've had to set up for blitz (oh wait, "The Event") and I didn't want to deal with that shit today.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I worked for KMart back in the 70s

ALL retail stores were closed on every holiday back then. Even 4th of July.

How times have changed.

[redirish28]

43. I do feel bad for you having to work at wal-mart. Unfortunately as my wife

has commented so many times we are going back to the 1800s in which holidays are really for the rich elite while the working class need to work.


I understand some places being open and working. I work at a hotel people need rooms. I honestly think ANYONE working on a holiday first of all it should be volunteers and second of all they should get time and a half if not double time regardless if they are full time or part time.

[Faygo Kid]

15. I was shocked at what was open today. Old Navy, too. I hate this shopping frenzy.

Maybe I'm just old in my 50s, but I never remember Thanksgiving Day itself as a shopping day, and I never heard the term Black Friday until a few years ago.

Ugly stuff. Lemmings. Count me out.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

16. There was once a time in this country when we observed

holidays and we knew stores would be closed and Yes, we enjoyed that!

[dkf]

18. How's about making these football players work on Thanksgiving.

And just for our entertainment!

[Obamanaut]

58. And the vendors, and ticket agents, and security, and cleanup crews. And

for televised games the commentators, cameramen, etc. And don't forget the cheerleaders and band members.

A lot of this seems to be grasping a straws for something to be outraged about.

Edited to add. Lest we forget - the President having to make a radio address, and the people involved with that - technicians, etc. Should not they all have the day off?

[Canuckistanian]

19. But they WANT to work

They're all workaholic orphans with no social or family life. If you prevent them from working, they'd just be miserable.

You wouldn't want THAT, would you?

(Warning: sarcasm overload)

[Codeine]

61. When I was younger I loved working holidays.

Wasn't til my late thirties I actually began to enjoy Thanksgiving.

[Patiod]

80. I would rather be paid to work than work for free for my mom

When I was young, I used to volunteer to work Thanksgiving as a waitress when I was in college, because otherwise I had to work all day as a dogsbody for my harried mom, and watch my uncles bellow for seconds before she had the chance to sit down for firsts.

Plus people tipped REALLY well on Thanksgiving.

I have a different attitude now as an adult, especially since I found a man who happily pitches in with the prep and cooking.

[dkf]

20. Oops.

[Obamanaut]

23. Policemen, firemen, hospital staff, military - all kinds of people work

on every holiday. And they all get paid.

There are even people working where travelers stop for gas. Rest area attendants work on holidays.

[ZombieHorde]

26. I have worked during the holidays in a group home for developmentally disabled people,

and I did not mind so much because I knew my job was important, but I would have been less happy if I had to work at a department store during the holidays.

[H2O Man]

27. While true,

I suspect that this is distinct from what the OP is about.

In the vast majority of the years when I was employed in human services, I worked on holidays. And most years, this included Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. There was a reason for my doing so.

That reason was very different from the reason the people mentioned in the OP are working today. While I appreciated why I workked those holidays, I absolutely agree with the OP.

[Heddi]

28. yeah, but I think police and fire and hospitals and military are a bit more vital than Taco Bell

I dunno, though. There have been years where I've worked the entire week of the holiday, haven't been able to go shopping (working from 7pm-7am kind of cuts into shopping time) and would have starved if not for the graham crackers reserved for patients, and a nice quick meal from the Taco Bell down the street on Christmas Eve.....

[LostInAnomie]

31. There's a big difference between making police, firemen...

... and other jobs that are necessary to keep society functioning work holidays, and making people work so we can buy cheap crap or have something to go do between meals.

[Obamanaut]

34. Of the people who think stores should be closed, how many went to a store today? nt

[Heddi]

37. I didn't. I am not going to a store tomorrow, either.

on Edit: even if every store in the greater seattle area is open on Thanksgiving, I plan ahead and get everything I need--beer, gas, milk, eggs at least the day before so that there is no need for me to go to a store, and therefore provide financial incentive to keep stores open on Thanksgiving. I never shop on Black Friday, and I do the same for Christmas.

I try (sometimes hard if I'm working the night before) to also not go to stores after 3 or 4pm on the days before THanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Again, I am not going to provide financial incentive to stores to stay open on Christmas Eve, New years Eve, etc.

[LostInAnomie]

40. I didn't. It's not worth one of the few days I get off a year to go buy crap...

... I can buy anytime of the year. I'll go on some other day.

[dflprincess]

49. I did not

and I refuse to shop on Memorial, Independence and, most especially, Labor Day. Other countries still have holidays, it wouldn't kill business in the U.S. to still observe them.

[Celtic Raven]

66. Not us

not going to any stores til Monday, maybe Tuesday. Have never gone to the Friday sales because I just don't need any crap bad enough to put up with the stampedes and long lines at checkout.
I have family who go & tell me horror stories.
Why do this every year?

:shrug:

[LiberalEsto]

42. So do some newspaper reporters

At larger papers Jewish reporters work on Christmas, Easter, etc. and the non-Jews work on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur & Passover to make things easier for one another. When I worked for a paper that published 365 days a year, I always had to work on New Years Day because that's when New Jersey elected officials get sworn in. Bad enough having a hangover, but having one and then listening to NJ pols give their inaugural speeches is a major migraine.

[xchrom]

24. I agree. Nt

[madmax]

29. Yes - damn isn't this suppose to be a 'family' holiday? nt

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

35. Yes, we have lost so much. PEACE BE WITH US ALL.

[recoveringrepublican]

30. Personally I loved working Holidays at a large drug retailer. Holiday pay to sit around and read.

But I have such a large extended family that my kids didn't really notice I wasn't there! I welcomed the extra $$. But of course it sucked the jobs I worked that didn't pay extra for holidays.

[Speck Tater]

32. Many years ago, back in the 1970's I worked at a computer store.

The boss said he was closing the store for Easter Sunday. We talked him into opening on Easter and letting us work that day. Computer nerds don't much care about traditional holidays. We had a banner day and we who volunteered to work that day got some mighty nice commissions for our trouble.

Thanksgiving is pretty much just another one of those bothersome days when I don't get any NetFlix deliveries.

[mrmpa]

57. How about those working late the day before a holiday

I had a call at 8:40 p.m. Thanksgiving eve. It was from a customer service employee calling on behalf of Lowes. She said the call would take about 5 minutes, they wanted to know about the installation of carpet I just had done. I told her very nicely that it was the day before a holiday, that I would not partake in the poll, and that she should be home with her family. She laughed a bit and then said "you're right."

[lame54]

33. I've worked many thanksgivings...

The union grocery store was opened on Thanksgiving if they could get enough employees to agree to work.
That was usually not a problem since they paid triple time to do so.
A great way for many to earn a few extra bucks.
Plus - The store closed early so many could get home in time for dinner.

[hlthe2b]

36. Yes... though I remember fondly the days when Tower Records

was open on Thanksgiving and even Christmas. The employees volunteered to be there (each working a shift that still allowed them to enjoy the holiday, but like the shoppers, get out when it got boring)--;) Damn, I miss that store (we have a "container store" there now--zzzzz)

But, otherwise, yes, I agree that these stores opening all day long on the holiday are exploiting their employees.

[MattBaggins]

38. That was my toast at tonights dinner

I am thankful for all the Chinese kids that make cheap crap for us to buy at 3am tomorrow and for the minimum wage workers that won't go to see their families because they have to be at the stores at midnight.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

39. Time to say NO to the rising tide of conformity.

[Ilsa]

41. My friend's daughter volunteers for holidays. She'll make $200 for 5 hours work. nt

[Trajan]

44. It's almost always voluntary ...

And those who are working are those who WANT to work ....

I kinda almost wish I was working ..... I could use the moolah ....

[Amerigo Vespucci]

45. Not if they need / want the money

I have friends in retail who say things like "It sucks to work on a holiday but I could use the money."

Depends on the person and the situation.

[Iris]

46. yes.

we can all agree. and if we can't, some of us don't really need to be here.

[we can do it]

47. When I Was Young and Poor I Hated Being Foced To Take An Unpaid Day Off

[pnorman]

50. I doubt that it's "mandatory"

Even in "good times", there were always enough employees who wanted/needed that time and a half OT, and/or those who for various reasons had little need for a "day off" then. And NOW?

Full disclosure: I spent almost all my adult life going to sea, and as a watch-stander, worked on a 7 days in a week schedule. So what do I know?

[Codeine]

60. Our crew was all folks who volunteered.

People like the extra hours before the holiday spending starts.

[superduperfarleft]

65. See my post #64.

"Volunteering" often meant, "volunteer or you're fired." And there was no such thing as time and a half.

[progressoid]

69. It was for my wife's previous job

Her only choice in the matter was which one holiday a year she got off. But that was at a casino - they never close.

[Lugnut]

51. Absolutely!

I refuse to shop on either Thanksgiving or Black Friday.

[Luminous Animal]

52. Yes.

[Quantess]

53. Some people actually want to work on Thanksgiving.

Not everyone is dying with to be with their family, you know.
Not everyone loves Thanksgiving.

[WolverineDG]

78. Not everyone is dying to be with their family

ever wonder why the movie theaters & whatever stores are open on Thanksgiving & other holidays are so crowded? :think:

dg

[Journeyman]

54. My Mother was a waitress -- she worked every Thanksgiving I can remember. . .

Made damn good money doing it, too.

We were fortunate and lived in a house immediately behind the restaurant where she worked. She'd work the lunch shift, then join us for T-Day dinner in the afternoon before she returned to work the dinner shift. She'd get one of the cooks to prepare a great meal for us all, then she and the cook and whoever else could join us would come on back. She was divorced and had 4 kids to raise, so she was thankful for the holiday hours. People tipped well at those times. She also worked every Christmas, the holiday Eve, and of course New Year's (Eve and Day).

It sucked, for a variety of reasons, but it was good money, something we desperately needed. So sometimes, the lowest rung workers are those most in need of the opportunity to make cash when the opportunity presents. They just have to make other allowances for family. And yes, it's terrible, but not nearly so much as poverty.

[mudplanet]

55. It;'d be fine if you get paid double time and comp time.

[Radical Activist]

56. Yes. Very.

[Codeine]

59. Our store was open -- the crew who worked volunteered

because it got them out of cooking and earned them some OT. We closed at 5 so they still had the evening with family.

[Scuba]

62. No. Remember, the hospital NEVER closes.

[evilgreenpastry]

63. food service

apparently, not many of y'all work in the hospitality industry. For BOH this is the second most difficult day of the year-mother's day being the worst. Worked 14 hours yesterday to prepare a "special menu" for those too lazy to cook for their own damn families. Then cut today so that i wont get overtime. Thanks Chef. You wouldn't believe the amount of food waste that goes into making a prix fixe menu that wont be offered ever again. Still always seems to have to have turkey-which is truly difficult to unload in specials over the next week. So, it rots in the walk in till moldy and Chef HAS to finally throw it out.

"thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams"

william burroughs

[superduperfarleft]

64. Just FYI, not everyone gets time and a half or holiday pay for working on Tgiving.

The bookstore I toiled at for a couple of years before I was lucky enough to get out of retail for good made the "management" work on holidays (as in, 18-20 year old kids who got paid a pittance as a "salary" so that they could work 60 hour weeks and not get paid overtime). The only day we had off was christmas, and I'm surprised they even gave us that.

And to answer the OP's question, yes, it's shitty. It wouldn't kill people to have to wait one more frickin day to stock up on crap they don't need and can't afford.

[lunatica]

67. A couple of decades ago I used to work on Thanksgiving

I worked as a waitress for a while. Lot's of people work on Thanksgiving. Supermarkets are open, restaurants are open and retail stores are open. Most of them close for Christmas and New Years.

[WinkyDink]

68. Nobody works 24 hours straight. But---easy for me to say, I admit.

[knitter4democracy]

73. Doctors do. Just sayin'.

My ex routinely pulled 24-32 hour-long shifts in residency and still does occasionally according to his work schedule that he has to give me now.

[Buddyblazon]

70. I wish none of us had to work on holidays.

But that's the way it is. In my industry, you have to take work when it comes. If that means you're working on Xmas, or Thanksgiving, or New Years Eve...then you just go work it.

I've grown accustomed to it over 15 years. Now I don't much give a rats ass. In the last year, I worked 18 hrs on my birthday, had a 14hr Xmas Eve gig, and worked from 10am until 3am on New Years Eve/New Years.

Now I could care less. I'm totally desensitized to it. Maybe thats a bad thing. But I don't even bat an eye anymore when I'm asked to work on a holiday. Doesn't even bum me out.

[xor]

71. It would suck being forced to work, but I never had any problems with doing it myself

I'm kind of a scrooge though and don't really like people :P No, umm, I'm not really big into holidays and the extra money is more appealing to me than the thought of the holiday-ish stuff..

Sucks for the people who have no choice though.

[Madam Mossfern]

72. To tell the truth

I "worked" all day Thanksgiving, cooking,cleaning,preparing, moving furniture around, dealing with 'personality conflicts'. Honestly, after taking the day before Thanksgiving as a vacation day so I could shop and clean and then cooking and baking for two days straight and then finishing cleaning up at 3PM this morning, (with a bad back) I would rather have been in my office and then after work sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal made by someone else in their home as a guest after 25 years of doing this.

Sorry, just being a bit crabby today.
I enjoy having the entire family gathered-it's great, but unfortunately I never have much of a chance of visiting with anyone.

[arikara]

76. Thats brutal...

doesn't anyone offer to help you out? Next year just tell them you have to go to the office and it has to be somebody else's turn. Then go off and have a day to yourself doing whatever you want.

[lynne]

75. I've no doubt that some are very thankful to have the work -

- after being unemployed for about 11 months, I totally understand anyone working on a holiday. You need to make hay when the sun is shining.

[WolverineDG]

77. I looked forward to working holidays

double time. :kaching:

dg

[cbdo2007]

79. No, just people doing what they have to do.

Everyone's lives and everyone's story is different. Just because theirs is different than yours doesn't mean it's "shitty".

I work for a small business and never really get a day off. That doesn't mean I have to work non-stop, but if I have to work for 3-4 hours on Thanksgiving or on Christmas or for 20 days straight, then that's just what I have to do. If I didn't like it I'd go back to my 9-5 desk job (NO THANKS!!).

[jmowreader]

81. This year it's different

The stores' need to sell cheap crap is so extreme, they had to open.

I refuse to go into a store that's open Thanksgiving, because Retail is a terrible thing to do for a living.

[jmowreader]

82. Before Christmas was Made in China, department store employees used to work on Thanksgiving

In the Old Days when Christmas was made in the US, or at least Japan, one of the finest department stores in the Northwest was The Crescent. They had, among other things, a sit-down restaurant in the store. The tradition was the store displayed absolutely nothing Christmasy until the day after Thanksgiving. To pull it off, every employee came to work Thanksgiving. They spent the day building the Christmas set, and were rewarded not only with a nice bonus of money but the finest Thanksgiving dinner the management could pull off--and they could pull off a very fine one indeed. (The Crescent had its own warehouse. It's in downtown Spokane and the "Crescent Warehouse" sign is on the National Register of Historic Places.)

While I'm reminiscing...the Crescent display window was probably the most imaginative in the Northwest. It took them weeks to build it, and they put up boards to keep people from seeing in. They were removed the morning after Thanksgiving at 6am. Some towns had parades to celebrate the start of the Christmas season. Spokane had the unveiling of the Crescent display window. People came from miles around to see it--we never did because my mom hates crowds.

These days the shit hits the store in September and they have to set it as it arrives because the only place to store the merchandise is on the salesfloor.

[pleah]

83. I'm thankful for the people that worked yesterday.

I actually found some clothes that fit me and didn't have to battle the thundering herd today. And, I didn't have to spend a fortune for them.