The Jesus I once believed in wasn’t big on keeping families from getting together once or twice a year to break bread, Mister.
Personally, I don’t care if people pray to a Bible, a Tora, A Koran, a Prayer Wheel, a personal deity, or the Oxford-English Dictionary, Unabridged. But sitting at a table, passing food, talking about whats going on in each others lives
and the changes that have happened over the year? It promotes a quality in our lives that is Worth something.
Our forefathers fought for it, our parents fought for it, and growing up in it or living within it as human beings, we should have gleaned its value.
Not everything in this life is worth fighting for… but this is family. And this IS.
Hey, I love Thanksgiving so much I have it an extra time for those that can’t make the ordinary one. I’ve even tossed a random one in in the summer. The calendar is just a bunch of suggestions as far as I’m concerned. What I don’t understand is the new “retail worker as special class needing protection” mindset.
By “new” you mean “The way it’s been for ages until a few years ago”? :dubious:
I mean, we’re talking about the change to working on Thanksgiving for retail workers here, not railing against a hundred years of Thanksgiving scheduling oppression.
My husband and I try to estimate how soon after we leave our house before his mother calls to tell us to pick something up at the store. From milk to crackers to sugar to cranberry sauce, we have never made it without a detour. I wish the stores would close so she’d either have to call us before we leave and we can bring it if we have it, or else get her inventory together.
A lot of people seem to be projecting their own beliefs on others. “I think Thanksgiving is super-duper important and everybody should be spending it with their families, therefore anybody who feels otherwise is an asshole”. Some of those working Thanksgiving doubtless would rather be home, some are probably grateful to pick up a shift from someone who doesn’t want to work it. Not everybody has a Norman Rockwell family to spend time with on holidays, some might just as soon work. As if the War On Christmas wasn’t enough of an exercise in self-pity, now we’ve got the War On Thanksgiving.
I don’t think anyone is up in arms except the OP doing his best to frame it as you are an ass for shopping or you are costing these people their jobs if you don’t. Like it’s all black or white.
A lot of people think these sales have kept getting earlier and earlier and are intruding on the Holiday and would rather not take part in them like this.
Others would still rather go get a deal.
Really, it’s either giving the stores positive or negative feedback. It’s voting with your dollars.
That’s wonderful. It’s a view of Christianity I’d expect from South Park.
The J man already paid the tab so if you see an old lady with a purse hanging loose you better steal it or it’s a big FU to him.
Anyone up for some adultery? I’m sure that’s exactly what Jesus wants.
We’d need a poll of Thanksgiving retail workers for the “but maybe they want to be there” argument to carry any weight. At least, I don’t think “10% of workers want to be there” (to make up a number) will change anyone’s opinion about the 90% who’d rather have the day off. Show that it’s reversed and maybe you have something.
Also, you don’t have to have a “Norman Rockwell” family holiday to want the day off. Even when I’ve had nothing planned for a holiday, having the day off was often still nice.
I claim no such thing. Note how I say I am NOT shopping? Or am I doing that as part of my plan to get them laid off, because that’s what kind of a jerk I must be?
I ask the original question because many people, have made the claim, which is a clear example of black-and-white thinking: all Thanksgiving shoppers are assholes. And I find it perplexing that anyone holds that view, so was curious as to the rationale behind it and also about how prevalent the view is. Whether people are actually restraining themselves from doing something they would like to do because it is harmful to others, or are foregoing an unpleasant activity they wouldn’t have done anyway and trumpeting about it like they are making a sacrifice.
Nope, they aren’t assholes. They’re just people doing whatever they need to do on that day.
If people are going to get high and mighty about the sanctity of the holiday, then let’s shut everything down that isn’t a public service. That includes (among other things):
Movie theaters
Gas stations
Convenience stores
Airlines
Train lines
Otherwise, what’s the difference between being an asshole because you go to Target on Thanksgiving vs. flying or taking the train on Thanksgiving?
(And yes, I worked for the airlines for many years and worked pretty much all the major holidays for the first 10 years or so).
I used to work in a casino, my father was the manager of a small country pub.
Most public holidays, (including Christmas, New Year, Easter) we would both be working.
Sometimes I would make it home for some sort of meal / celebration, sometimes not.
What I LIKED about working the public holidays was that I got time and a half (extra pay!!) PLUS a day in lieu to do with as I wanted. The extra pay over the Christmas / New Year period could be quite substantial as there was normally OT going begging as well,
PLUS, I would normally get a good number of lieu days to use up later - at my convenience, they could be used to study for an exam, meet the girlfriend, or do any number of “more useful” things than a rushed family lunch.
So if people wanna shop on the special day, have at it! It’s not neccessarily a punishment for all the workers (although yes, some will hate it)
I’ve worked Master Control for a TV station. Doing it on a holiday is just like doing it any other day.
I’ve also worked retail. Black Friday wasn’t anything like every other day of the year and this was even before the current sales trends.
That’s why TV stations and sewage treatment plant staff and theater ticket takers and gas station attendants don’t really compare in people’s minds when they get upset about retail staff having to work the holiday. It’s not just “work a holiday” it’s an exceptionally shitty working day now taking the place of the holiday.
It’s been said before in this thread, but I guess it needs to be repeated:
Stores opening on Thanksgiving and encouraging holiday shopping on that day is, if I understand correctly, a recent phenomenon, different from the way things used to be, and that’s a big part of why some people are bothered by it.
Because you are preventing your employees from enjoying time at home with their friends and family, a national tradition, an important part of our culture that maybe shouldn’t be trashed because you want to make more money to fund three vacations in Bimini this year. Unless you employ only orphans. Do you employ only orphans?
This is one aspect of liberalism - if that’s the best phrase to use here - that really bugs me & that I completely disagree with. Guys, when a person works in a retail job (which I’ve done), then that individual agrees to work during the holidays. Yeah, it sucks & most folks probably don’t want to work on Thanksgiving, but just like any other lousy situation, they suck it up & go to work anyway. Seriously, this isn’t a violation of human rights we’re talking about, here.
It’s not. Nobody I can see in this thread has talked about liberal-anything. I don’t know how to label the pro/anti side of the discussion, but neither do you. Let’s stick to the issues.
My business was not a retail store, being closed was not a realistic option, and my main concern was making enough to pay them, not funding my holidays. Most actually did not have families or anywhere else they wanted to go and were happy to work the holiday and join us for dinner. Having people work on holidays is not an act of cruelty or “trashing American culture.”