Waaahhhh. Cry me a river.
And that is a good point. Christmas evening isn’t nearly the traditional family time that Christmas morning (or, for some, Christmas Eve) is.
Well, I didn’t get the impression that religion had anything to do with whom he was calling assholes. But yeah, I did sense a little hostility in the OP, that kinda detracted from the Christmas cheer.
What’s the OP’s solution for those folks I and others mentioned that work every holiday? You know, the military, police, firefighters, docs, nurses, EMTs, power station employees, news anchors? Dudes who work repairing water mains?
In some jobs, someone’s always manning the fort. That’s how it is in a society. Now if you want to go off the grid on holidays, I can at least applaud you for being consistent. But I wonder if you had this same thought before you had to work on a holiday as you plugged in your toaster oven, turned on CNN, and called the city works department for the busted water main in the street…
And OH MY GOD!! will no one think of the oppressed NBA and NFL players who are forced to play for hundreds of thousands of dollars on Christmas Day. And all the poor college players forced to play on Thanksgiving and New Years Day.
Sinjin, atheist Christmas moviegoer for two decades.
Sorry for my previous posts – I was assuming this was a serious Pit thread, when it’s actually an episode of VCO3: Elf Union Organizer.
VC03, do you quite realize how silly you sound? You want businesses to close on Christmas, which apparently doesn’t happen now because of two groups: those who don’t celebrate the holiday, and those who do. So you’d like to protect the holiday for those who celebrate it except when they celebrate it in a way you don’t want them to, all the while protecting the overall sanctity of the season by assuring that all non-celebrants stay home. Your thesis seems to be that working on a holiday is an act denying its thesis. Who worked on July Fourth? Traitorous scum. Needless to say, you’re wrong, and I’d have to see some proof before I believed you speak for every minimum-or-low-wage worker, and I’m sorry you had to work on Christmas for $9/hour, but on the available evidence, I’m not going to track you down so I can offer you more.
I guess they are just matching the stupid fucking OP.
I believe people go to movies or out to eat because they are open and ready for business.
It’s not like people show up at a closed movie theaters or a closed restaurant and call the managers to open up because they want to see a movie or have dinner.
Get a grip.
And if the OP is really that sensitive to working on holidays, I strongly urge VCO3 never to take up entrepreneurship.
Ahhhh, fuck you. I work Monday through Friday regardless of when the holidays fall, and have for 25 years. I took the job knowing I’d have to do it, and my family is used to it.
I don’t work the holidays because the overtime pay is so shweet (I get paid a good living wage regardless) but because the world doesn’t shut down and stop spinning because YOU feel like granting society a day off. People still get sick. They still commit crimes. They still get in over their heads and call for help. And they still like to go to movies or out to eat. Instead of getting pissy about it, how about just saying “thanks” to those of us who stick to our work schedules so you can have a good time?
HIJACK…
This is in no way a criticism of you or your post which I found very well argued. However, I am not sure if I am interpreting your statement correctly. Doing things out of principle is, in my opinion, not stupid. Is not acting in line with your personal set of principles the mark of integrity?
Believing in a particular principle, but then acting in a manner contrary to that principle is the definition of hypocrisy, is it not?
For example, how many people malign politicians who say they embrace a culture of life, but then support war and/or the death penalty? Although many justifications for this apparent contradiction may exist, it is very difficult for me to accept the viewpoint of someone when they act in discordance with their asserted principles.
This is why, in many ways, I have really begun to watch very carefully things that I say. Any statement that I start to begin with, “You know, this is the way it should be…” I begin to really reflect on that statement before making it. I also feel the same way about strong opinions. In general, I have found that people who give these strong opinions and assertions, typically end up in a hypocritical quandary.
Take for example a strong statement like this “Abortion is nothing more then state sanctioned murder of the unborn. Our society should embrace the culture of life and the sanctity of humanity.”
A strong statement made by probably the majority of abortion supporters at many times. But, then these individuals open themselves up to tremendous problems if other opinions they hold act in conflict with those assertions. For example, they then believe in the death penalty, whichcauses them to back-pedal and say that all human life is sacred, but some actions can remove that sanctity. Or, they support a war, such as Iraq, but when faced with the fact that completely INNOCENT people are killed in the process, they have to back-pedal even more to say, “Well, you have to break a few eggs to make an omellette”. Very quickly, they then are faced with arguments that children born in unwanted families may face deleterious consequences in their lives and maybe abortion is the equivalent of the eggs we must break in regards to making this particular social omellete.
I think about politicians and public figures who espouse family values, but are they themselves divorced 4 times. I think about these same people who talk of loving thy neighbor, but demonstrate intolerance of people who choose different lifestyles.
The ultimate princple that I see commonly disavowed in this society is that of freedom. So many say they embrace the notion of freedom, but sadly do not understand what exactly that means.
Thus, in all, I really think this world would be a much better place if people acted in accordance with their principles, even when that action may not “change the world”.
In conclusion, it is my assertion that an individual does not have a particular principle if they choose not to act in accordance with it. This is not to say that people are perfect and will/should ALWAYS act in accordance with their principles, this is not possible. Rather, it is an assertion that this world would be a much better place if people actually listened to themselves and followed through on those princples, regardless of the outcome. If they cannot do this, then maybe they should reconsider making some of the statements they do, or take a good hard, long look at themselves and realize they are not the person they espouse to be.
The cinemas don’t open here on Christmas Day. But if they did, I’d consider going (especially with the buses free to use that day). It’d be nice to go out and enjoy myself rather than just stay home. So get knotted, VC03. I feel sorry for your poor family.
Shut up, peon.
I sympathize with the OP… I don’t particularly agree, but I sympathize. I think Christmas Day is a crummy day to decide to go to the movies. I’d rather be spending it at home with my family, but that’s just a personal choice.
If you get the day off and don’t celebrate, it’s not really wrong to want to go out to eat to enjoy your day off without cooking, or do something else recreational, but I do understand that working holidays sucks.
That said, I work all holidays. Every holiday, every year. I work in a hospital, where giving everyone the holiday off is not an option. I don’t mind working the holidays, I even get paid a little extra.
My main gripe is the fact that the fucking buses do not run on holidays, and I’m sorry, but there’s a large part of civilization that needs to get to work on those days. Major public transportation should not shut completely down on a holiday.
The bizarre thing is that only my wife, my daughter, our two nieces, and I were able to attend Charlotte’s Web this year. The reason why my sister and her husband couldn’t make it?
They’re were on call, visiting patients.
Don’t worry though, VCO3, I’ve got next Christmas all figured out: We’re all going bowling. 
I guess this isn’t the thread to tell my tale of looking for something better to eat on Christmas than Waffle House and finding this wonderful deli that was open… run by a number of Israeli immigrants. Fat, drippy hamburgers, big old steak fries (the kind that hold the salt), a gyro platter the likes of which a city like Knoxville is unprepared for… it was awesome.
And yeah, we had breakfast that morning at Waffle House. We sat at the counter and Sophie (our five year-old daughter) loved watching all the food get prepared. The House was packed, with the waitresses saying Christmas is the busiest day of the year, a 20-hour straight rush. However, the tips are better than on any other day of the year… or so anectdotal lore was having it.
Since our family does all things family-meal related on Christmas Eve, Christmas day is usually a culinary nothing… and since everything is seemingly closed, we get bored and frequent the places that are open. So sue us.
So I guess I should feel awesomely guilty for the year that my immediate family, plus some other family members (including in-laws) decided to meet in Las Vegas one Christmas?
I mean, that was around twelve people, going to casinos, restaurants, and shops, ALL of which were open on Christmas Day. I suppose in the OP’s opinion, all of that adds up to the moral equivalent of raping our way through a home for the mentally challenged…
Especially if you raped your way through the home for the mentally challenged on Christmas Day.
I tried to be goofy before, but to hell with it.
Are you on crack?
I wasn’t kidding about the NOC teams (NOC is Network Operations Center). These are the guys that monitor traffic going across network lines.
If you honestly believed in your OP, you wouldn’t use the internet on Christmas so these people could walk away from the NOC and spend time with their family.
NOC monitors don’t make a shitload of money. They watch screens and when they beep they escalate the call to a tech. It is about on the same level as a movie usher. Anyone can do it.
In fact, by following the guidelines of this thread, you wished the Internet was offline on Christmas right??
BUT… you my hypocritical little fuckwit friend, YOU were online posting on this very internet based messageboard on Christmas.
:rolleyes:
You worship taints? Ewww.
It’s true, I knee-jerked and thought it was religion-based. Christmas is, after all, a religion-based holiday, so it wasn’t SO far-fetched. But yeah, you did mention Thanksgiving too. My apologies.
I’m not willfully making anybody do anything. I believe the theater chain made that decision. I know, supply and demand, but they’re not basing their decisions on the fact that it might not be so hot for their employees to work on Christmas day. If the movie theaters were all closed as they are in New Zealand, I’d find something else to do. But they’re not closed, not here in Chicago, and why should I not go because the mean old theater chain were Scrooges? As monstro pointed out, the theater isn’t going to stop showing movies because I stayed home. In fact, we didn’t go to the movies this Christmas. We were going to. We were halfway there when my husband realized he had left his cell phone on the train we took right before catching the bus that would take us to the theater. We waited for that particular train to come back around from the Loop, and some people in that car said they saw a woman taking the phone. We had to go home and get it turned off. We were late for the one we wanted to see anyway (which was, ha, Children of Men, and oh, the irony of a thread like this being born from a thread about that film). It’s the first time in maybe 30 years I hadn’t seen a movie on Christmas day. So, as far as I know, the theater didn’t shut down when they realized we weren’t coming after all.
A friend of mine works part time with CVS pharmacy. They get double pay for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other holidays.
Pit the bosses who decided to keep it open, not the people who go. Don’t like it? Get another fucking job!
Not all minimum wage jobs expect you to work Christmas Day.