What are you doing right now?

[tall73]

Reading about retailers who are open for business tomorrow afternoon. That's so wrong, to me. Companies should all give their employees pay and the day off. Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like American greed. :/

Yeah, I was in one of the big box stores last night to beat the rush today and the cashier was pretty upset. We were talking the usual generalities and she mentioned she had to work that night. When I inquired further she said she had requested Thanksgiving off weeks ago and her manager had said he would give it to her. Then when she checked with him later he said if you work here you have to work the holiday.

She double bagged every single item we bought, each in its own bag, (management seems to insist on only bagging things you need to, and almost never double bagging), apparently in protest.

 

[Toro]

I love working the holidays, time and a half to do the same job? Yes please....

Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc...... its all ..... or at least SHOULD be about the ones you share it with, not about the day itself or the traditions that come along with it.

Me? I say let the world hold sacred its days that will come and go, while I use that very same day to make more to do the same job, then go home to my loved ones and still enjoy my time with them at a level that MOST who simply go through the motions and traditions of man.

Like Valentines day for example, biggest sham of a holiday ever..... a day where you "MUST" show love to the one you're with but its perfectly okay to ignore them the rest of the year......

Why cant every day be Thanksgiving?Christmas?Valentines day? etc......Treat every family gathering as such and the "holiday" means so very little IMO. After all, none of us are promised tomorrow..... let alone the next holiday.

 

[Deidre32]

Yeah, I was in one of the big box stores last night to beat the rush today and the cashier was pretty upset. We were talking the usual generalities and she mentioned she had to work that night. When I inquired further she said she had requested Thanksgiving off weeks ago and her manager had said he would give it to her. Then when she checked with him later he said if you work here you have to work the holiday.

She double bagged every single item we bought, each in its own bag, (management seems to insist on only bagging things you need to, and almost never double bagging), apparently in protest.

I believe that karma comes upon these companies, eventually. I've decided to stop shopping permanently at retailers who are open tomorrow. If anything, I see it backfiring for them. The workers aren't going to be happy, and not many people will be in the malls at 2 pm in the afternoon.

 

[Deidre32]

I love working the holidays, time and a half to do the same job? Yes please....

Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc...... its all ..... or at least SHOULD be about the ones you share it with, not about the day itself or the traditions that come along with it.

Me? I say let the world hold sacred its days that will come and go, while I use that very same day to make more to do the same job, then go home to my loved ones and still enjoy my time with them at a level that MOST who simply go through the motions and traditions of man.

Like Valentines day for example, biggest sham of a holiday ever..... a day where you "MUST" show love to the one you're with but its perfectly okay to ignore them the rest of the year......

Why cant every day be Thanksgiving?Christmas?Valentines day? etc......Treat every family gathering as such and the "holiday" means so very little IMO. After all, none of us are promised tomorrow..... let alone the next holiday.

I like your perspective, but honestly, I think the retailers should give their workers off with holiday pay, or vacation pay. Some families travel during this time of year to meet up with their other family members and it seems unfortunate to have to miss that because someone had to have that 55 inch screen tv on sale, or they just might self combust.

 

[tall73]

I think it is unnecessary for them to be open tomorrow. On the other hand, as Toro noted, a lot of folks enjoy working the overtime. Where I worked for a number of years you may have to work holidays, but it was more or less competitive. If you hit good numbers you usually did not have to. And whenever possible they took volunteers first, which usually covered it. Then those who wanted the money got it, and those who didn't got the day off.

Double time and a half is nice, but I will definitely spend time with family when they pay regular time for me to do it, so I usually got the holiday off.

And then for some holidays such as Christmas there are folks that it is not even something they celebrate. So shopping or working on that day is not a big deal.

But whenever possible if someone asks weeks in advance, you ought to try to give them the day off.

 

[tall73]

I like your perspective, but honestly, I think the retailers should give their workers off with holiday pay, or vacation pay. Some families travel during this time of year to meet up with their other family members and it seems unfortunate to have to miss that because someone had to have that 55 inch screen tv on sale, or they just might self combust.

It also depends heavily on the industry. Most retailers have huge sails during this time, and those key days, which are competitive, may make the difference between profitability for the year, or losing money. So for those industries, it can be tough once a few start encroaching earlier and earlier into Thanksgiving night, because those who are not open then may lose out on the early shoppers.

 

[Deidre32]

It also depends heavily on the industry. Most retailers have huge sails during this time, and those key days, which are competitive, may make the difference between profitability for the year, or losing money. So for those industries, it can be tough once a few start encroaching earlier and earlier into Thanksgiving night, because those who are not open then may lose out on the early shoppers.

I'm reminded of Chick-fil-a. I don't eat there, but I know they're closed on Sundays, because they're a Christian based company, which their competition is always open. And supposedly, they are the number one fast food chain in terms of sales, beating out their competition who is open 7 days per week. So, I don't think that being open on Thanksgiving sends a good message at all, and many retailers aren't open until Friday. It's all about greed, and it's sad to me.

 

[tall73]

I'm reminded of Chick-fil-a. I don't eat there, but I know they're closed on Sundays, because they're a Christian based company, which their competition is always open. And supposedly, they are the number one fast food chain in terms of sales, beating out their competition who is open 7 days per week. So, I don't think that being open on Thanksgiving sends a good message at all, and many retailers aren't open until Friday. It's all about greed, and it's sad to me.

It is a bit different in that there is not a particular day when the whole nation focuses on eating chicken. But there is a time frame, previously Black Friday, but now starting that night, when everyone focuses on retail.

While I didn't like working holidays back years ago when I worked retail, it still meant my company might be competitive and able to stay in business, which meant I would have a job going forward.

 

[Deidre32]

It is a bit different in that there is not a particular day when the whole nation focuses on eating chicken. But there is a time frame, previously Black Friday, but now starting that night, when everyone focuses on retail.

While I didn't like working holidays back years ago when I worked retail, it still meant my company might be competitive and able to stay in business, which meant I would have a job going forward.

We will have to agree to disagree. lol One day isn't going to save a sinking company, and they've been doing some studies and consumers are turned off to the retailers who are opening tomorrow afternoon. So, like I said, I predict it backfiring.

 

[Toro]

Well if they asked for the day off and it was granted the boss SHOULD honor his word.....

But the world is full of people whose word means nothing.

As a coworker always said to anyone complaining about our job:

"Dont get mad, get indeed"

If they dont like being forced to work a holiday... search for something else so it doesnt happen again.

 

[tall73]

We will have to agree to disagree. lol One day isn't going to save a sinking company, and they've been doing some studies and consumers are turned off to the retailers who are opening tomorrow afternoon. So, like I said, I predict it backfiring.

Numbers for Black Friday are declining, so over time I think it will improve. I am not arguing for the ethics of doing it, just that pragmatically they do it because they want to be competitive. Now Walmart, Amazon, etc. are doing sales online ahead of Black Friday, which to me makes more sense. Really in my view the first big box store that stays closed on Thanksgiving and starts their big shopping on Wednesday will get the best result. This way anyone just wanting the best deals can get it before others have their sales, giving a competitive advantage, and they will get good press for not making folks work the holiday.

 

[tall73]

And then there are other business sectors that have little choice. When I worked in insurance claims they give the day off to most people, but still have to have a few stay to take initial call for initial reports for towing and emergency service, etc.

 

[Deidre32]

Numbers for Black Friday are declining, so over time I think it will improve. I am not arguing for the ethics of doing it, just that pragmatically they do it because they want to be competitive. Now Walmart, Amazon, etc. are doing sales online ahead of Black Friday, which to me makes more sense. Really in my view the first big box store that stays closed on Thanksgiving and starts their big shopping on Wednesday will get the best result. This way anyone just wanting the best deals can get it before others have their sales, giving a competitive advantage, and they will get good press for not making folks work the holiday.

I agree with this. If you look at who is going to be open tomorrow, JCPenney is one of them. They're opening at 2 pm. Their sales are horrible, lately, and stores are closing all over the US. Maybe if they spent more time figuring out how to attract customers 364 days out of the year, instead of throwing meaningless sales on Black Friday, they'd probably be more successful.

I understand the counter argument to this, though. It makes sense.

 

[Dave-W]

Just finished listening to our rabbi/pastor on one of DCs radio stations talking about a concert we are sponsoring in a few weeks with Michael Card, and it is a benefit to raise funds so we can build the DC area’s first Messianic Synaogogue. All of the area congregations rent facilities either from churches or warehouse space. Neither of which are that culturally attractive to traditional Jews, who we are trying to reach with the gospel.

 

[Bumble Bee]

Sitting in the car. Husband is driving.

 

[Toro]

Sitting in the car. Husband is driving.

Just stare at him until he gets paranoid....

 

[Bumble Bee]

He’s always paranoid

 

[Deidre32]

My pumpkin pie turned out great, well it looks great haha Hopefully, the taste is great, too!

 

[Bumble Bee]

Playing catan

 

[Paidiske]

Is there anything different in the way a Messianic synagogue is set up, or what it contains, compared to a Jewish synagogue, Dave? I've visited a couple of synagogues but have had very little contact with Messianic groups here, and never visited their places of worship.