Besides Police man. fireman, people who work in hospitals/nursing homes/assistant living, EMT'S (and other jobs along those lines),and funeral home people should places be closed on Christmas day so employees can spend time with their family and friends?

Yes, I know people travel out of town on Christmas and they may need to stop to use the bath room ,grab a quick snack or get gas at the gas station before heading back out on the road.

What are your thoughts?

ETA: If you are traveling, Merry CHRISTmas and safe travels

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/2021 12:11AM by Isaiah4031a.

When I was growing up all stores,gas stations,eateries were all closed.
Also on Sunday's everything was closed.

Should we all be forced indoors, or should we be free to roam at will?

Hmm.

We used to travel madly, drive too far, and squish visits into bits of time. I loved using indoor plumbing at places that were open! Now, you could not pay me to travel like that. I want to rest.

I'm glad it's only one day. At least the usual daily grind is in the near future. Having everything closed is boring. But I have recorded movies. So I can wait.

So today there is lots of snow. I do not need to go anywhere or do anything. I can wait for my heroes, the snow removal crews, to prepare our lots, streets, and roads for future use. Meanwhile, I have a transition movie on Tubi (all about a girls' vaca gone wrong) that moves me away from thenumerous typical and atypical holiday movies that I have been watching for the last few weeks. Last night, I found 'Chasing Christmas' and loved this version of the Dickens classic. My beloved Leslie Jordan/Christmas Past roars about the book is crap! Dickens is a hack! in his career-ending rant. Bwahaha. I might re-watch this one later today...

@sueac101 wrote:

When I was growing up all stores,gas stations,eateries were all closed.
Also on Sunday's everything was closed.

When I was younger, other than the two cafeterias we had and a couple of restaurants, everything was also closed

I don't mind everything closing. Planning ahead can eliminate most of the issues. It is nice having peace and quiet without the traffic.

I think all stores should be closed. I can see gas stations/convenience stores being open. Even those were open when I was a kid and everything else was closed on Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, and Sundays. But I would hope they'd either have shortened shifts or close early so their employees could have time with family.

I got an email from IHOP several days ago stating that their restaurants would be open today (with some locations having different hours or not being open). Then the other day I got another one saying they were going to be closed today so that employees could enjoy the day with their families. Ha. I'll bet they just couldn't find staffing. And I think that's fine. With this world being 24/7, people don't get enough down time and enough family time, imo.

The two large grocery chains in my area (both local) decided to close both today AND tomorrow, to give associates more time to spend with their families. They made the announcement weeks ago, and publicized it multiple times, but I bet some people will be surprised by the locked doors tomorrow.

The assumption that either employees or customers celebrate Christmas is presumptuous. Many people do not. Assuming that they have the staffing and customer demand, companies ought feel free to be open without regard to certain people's holidays. That said, most business ought be closed for indoor shopping until the pandemic is over.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2021 06:15AM by Rousseau.

This is similar to my job. Some people presume that no one shall work on Sunday; everyone must have Religious and/or Family Day on Sunday; and/or anyone who works on Sunday is downright stupid or evil. On a few occasions, their ire has nearly deafened me. We work nearly every day because the people we attempt to contact might be free on any given day. There is no one size fits all work/activity schedule for all persons.

@Rousseau wrote:

The assumption that either employees or customers celebrate Christmas is presumptuous. Many people do not. Assuming that have the staffing and customer demand, companies ought feel free to be open without regard to certain people's holidays. ....

Let me add that in addition to the many, many millions of Americans - atheists, agnostics, secularists, Baha'i, Buddhists, followers of Confucianism, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, non-converted follows of Native American spirituality and other - who do not celebrate Christmas, there are also Christians who celebrate Christmas but not on December 25; there are some 7 million Orthodox Christians as well as another 1 million Coptic Christians in the US.

And for those who are fearful of a non-existent "War on Christmas," one recalls that the only ban on Christmas in North America was by Christians. Puritan Christians outlawed Christmas in Massachusetts from 1659 to 1681 over the holiday's strong connections with Paganism.

My reasoning for believing that stores should be closed on Christmas has very little to do with religion. (And I don't think there's a war on Christmas, either.) I just think that people need family time, and with so many retail stores and other businesses being open nearly all the time, families often have conflicting work schedules. It's not healthy for families to have so little together time anymore. Since Christmas is widely celebrated, moreso it seems than other holidays, I think it's logical that it would be a kind of universal holiday--regardless of religious observance or non-observance. Or it could be Thanksgiving, for all I care. Or both. People don't need to shop 365 days/year! IMO. Family time is important, and too few families get it due to 24/7 work schedules. Nothing to do with religion.

As a side note, my son recently left the retail world. One year his store was open on Thanksgiving. He said there were so few customers and they had so few sales, he figured they lost money that day. So why bother being open? The retail store I used to work at tried opening on Thanksgiving one year and found the same thing. So they never did it again.

We Americans should do what people in other countries do: work to live, not live to work. JMHO, of course.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2021 11:29AM by BirdyC.

Look at Chic-Fil-A: they are closed on Sundays. People don't starve, they go elsewhere.

As with most anything, people should have a choice. If I want to make some extra bucks on a holiday that has no meaning to me, I should have that option. If I want to spend time with my loved ones, that option should be available as well.

I think they should be closed. Not for religious reasons, as I am not religious. I just think the world should shut off on day a year, or 12, or 52.
Not even for family time per se, but more for a reset. We don't reset. We just go, go, go.

I do not care if businesses are closed or open. However, i do agree with the Op with the "open." You make time for what is important to you.

@nolimitem wrote:

Not even for family time per se, but more for a reset. We don't reset. We just go, go, go.

I agree; family time is part of it, but we all need down time, family or not. Our culture seems to be obsessed with being busy all the time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2021 01:48PM by BirdyC.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

As with most anything, people should have a choice.

I see your point, Honny, and I don't necessarily disagree. But what about the people who don't have a choice about working on Christmas or Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur or other holy days of non-work of other religions? If stores want to be open, I don't think that people who observe these religiouls holidays should be made to work or lose their jobs (I've heard of this happening). Obviously, there's the chance for abuse of that, but since a lot of places pay overtime for working on holidays, some people don't mind working the holidays and earning that extra $$. I didn't mind working Black Friday because the pay made it worthwhile. But I'd never work on Thanksgiving day itself (not that it's religious, but it's needed family time and "me" time).

If you should have a choice (and I'm not saying you shouldn't), then so, too, should workers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2021 01:59PM by BirdyC.

Even God took a day off after six days of uninterrupted work. He did not give himself a two day weekend, or a five day work week. He did not negotiate with tptp (haha!) for a four day, full-time work week. No. He worked for six days and then rested for one day. Those who believe that God is female can insert their own pronouns. He defined Himself, and it is most respectful when we acknowledge that definition. But back to work.

So should we all have the same work schedule, with the same six days on and the same day off for rest, play, different vista, helping a neighbor, whatever? Could the entire world come to an agreement about the practicality of a day of rest, whether for religious purposes or just to ramp down the wear and tear that work causes to humans physically, mentally, and emotionally? Could we agree on which six days to work and which day to rest, even if we never could agree on any religious or faith element of life? What about holidays, vacations, and Holy Days?

Probably could never agree on which days to rest and which to work. But I think the very important thing you say is "...just to ramp down the wear and tear that work causes to humans physically, mentally, and emotionally?"

I'm old enough to remember Sunday blue laws, and it was a welcome respite from everything! A day to rest, relax, play, indulge in fun recreation, etc. Or just stay home, read the paper, drink coffee, and eat fresh bread from the local bakery!

Just another thought on staying open on holidays. When I was in college, I worked part time jobs. I had a hard time getting enough hours to make any money between school schedules, sleep, and hanging out and doing stuff. I worked at Garden Ridge for a couple of years. Garden Ridge decided to stay open 24 hours a day for the 4 days of the Thanksgiving holiday. People were outraged and yelled loudly on the internet about the poor employees who didn't get to spend the holidays with their families. I loved it. Most of the other poor employees loved it. Garden Ridge paid us double for all hours worked for the whole 4 days and we were allowed to work as many hours a day as we wanted up to a max of 12 hours a day. So we got paid for worked hours in addition to the holiday pay we got for the 2 holidays. The manager at the store where I worked said working the holiday wasn't mandatory as long as he could get enough coverage. Coverage wasn't a problem. All the high school/college students wanted to work 12 hours all 4 days. Regular full-time employees got first choice to work and got first choice of what shift they worked, and a lot of them wanted to work for the double pay. But I was lucky enough to get 12 hours a day all 4 days, so I got 48 hours at double pay plus 5 hours holiday pay on Thanksgiving and 5 on Black Friday (as a part-time I didn't get the full 8 hours holiday pay). BIG WINDFALL. I did it again the next year.

^^^^ @roflwofl! I did the same some years. I worked P/T during college for an agency that stationed me at Bloomingdale's and Macy's giving out cosmetic samples to draw customers in to their counters. I so enjoyed the double time pay. It was sooo worth it and fun. I always got home in time to join some festivities while racking in what I considered big bucks. DD's CNA friends all worked a Christmas Day shift; 7AM-3PM. Unfortunately, I heard the residents were in rare form and they were short staffed but they loved earning the double pay.

@roflwofl wrote:

Garden Ridge paid us double for all hours worked for the whole 4 days and we were allowed to work as many hours a day as we wanted up to a max of 12 hours a day. So we got paid for worked hours in addition to the holiday pay we got for the 2 holidays. The manager at the store where I worked said working the holiday wasn't mandatory as long as he could get enough coverage.

It's a brilliant business idea because nobody was forced to work on Thanksgiving and others got lots of extra pay. I think that model breeds loyalty and avoids much resentment among employees. Seems like a win-win to me.

As I'd noted earlier, I didn't mind working Black Friday because we got time and a half (not double, sadly!). But some people could get offered triple pay and still not want to work *on* the holiday itself. My boss worked the Thanksgiving Day shift so none of us would have to. I think one other staffer came in later in the day, after her festivities, to help out. But as for the rest of us, we wanted to stay home and enjoy our family celebrations. For people who don't care to do that or who aren't around their families at the holiday or who really want the extra $$, it's great! But for those of us who need that down time and/or family time, it's great if we don't have to work it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2022 03:00PM by BirdyC.