A bit OT: Does it bother anyone else...

[If U Had Wings]

My full time job is in an office and I have all the major holidays off. My part time job however is at a movie theater. It's open 365 days a year. Usually we have to chose 3 shifts over the holiday season (Thankgiving, black friday, Christmas eve, Christmas Day, New Years eve, and New Years day).

We get no holiday pay of any kind. It's just plain old normal time. (A little extra pay would take some of the sting out of being there!) I hate having to leave every year. I take the night shift so at least I get to enjoy an early dinner with my family, and I usually have to leave just before dessert. I work Thanksgiving, Black Friday and New Years so I can have Christmas off.

I myself try not to patronize places that are open on the holidays. I certainly won't go in on Thanksgiving. I don't see stores and movie theaters being the same as hospitals, pharmacies etc. No one's life is going to be hanging in the balance if they can't see a movie or go shopping one or two nights out of the year. I refuse to go to Disney on a holiday for the same reasons. I know how lousy it is to be working on a holiday, and don't want to making someone else miss the holidays as well.

What I hate most is the people who come into the theater on the holidays who are miserable and cranky. Geesh people your not working - don't come in and make me feel worse. And please don't start telling me how bad you feel that I have to work on a holiday (usually sarcastically). If you weren't here in the first place I wouldn't have to be there!

 

[rflorek]

I think this is the reason people want Thanksgiving off. They want to spend the day with their mom too.

I spend every day with my Mom, not just Thanksgiving. I don't feel that visiting my mom should be limited to Thanksgiving. Even if you can't sepnd every day with your family, you should make an effort to spend time with them as often as possible, no just holidays.

Life is too short, and people aren't around forever.....

 

[kaytieeldr]

But I think Sleepy's point is, the people waiting CAN'T spend the day with their moms/families, because there are other people who - in this example - want to eat Thanksgiving Dinner but don't want to prepare it.

As for K-Mart (getting back on topic ) or any retail establishment - they're subject to state laws. I'm in Massachusetts; at least as recently as last year, most stores couldn't be open on Thanksgiving. Now, I don't recall when they started doing this but, for states like ours, K-Mart offers the Thursday sale prices on Friday morning - along with the regular Black Friday specials and all-day sales.