# Why are workers denied access to retail stores? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2001, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556 "2001-08-01T23:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aramis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@aramis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aramis)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/21 "2001-08-02T22:47:17Z")
I lived in Germany from '92 to '94 and as of then, they were still very much in the husband works - wife shops mode. Virtually all retail activity stopped by 6 PM. The only places open after 6 were bars, restaurants, gas stations and the like. On weekends the general retail stores were able to open Saturdays but only until noon. Back on the US side, I haven’t seen anybody mention government offices. How is a person who works all day supposed to register a car, get a license renewed, or any of the other minor inconveniences we have to do without taking time off work. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/22 "2001-08-03T01:12:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rastahomie \* > **Banking, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely. Excluding ATMs, banking seems to operate on this same 1950’s model of doing business: we’re only open when the men are at work, so the women can do the banking. My bank is only open from 9 until noon on Saturday-- why even bother opening at all, if you’re only going to be open for three hours?** You tell it brother. The real OP should be about banks, since they’re the biggest pain in my ass. Would it be so hard to be open until 6 PM, or before 9:30 AM? If I work an eight hour day, I shouldn’t miss out on the complete operating schedule of the place. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/23 "2001-08-03T01:47:06Z")
Many banks have started operating in locations that make them open more hours, especially in supermarkets. And many banking functions can be done online or over the telephone. As for government offices, at least here in California, the DMV has offices open on some Saturdays and some are also open one or two nights a week or open very early in the morning on other days. It all depends upon what the government wants to spend its money on. ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/24 "2001-08-03T12:24:00Z")
Smackfu: What about dentists and lawyers? What about what about? The more I think about it the more bizarre it seems to me that after 10,000 years of civilisation dentists are still largely inaccessible to wage earners. There’s lots of references here to the “old days” when women took care of shopping and men worked. Well, a whole lot of people would like that never to have changed and inflexible shopping hours probably held the status quo for them as long as possible. I read a Rolling Stone article once in which a guy aired his beliefs that the world was still in the control of the people who ran World War 2. It seems not to be the case, what with the sixties and all. According to him though, World War 2 veterans never really retired - they are directors on company boards all over the world. Men like Anna Nichol Smith’s late ex-husband are the secret rulers of the world. Internet shopping is irrelevant to the argument that restricted trading hours keep housewifery (or husbandry) alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/25 "2001-08-03T13:11:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Nome \* > \*\*Smackfu: What about dentists and lawyers? What about what about? The more I think about it the more bizarre it seems to me that after 10,000 years of civilisation dentists are still largely inaccessible to wage earners. > \*\* My dentist, for at least the last 8 years has offered evening hours ('til 7:00pm on Thursdays) and weekend hours (every other Saturday, 8:00am to 1:00pm, except during the summer when every Saturday appt. calls off on nice days), however this isn’t the norm. Doctor/dentist daytime hours in cities seems to be predicated on the fact that people have sick leave and flexible enough hours that they can take a few hours off during the day to walk down the street a couple of blocks to get that tooth fixed. Maybe it’s a city thing? I know that as long as I can remember (I’m 32) the suburban malls around here (Pittsburgh) have been open until 9:00pm. This has not been the case for downtown stores which traditionally close at the end of the work day when the city essentially “dies” as people flee to the suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/26 "2001-08-03T13:59:55Z")
I haven’t travelled overseas but I have beliefs about what other countries are like from reading, television, films. After my sister went on a three month overseas trip I plied her with questions, expecting my beliefs to be validated. Like, “at major international airports you saw a lot of sinister but strangely glamorous people just hanging around not doing much, right?” No, she hadn’t. “In big cities the nightclubs and bars are open all night, right? Because that’s when the mafia, underworld and organised crime come out to play”. She said there was no mafia and no nightclubs open after 12. “OK, so you saw mysterious black limousines gliding around with women of unbelievable beauty inside (probably the concubines of the rich and sinister)?”. She just laughed. Is it true that I’m completely deluded about New York, London and all places “out there”??? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/27 "2001-08-03T14:57:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Nome \* > \*\*I haven’t travelled overseas but I have beliefs about what other countries are like from reading, television, films … Is it true that I’m completely deluded about New York, London and all places “out there”??? \*\* Your skepticism about any delusions you may hold is probably well-founded. You, like all of us, have much to learn abut the wide world around us. May I offer a short rule of thumb? **TV & movies = BS** Anyhow, **G Nome** , you’ve been asked several times, and enquiring minds want to know - have YOU experienced problems in your locale of obtaining consumer goods after business hours? Also - do you have a tough job that won’t give vacation time, or won’t let you take a two-hour lunch for an errand, or won’t let you leave for the afternoon with short notice? What conditions relevant to the OP are YOU dealing with, **G Nome**? ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/28 "2001-08-03T23:12:29Z")
There are jobs where you can leave for the afternoon for short notice or take two hour lunch breaks? Only if someone dies right? You could leave early in a Nike factory, sure, but why bother going back? Maybe I’m talking about real jobs, the kind where tangible objects are produced for so little money that access to retail shops is not really an option anyway. You think workers who are forbidden to take bathroom (or toilet) breaks during working hours have the option of long lunches? The real world and me are very close. I think it is you who needs to do a “get to know the world” workshop. Ask your boss for 6 months paid leave, then go on. He should be able to find another Solitaire player pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556/29 "2001-08-03T23:16:34Z")
If there was ever a General Question here, it’s been answered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-workers-denied-access-to-retail-stores/74556.md?page=1)