One thing to always keep in mind is with a lot of jobs we consider “lousy” it’s still the best option available for the person in that job. Not that we shouldn’t want job conditions to improve and job prospects to improve (so those “lousy” conditions become less lousy) but simply outlawing the job (e.g., not allowing a job to be done on a holiday) can make things worse for the very people we think we’re helping.
In the 1960s through the mid-1980s, most stores were closed on Sundays in South Carolina, due to the Blue Laws. There is a sizable Jewish population in Charleston, and they got an exception - to close on Saturday and open on Sunday. There were other exceptions - drug stores, for instance. Now everything is open all seven days of the week, and many stores are open on holidays, but with reduced hours. Some stores close for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it's the owner's choice, which is fine with me.
You make a great point about the Crachits needing some businesses open on Christmas Day, and one that I've always missed. Today, there are some who need some businesses open on holidays, and even on Sundays, and those who whine about "getting away from God" because stores are open on days they think that they shouldn't be, should look to their own hearts first. They are like the Pharisees whining about Jesus and his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath to feed themselves, or worse - whining about Jesus healing the sick on the Sabbath.
Better thing to do would be to lobby for a law that provides employees with a certain number of floating paid holidays they can use to adapt to their preferences or require a paid floating holiday be provided to those that work on established holidays.
So if you're Jewish, you can opt to work Christmas day and get a floating holiday you can use to take Rosh Hashanah off. Or Diwali if you're Hindu. Or Friday if you're atheist.
Ah yes, the working holidays. For years, Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities were scheduled around my dad, who worked shifts at the city's water & light department (and actually DID get paid at least time and a half for holidays). Sometimes Dad worked a 7-3, which meant Thanksgiving dinner was around 4; sometimes he worked a 3-11, which meants dinner was at about noon; and sometimes he worked 11-7 (overnight) and dinner was whenever he'd gotten enough sleep. Christmas Eve (our "presents night") was the same—sometimes presents were opened in the early afternoon and sometimes not until after 11:30 at night when he got home (which was fun when I had two young kids under 10 who were thrilled to be able to stay up so late). Come Christmas Day, when we'd have dinner at my parents', it was whenever my mom wanted it because at that point my dad didn't care if he was hanging out with the family anymore, ha ha!
And back when I was in my late teens, I worked at a convenience store and hoo-boy, were people glad we were open our usual hours ( 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) every single day, even holidays. Back then, needing milk, pop, baby food, or cigarettes were equal emergencies.
This very good piece brought up two memories- one, my husband, who worked many years in restaurants and bars when he was in his 20s and 30s, told me that Thanksgiving was a great day to make money at the bar because by early evening the place was filled with people eager to escape their families and they tended to be very generous to the people working their escape place. And, I remember, in school, learning that the area I grew up in had lots of blue laws in the 1960s and 1970s, including mandating that all businesses be closed on Sundays. Well, the movie theaters quickly figured out that by opening on Sundays and then paying the fine, they still came out ahead.
It's a good point about not denying work to those who want to work those days, though I would not opposed mandated time-and-a-half or overtime wages for people who do, and clear rules about it all. I worked a place that didn't give you much of an opportunity to refuse to work holidays (which sucked) that, while they would offer equivalent paid time off when you worked holidays, they would try to dictate when you took that paid time off (when it was convenient for them, natch) and every new full-time employee was pulled aside by another full-timer at some point to have it stressed to them, "That's YOUR time. Don't let them bully you." When I left, they had to pay me for eight weeks' of salary because they'd forced me to work so many holidays and weekends and I wasn't going to take off a day mid-week just because they wanted me to. I think the payout effed my department's budget for that year. Wah wah.
What often happens in my town as it's heavily Catholic is many businesses do close for Christian-associated bank holidays, but a number of places do remain open except on Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving, presumably to allow for people to "spend time with their families." A number of places simply close early instead of closing altogether, which is an OK compromise I imagine.
There is a wide custom of Chinese restaurants being open on such days though ensuring that everyone has a chance for a takeout meal.
Now this article reminds me of a wee controversy that happened recently in New York. Chick-Fil-A, which famously closes on Sundays, won a concession contract to have restaurants in the New York Thruway service plazas. The point of the service plazas is to be available to travelers constantly, if not 24 hours a day, they must at least be open seven days a week. As you can imagine, that is a conflict. I believe this was solved by making sure the bigot chicken place was paired with a secularly-aligned concessioner so there's always some place open.
Gotta say that I was most grateful that my favorite grocery was open on Thanksgiving so that we were able to replace the deboned turkey breast I neglected to freeze and kept in the fridge too long. The store closes at 2 to allow their staff to get home for family. Whereas the Safeway is open 24/7. No rest for the weary there.
Wow. It's almost like some people are unaware of the "Jewish Christmas Day" tradition in the United States - lunch at a Chinese restaurant and a movie. My tradition used to be Xmas Day at Powell's spending my gift card (which was always jammed with Xmas Orphans and heathens merrily buying books) until someone got the stupid idea that Powell's employees needed the day off - which even as a paid holiday was still cheaper than paying everyone time and a half, I guess.
I met up with a friend last night who was also there, by coincidence, with another friend both of whom are Jewish. We do not personally celebrate Christmas so I suggested maybe we can all do Christmas Eve or day and I can invite my other Jewish friends and family. My thoughts turned to Chinese food as well.
Yes to all that, but many people working what really are non-essential jobs (like Whole Foods) on Christmas or Thanksgiving are *not* doing so voluntarily, even if they are getting premium pay. They are doing it because they will be fired if they do not.
One thing to always keep in mind is with a lot of jobs we consider “lousy” it’s still the best option available for the person in that job. Not that we shouldn’t want job conditions to improve and job prospects to improve (so those “lousy” conditions become less lousy) but simply outlawing the job (e.g., not allowing a job to be done on a holiday) can make things worse for the very people we think we’re helping.
In the 1960s through the mid-1980s, most stores were closed on Sundays in South Carolina, due to the Blue Laws. There is a sizable Jewish population in Charleston, and they got an exception - to close on Saturday and open on Sunday. There were other exceptions - drug stores, for instance. Now everything is open all seven days of the week, and many stores are open on holidays, but with reduced hours. Some stores close for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it's the owner's choice, which is fine with me.
You make a great point about the Crachits needing some businesses open on Christmas Day, and one that I've always missed. Today, there are some who need some businesses open on holidays, and even on Sundays, and those who whine about "getting away from God" because stores are open on days they think that they shouldn't be, should look to their own hearts first. They are like the Pharisees whining about Jesus and his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath to feed themselves, or worse - whining about Jesus healing the sick on the Sabbath.
Better thing to do would be to lobby for a law that provides employees with a certain number of floating paid holidays they can use to adapt to their preferences or require a paid floating holiday be provided to those that work on established holidays.
So if you're Jewish, you can opt to work Christmas day and get a floating holiday you can use to take Rosh Hashanah off. Or Diwali if you're Hindu. Or Friday if you're atheist.
I always preferred extra cash to a floating holiday
Ah yes, the working holidays. For years, Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities were scheduled around my dad, who worked shifts at the city's water & light department (and actually DID get paid at least time and a half for holidays). Sometimes Dad worked a 7-3, which meant Thanksgiving dinner was around 4; sometimes he worked a 3-11, which meants dinner was at about noon; and sometimes he worked 11-7 (overnight) and dinner was whenever he'd gotten enough sleep. Christmas Eve (our "presents night") was the same—sometimes presents were opened in the early afternoon and sometimes not until after 11:30 at night when he got home (which was fun when I had two young kids under 10 who were thrilled to be able to stay up so late). Come Christmas Day, when we'd have dinner at my parents', it was whenever my mom wanted it because at that point my dad didn't care if he was hanging out with the family anymore, ha ha!
And back when I was in my late teens, I worked at a convenience store and hoo-boy, were people glad we were open our usual hours ( 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) every single day, even holidays. Back then, needing milk, pop, baby food, or cigarettes were equal emergencies.
This very good piece brought up two memories- one, my husband, who worked many years in restaurants and bars when he was in his 20s and 30s, told me that Thanksgiving was a great day to make money at the bar because by early evening the place was filled with people eager to escape their families and they tended to be very generous to the people working their escape place. And, I remember, in school, learning that the area I grew up in had lots of blue laws in the 1960s and 1970s, including mandating that all businesses be closed on Sundays. Well, the movie theaters quickly figured out that by opening on Sundays and then paying the fine, they still came out ahead.
It's a good point about not denying work to those who want to work those days, though I would not opposed mandated time-and-a-half or overtime wages for people who do, and clear rules about it all. I worked a place that didn't give you much of an opportunity to refuse to work holidays (which sucked) that, while they would offer equivalent paid time off when you worked holidays, they would try to dictate when you took that paid time off (when it was convenient for them, natch) and every new full-time employee was pulled aside by another full-timer at some point to have it stressed to them, "That's YOUR time. Don't let them bully you." When I left, they had to pay me for eight weeks' of salary because they'd forced me to work so many holidays and weekends and I wasn't going to take off a day mid-week just because they wanted me to. I think the payout effed my department's budget for that year. Wah wah.
That is a very good set of points you make.
What often happens in my town as it's heavily Catholic is many businesses do close for Christian-associated bank holidays, but a number of places do remain open except on Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving, presumably to allow for people to "spend time with their families." A number of places simply close early instead of closing altogether, which is an OK compromise I imagine.
There is a wide custom of Chinese restaurants being open on such days though ensuring that everyone has a chance for a takeout meal.
Now this article reminds me of a wee controversy that happened recently in New York. Chick-Fil-A, which famously closes on Sundays, won a concession contract to have restaurants in the New York Thruway service plazas. The point of the service plazas is to be available to travelers constantly, if not 24 hours a day, they must at least be open seven days a week. As you can imagine, that is a conflict. I believe this was solved by making sure the bigot chicken place was paired with a secularly-aligned concessioner so there's always some place open.
Gotta say that I was most grateful that my favorite grocery was open on Thanksgiving so that we were able to replace the deboned turkey breast I neglected to freeze and kept in the fridge too long. The store closes at 2 to allow their staff to get home for family. Whereas the Safeway is open 24/7. No rest for the weary there.
Wow. It's almost like some people are unaware of the "Jewish Christmas Day" tradition in the United States - lunch at a Chinese restaurant and a movie. My tradition used to be Xmas Day at Powell's spending my gift card (which was always jammed with Xmas Orphans and heathens merrily buying books) until someone got the stupid idea that Powell's employees needed the day off - which even as a paid holiday was still cheaper than paying everyone time and a half, I guess.
Most Chinese restaurants (the indy ones anyway) still open on Christmas. Christmastime for the Jews. And thank goodness! 👏🏻
I met up with a friend last night who was also there, by coincidence, with another friend both of whom are Jewish. We do not personally celebrate Christmas so I suggested maybe we can all do Christmas Eve or day and I can invite my other Jewish friends and family. My thoughts turned to Chinese food as well.
A good friend of mine has Christmas for Jews and orphans at his house where he cooks Indian food.
Yes to all that, but many people working what really are non-essential jobs (like Whole Foods) on Christmas or Thanksgiving are *not* doing so voluntarily, even if they are getting premium pay. They are doing it because they will be fired if they do not.