Not in the least little bit. If they are open, they expect customers. Besides, Chinese food on Christmas Day isn’t just a Jewish thing.
You MONSTER! So you’re the reason I had to spend a quiet day at work on Christmas making double-time-and-a-half! Curse you for forcing me into financial solvency ;).
Well, exactly :p.
Still, if I normally make $12/hour with tips and a slow Xmas shift means I make minimum wage, that’s not a huge comfort. And if they average out my reported tips across the pay period, my actual pay may only be going up that $3/hour.
I think they know the rules about minimum wage coverage.
They also know the rules about reporting (and thus getting taxed on) all tips, including cash.
The implicit agreement between employer and employee is that they each allow the other to forget about little things like that. The server generally ends up ahead at the end of the day.
When I waited tables, the understanding I got (and this was communicated to be by my coworkers) was that asking for the minimum wage coverage meant I was bad at my job, and that I should be clearing way more than that - especially when taking my unreported cash tips into account.
Not really. We never bothered arranging any family gatherings, nor made any effort to get together. I usually went skiing, siblings did other things. My folks, like all good Jews, ordered Chinese food. We never felt a need to mimic Christmas, it wasn’t our holiday.
In our extended family we have a Firefighter, an Airport Rescue Firefighter, a couple in healthcare, a pilot and a couple in airport operations, the rest of the adults are teachers, secretaries or retired with a handful of young adults that are servers. Fully half our adult members may have to be on duty or on call for any given holiday. Frankly the people who chose those professions that don’t get traditional holidays off automatically knew that going into it. The nieces who are servers knew it going in. While they do say they feel some stress to make it in front of their father, they also whisper aside that while tired they make great tips and don’t really mind. The one they don’t like to work is New Years Eve. They say that even the great tips don’t make up for the drunken and rudeness.
My husband and son both are always super busy round Thanksgiving and Christmas. On our year for Thanksgiving, they come for a week in September instead. On our year for Christmas they have so far been able to work it out to be here for Christmas. It’s not looking good for Christmas next year so they are already discussing maybe coming earlier in December, in which case, we’d just “pick a day” as best we could and that day becomes the day we invite extended family.
The children are young enough that it doesn’t really matter what day we have it. What matters is did they get to see their cousins and have Memaw’s pie? Did they get to watch football and play touch in the yard? Did they get to go caroling, have a family nativity play where someone insists on pretending a light saber is a good shepards staff and will a sock monkey be okay for baby Jesus because oh my goodness this family has mostly boys and their aren’t any plain baby dolls here? Did they get to decorate cookies? Who’s turn is it for the advent calendar?
And then the obvious, not everyone wants to be with family and some of those people may have chosen to work and use that as an excuse rather than deal with drunk and gropey uncle creeper and passive aggressive aunt rude questions.
On “off” years where our sons family is going to the inlaws, my husband volunteers for those holiday shifts so the guys with young families can go home.
Okay, I work for a national chain convenience store.
Christmas is our busiest day of the year.
We get time-and-a-half for working the holiday (true of corporate stores and of the franchisee I work for, YMMV), and the manager I started under would have each employee work about 4 hours (except the overnight people) so everybody got some of the pay and nobody had to ring up 800 customers.
If somebody really wants christmas off, they can get it, but most folks don’t mind working 4 hours for 6 hours pay on a day when your customers bring you cookies.
And somebody has to sell batteries.
The reason it is our busiest day is that the grocery stores and fast-food places close.
My first year, I volunteered to work additional hours at another store, so I wound up working 15 hours on christmas (an 8-hour shift that started at 11pm Christmas Eve, then 8 hours off, then another 8-hour shift.) We just delayed the family celebrations for a few days, and we all took advantage of holiday pay.
That said, I totally agree with the sentiment of one retail employee who shared this on a site for talking about work: You do not get to say “It’s terrible they make you work on (insert holiday name) if you are in the store ON (insert holiday name). You are WHY they make me work on (insert holiday name).” If nobody comes, they’ll just close the store next year.
*- At Corporate stores in our chain, in addition to time-and-a-half, on Christmas only they give each employee pay for 8 hours at regular wage. So you get paid for 8 hours whether you work or not, then time-and-a-half for any hours you do work. But only for employees who have been there 6 months or more.
20 years ago, I worked for Dominos Pizza.
They let their franchisees close one day a year, and the guy who owned our store chose July 4.
Christmas was a bit slow, but there were plenty of people who weren’t Christian, and more who couldn’t cook for one reason or another. Again, being the only place open is good for business.
I am told Dunkin’ Donuts has the same one-day-a-year policy. the local guy would let his employees choose, it was always either Christmas or New Years.
“Should you feel guilty…”
Jewish people feeling guilty for eating out on Christmas? Go ahead, break the servers hearts!! 
Just to be clear, the owners have to make up the difference if they make less than MW. But yeah, the servers have to work no matter what, so wouldn’t it be better that they make some decent money?
I do all my Christmas celebrating on Christmas eve anyway, so Christmas is kind of a nothing day. I think this is a growing trend.
You jest, but when I was growing up my (Christian though not exceedingly devout) parents had a tradition of Chinese food and a play on Christmas Day. One year we saw “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and another year, quite memorably, we saw a play about the Life of Lenny Bruce.
The Lenny Bruce play was embarrassing as hell, since I was a teenage girl sitting next to my rather upright father hearing really raunchy jokes. I spent the whole event cringing and thinking, “Oh dear, I wonder if Daddy knows that I get that sex joke.”
Or in October, if Torontonian is (as I presume) in Canada. Also, goose was the featured fowl at my house on the 25th, but Christmas is, as you no doubt know, a “turkey holiday” for many.
Lol, my family tradition is too see a movie together as a family on Christmas eve. The first year we did that, we saw “10”, the movie about a guy’s infatuation with a beautiful married woman, including lots of nudity and sex scenes. “We” included my pre-teen sister, my parents, and my father’s maiden aunt. Perhaps we each would have enjoyed it with same-age friends, but it was incredibly embarrassing to watch it together.
And yet, the family movie became a tradition. 
go figure.
McAfee wouldn’t let me access your link – have a better one?
I am pretty sure the only business of any type open in my area was Walgreens. I made sure to get gas and food early on Christmas Eve, knowing there would be no options the following day. If something’s open, I would assume they want business.
ETA: A little surprised that so many aren’t having some sort of traditional Christmas dinner at home with family. Did this make the things that used to be tacky thread? When you go out to eat on Christmas, do you take your kids, or do they and the nannies stay home?
It’s a note from some association of Chinese Restaurants thanking the Jewish people. It says they don’t fully understand their dietary customers, but are glad their God insists that they eat Chinese food on Christmas.
If you’re in an international tourist destination - Honolulu - service is pretty much 24/7/365. You celebrate in the evening or the next day/weekend, it’s all good.
Just do a GIS for “chinese restaurant jewish sign” - John Mace got the gist of it, though. It’s just a cute view of the custom from the restaurant’s point-of-view.
Hell, I’m Christian, and last year we went out for dumplings for lunch on Christmas day, since the big traditional meal was scheduled for dinner.
(youngest son gave us all some kind of stomach bug this year, so Xmas dinner was saltines, gatorade and chicken noodle soup… yay)
At least in my parts, “Turkey day” usually means Thanksgiving. That was my take on “Turkey Holiday”.
My son works as a server in a restaurant near one of the major theme parks. They were open AND had a promotional coupon for 20% off dinner. They got SLAMMED.
For me, if I’m on vacation during the holiday I’d like to go to one of the park restaurants for dinner, but hey, if TGIFriday’s floats your boat and they’re open, go right ahead. My son CLEANED up with tips.
Most restaurants know if they’ll be busy or not and if it’s cost effective to be open. I’ve worked at restaurants that were closed for the holidays. This particular restaurant finds it profitable to be open.