Poll of the Day > The only thing that should be open on holidays is emergency services and...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Gas stations, there is no reason for retail or the food industry to be open on holidays
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Define "holidays".

And then explain to me why I need to be fucked over because you believe a specific day is magical while I don't.
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If people dont want places to be open on the holidays then they shouldnt buy stuff on those days

Tons of people do though, so places are open. The end
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muscles topic
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Oh dear.
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@PO, You know damn well what holidays are, I'm only talking about real ones like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc. Not hallmark ones like valentine's day or bs little ones

And because you aren't getting screwed, only the people that have to work instead of getting to spend it with family
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lol
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Muscles posted...

Thanksgiving

Thanks to Black Friday, that wont happen...

Muscles posted...

Christmas

People like to use any Christmas money they get. Or exchange stuff...

Muscles posted...

Halloween

People might need to still get stuff. And its not that big a deal. People still go to regular jobs. Kids still go to school. Its a pretty normal day. Only the evening is really different.

But in the end, you have to realize that not everybody celebrates this Holidays. Think of Christmas. Other religions have other holidays around that time. Why should store close for one and not the other. But if we closed for all of them, stores could end up closed for multiple days.

Because of a Black Friday starting earlier every year, stores will open Thanksgiving evening. And people seem to be ok with it.

And then you have people who need something important. Or just dont celebrate certain holidays, so doesnt get something thinking they can get it another day, and blah blah blah... Basically, you cant force people to live by your schedule. And most people still work on certain holidays. Its sucks, but thats life. If you own a business, close if you like. But not everybody should close because youre ok with it...
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yeah

no.
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Muscles posted...

@PO, You know damn well what holidays are, I'm only talking about real ones like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc. Not hallmark ones like valentine's day or bs little ones

And because you aren't getting screwed, only the people that have to work instead of getting to spend it with family

Ah, so people shouldn't celebrate holidays by going out to eat, or to a play or concert, or nightclub, or travel to be with family, or.....

I've worked on holidays most of my life, in universities, hospitals, and in shows. Eh? In research, ongoing experiments have to be observed and logged regardless of day.

You either work or don't on holidays. Surprise! Very few of us can justify only working banker's hours 9-5 M-F.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Define "holidays".

And then explain to me why I need to be fucked over because you believe a specific day is magical while I don't.

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dancer62 posted...

Ah, so people shouldn't celebrate holidays by going out to eat,

Yeah, eat with your families like you are preventing the employees of said place from doing
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Damn. We havent had a Muscles topic of this quality in a while

Muscles posted...

dancer62 posted...

Ah, so people shouldn't celebrate holidays by going out to eat,

Yeah, eat with your families like you are preventing the employees of said place from doing

They could ask for the day off. And that's if they even celebrate the holiday. Why should they lose money for have something to close for something they don't celebrate?
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I just think its bs that millions of people get screwed every holiday because of assholes that can't by something like a day or 2 earlier
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muscles is perpetually 14
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Working for wal-mart I never really cared about holidays too much, though personally i refuse to shop places on major holidays myself, because I don't want these companies to get my business and prove to them they should be open.

The only holiday I would have hated to work would have been Christmas. Luckily that was the only day wal-mart closed, so that was cool.

Muscles posted...

dancer62 posted...

Ah, so people shouldn't celebrate holidays by going out to eat,

Yeah, eat with your families like you are preventing the employees of said place from doing

A lot of people don't have any family near enough to eat with.
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So it's ok to ruin someone else's holiday because you don't have family to celebrate with?
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Muscles posted...

I just think its bs that millions of people get screwed every holiday because of assholes that can't by something like a day or 2 earlier

But why should they have to buy something earlier because you need everywhere to be closed? And what about those working? Why should they have to suffer because they can't get lunch because everywhere's close? Why should a business have to lose money on what's a normal day to them because it's a holiday they don't acknowledge? And probably the most confusing question is why is Halloween one of the holidays you think things should be closed on?
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Muscles posted...

So it's ok to ruin someone else's holiday because you don't have family to celebrate with?

If they don't want to work, they ask for the day off. It's that simple.
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Halloween isnt even a stat in any country. Not even reduced hours anywhere.
Also why should a jewish person have to close their restaurant on Christmas?

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Muscles posted...

So it's ok to ruin someone else's holiday because you don't have family to celebrate with?

So, it's ok to force people to lose income because they don't have any issues working certain days because you want to force your opinion of what's a "special" day down their throats?
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You would just have the special day be their day off(or one of their days off) that week so their pay wouldn't change.

Working in retail I can say in my experience, well over 75% of employees would love to have major holidays(easter, christmas, 4th of july, thanksgiving) off if they don't already get them. You might not care, and want the businesses open in case you need them. That's okay. Most retail employees would love to have them off, the few employees who would want them open would be just that: a heavy minority.

Under any circumstance I don't consider holidays like halloween, columbus day, and some others to be holidays worth granting this to. Only the biggest ones, celebrated by the majority of people who live in the USA: Christmas, 4th of July, easter, thanksgiving, labor day

argonautweakend posted...

You would just have the special day be their day off(or one of their days off) that week so their pay wouldn't change.

Working in retail I can say in my experience, well over 75% of employees would love to have major holidays(easter, christmas, 4th of july, thanksgiving) off if they don't already get them. You might not care, and want the businesses open in case you need them. That's okay. Most retail employees would love to have them off, the few employees who would want them open would be just that: a heavy minority.

Under any circumstance I don't consider holidays like halloween, columbus day, and some others to be holidays worth granting this to. Only the biggest ones, celebrated by the majority of people who live in the USA: Christmas, 4th of July, easter, thanksgiving, labor day

I think it's might not big such a small number that don't mind working. Some really like the holiday pay. And depending on your job, some pay you holiday pay, plus overtime, and stuff like that. But it would be easy to try to see if people want to work first and if you have enough that want to work. Then schedule others if you don't have enough...
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Muscles posted...

Gas stations, there is no reason for retail or the food industry to be open on holidays

Save for folk wanting to buy things and/or wanting more shifts sure.

Muscles posted...

Halloween

Halloween isn't a holiday.

Muscles posted...

Yeah, eat with your families like you are preventing the employees of said place from doing

.... actually most folk get a choice to work these days.

Muscles posted...

So it's ok to ruin someone else's holiday because you don't have family to celebrate with?

What part of some folk don't give a shit do you not understand?
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argonautweakend posted...

You would just have the special day be their day off(or one of their days off) that week so their pay wouldn't change.

Unless everyone is on salary, because the business is closed on a day of the week it normally wouldn't be, some people's pay would necessarily change. The business owner would need to pay everyone for not working that day for your assertion to be true.
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Blaqthourne posted...

argonautweakend posted...

You would just have the special day be their day off(or one of their days off) that week so their pay wouldn't change.

Unless everyone is on salary, because the business is closed on a day of the week it normally wouldn't be, some people's pay would necessarily change. The business owner would need to pay everyone for not working that day for your assertion to be true.

They could do that. A lot of jobs do holiday pay. Like my job gives us 8 hours holiday pay on the days we have off for holiday. Like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. That's for wage job, too. It also works with salary. And better because of how salary works...
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LinkPizza posted...

Some really like the holiday pay. And depending on your job, some pay you holiday pay, plus overtime, and stuff like that.

I have an uncle who purposely worked every holiday since he got paid triple time, as well as any overtime he could get at double time. He has something like 8 kids, paid for all their colleges, and retired in his early 50s because of that. He was a plumber at a small company.
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I love working seasonal work when it comes to pay. I give no fucks about Christmas so I do not care.
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Blaqthourne posted...

LinkPizza posted...

Some really like the holiday pay. And depending on your job, some pay you holiday pay, plus overtime, and stuff like that.

I have an uncle who purposely worked every holiday since he got paid triple time, as well as any overtime he could get at double time. He has something like 8 kids, paid for all their colleges, and retired in his early 50s because of that. He was a plumber at a small company.

Yeah. I know a few people like that back home. The money is really good sometimes. And since not many people want to work it, you can usually get more time and stay a little longer to make even more...
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Muscles posted...

@PO, You know damn well what holidays are

No I don't. Because different people define them differently.

Plus we get into questions like whether or not "Federal Holidays" should only apply to government, extend to business in general, or totally apply to general retail and food service (or should exist at all). And whether or not purely religious holidays should count in a country without an official religion and where millions of people don't worship the "majority" faith.



Muscles posted...

And because you aren't getting screwed, only the people that have to work instead of getting to spend it with family

First, let's be honest - most people don't spend holidays with family period. There's just about two holidays all year where that's even a thing, and even on those plenty of people avoid the fuck out of family, or can't really spend time with extended family due to logistics, or conversely, who don't really care about conforming family interaction to officially appointed days.

Second, many business tend to offer employees a choice of whether or not to work on major holidays, and often offer incentives to those who do. The idea of having Thanksgiving dinner with my family might be nice, but the idea of being paid time-and-a-half to work that day may sound even better. Overtime, extra days off another time, or other perks can easily offset not being able to have the day off. Yes, this is mainly the prerogative of the business itself, and plenty of businesses can just say "Fuck you you're working" and not offer compensation, but that would make it more of an issue to push businesses to offer alternative motivation rather than making it mandatory that businesses close entirely.

Finally, I AM getting screwed. Not majorly, and not in any way that can't be somewhat conveniently dealt with, but you're still telling me that I can't use any non-emergency service on a day of your choice, even if I ascribe no value to that day whatsoever. If I'm Hindu or Muslim and I want to go to the library or shop, but can't because "It's Christmas", then I'm still being inconvenienced. By making holiday vacation mandatory for any non-emergency business, you're basically dismissing all of the needs of anyone who might use them at the expense of people who want the day off for the holiday (many of whom won't be spending the holiday in any meaningful or holiday-related way anyway).

Which is not to say that businesses shouldn't be able to close for holidays if they choose to, or that people who don't celebrate are always entitled to service so fuck you for denying them, but it's absolutely a factor to consider, and businesses that want to stay open to cater to that demographic should be entirely able to do so.
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Muscles posted...

I'm only talking about real ones like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc.

I can honestly say that through the entire course of my life, I've never met a single person who ever considered Halloween a "real" holiday. At least not in the sense that ANY business closes over it. Schools don't even close for Halloween. As for families spending time together, that's really not a thing. If anything, fewer and fewer people have really given much of a shit over the last couple decades - I could easily see it slowly dying off or becoming even more insignificant over the next century or so.

Thanksgiving's a thing, but for a lot of people it's almost more of an obligation than something to look forward to, and the days of large extended families getting together are kind of a thing of the past. Very few people celebrate the day for its actual intended meaning, and it's not as if people who are dead-set on having a sort of family reunion day can't do so on their own within their own scheduling rather than expecting the rest of the world to facilitate it for them (and doing so on your own time, if it's that important to you, also means that the impact of people taking time off to do it would be dispersed). And the fact that tons of people prefer to go out to a restaurant or similar for Thanksgiving pretty much necessitates a large group of the working base not getting the day off (and the fact that retail is now pushing "Black Friday" back to "Black Thursday Night", plenty of people in retail are going to be expected to work as well).

As for Christmas, that can get really messy. Just from the religious perspective, why should the 100 million or so people in the US who don't consider themselves Christian be denied services to cater to the 200 million or so who do (especially when many of them are non-observant at best)? Especially since it's not like people of other faiths have an expectation that holidays like Hanukkah/Yom Kippur or Ramadan will be treated the same way. And from a purely secular perspective, who the fuck cares about a joke farce of a holiday? It's basically like a reverse birthday party, and plenty of people see it as more of an annoying obligation or burden to endure rather than something to look forward to. The only reason most people care about it as a major "family" day is because they've been programmed to think that way by years and years of advertising, which mostly just wants them to spend a lot of money on gifts to keep the economy primed. Plenty of people don't celebrate Christmas. It's likely more and more won't in the future, at least not in any meaningful sense.

(cont)
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(cont)

And who defines "real holiday"? You dismiss Valentine's Day, but I guarantee you there are people out there who see it as being more meaningful to them in their lives than Thanksgiving (and certainly more than Halloween). Easter? Again, it's religious, but it's also taken on secular overtones (and kind of dances around Passover and "Generic Spring Holiday"), and there's probably some people who would view it as more important while others dismiss it out of hand.

Then you've got days like Martin Luther King Day and Memorial Day. It's easy to say "Well, who gives a fuck about those?", or to point out that they're relatively meaningless (I can assure you I've never "celebrated" either in any real way at any point in my life, nor do I know anyone who has), but I guarantee you there are people who would be extremely pissed if you told them they weren't real holidays or that they "don't count".

What about Columbus Day? There are plenty of people in this country who want it erased from the calendar entirely, and others who would dismiss it as meaningless, but in heavily Italian-American regions (especially in the NYC area), it borders on being one of the more important holidays of the year. Parades, all-day festivals, family dinner - to that demographic, the day is one of the most significant days of the calendar, so should they be exempt from expectations?

St. Patrick's Day? Personally I consider it a joke holiday mostly used as an excuse for assholes to get drunk (and I'm of actual 1/2 Irish descent), but some Irish-Americans absolutely treat it as a day to have family get-togethers and reflect on the religious/cultural elements of the day (corned beef and cabbage being a popular traditional meal for the day). So do you include or exclude them?

Give me a room full of people and ask all of them to write down the three most important days of the year in their lives (or even the three most important holidays specifically), and I guarantee you you'll get a lot of different answers. Yes, "Christmas" will probably show up on a lot of lists, but I guarantee there'll be a lot of lists it won't show up on at all (it wouldn't be on mine, for instance). And after that you'll see a LOT of variation.

I know people who feel like Halloween is the most important holiday of the year, and I know others who couldn't give a single shit about it. I know people who view July 4th as super-important, others who barely acknowledge it. I know people who do big family dinners for Thanksgiving, and others who haven't had an extended family dinner in 25 years. I know people who don't celebrate Christmas or birthdays. I know people who treat April Fools Day or Talk Like a Pirate Day more seriously than I do any actual holiday.

So again, who decides which days are magically sacrosanct and which don't matter in your scale of forcing businesses to shut? What objective measure are you going to use to decide which days are significant enough holidays and which don't?

Because I guarantee you no matter what list you come up with, a fuckton of people are going to disagree with you.
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Maybe give muscles a break today PO
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Blaqthourne posted...

I have an uncle who purposely worked every holiday since he got paid triple time, as well as any overtime he could get at double time. He has something like 8 kids, paid for all their colleges, and retired in his early 50s because of that. He was a plumber at a small company.

It's even better if you're a single male - you can work the extra time with no real expectations and amass a nice chunk of change in savings (or splurge on yourself).

Working overtime on holidays I didn't give a shit about (ie, all of them) is how I basically paid for a trip to the Bahamas as a poor college student working in retail.
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