Question:
With Memorial Day coming up soon, I find myself wishing for real American holidays. When I was a child in the sixties, growing up in a small town, there was a handful of days when NOTHING was open for business. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Labor Day were 4 days when one had to be sure to have enough hot dogs buns and ketchup on hand because the grocery wouldn't be open. You'd be lucky to find a gas station open even part of the day.

It changed in the seventies. Groceries, gas stations and fast food stayed open. The first time I had to work on the Fourth of July, I felt so ripped off. No parade, no fireworks, just a regular burger-slinging workday!

Now I feel awful for people who have to work on these holidays because NOTHING shuts down except banks and schools.

My father was a cop so I know there are essential services that must continue to run, but do we really need to go shopping or to the movies on days that are supposed to commemorate our history or honor groups of people? Why can't we just stop once in a while and actually take time to celebrate the positive things about the US? How do you all feel about this?

Choices:
Yes, everything except essential services should close.
Stores should have limited hours, theatres could open in the evening.
Capitalism above all else!
Work yourselves to death, Yankee dogs!

 

Well, it is nice to have days where entire jobs get days off and going to the movies may not be the best way to celebrate the country, but it can be darn inconvenient to not be able to go to a store or see a movie if you really want to. Stores are there to service us and be open for us. What kind of capitalist country would we be if stores didn't offer their services when ever they are needed?
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05-19-06, 11:17 PM
DorianGreyed
While I very much liked the time when almost nothing was open, I am also aware that many families have traditions of going out to eat on some holidays. Many older people whose children are not living nearby and aren't visiting go out to eat on some holidays. Unfortunately, many young people simply don't know how to prepare a holiday meal, and eat out (or call out) on those days. Another factor is those whose jobs go on despite the date: police, ER workers, nurses, doctors, EMTs, etc. I was married to a hospital nurse, and cooking a big holiday meal after a hard shift wasn't the way she would, or could, enjoy a holiday.

Another group that we sorely be missed by most of America if they didn't work on holidays are TV and radio people. Vendors at sports events on Thanksgiving and New Year's day also work. Should they, too, have the day off? After all, they are certainly not essential.

I think this is one of those things that sound good until you give it more thought, somewhat like "the good old days" of the 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever. Do women want to go back to how life was in the 50s, when many job opportunities were not open to them (and divorce was not necessarily easy to get)? Do blacks want to go back to Jim Crow laws? Do those that remember TV of the 50s really want to see the sophomoric humor that was the basis for most TV shows? (A great deal of the "Golden Age" of television was pyrite.)

05-20-06, 08:50 AM
Jelp01
The town I grew up in still shuts down on holidays; I don't know of one single business that stays open. But, then again, we're talking a town of 500 with all businesses contained within a couple of blocks.

The town I live in now has several businesses which stay open during holidays, mainly the fast food joints, the convenience stores, and the grocery store where I work. And the hospital, of course. Our store does close on Christmas and early on Thanksgiving; I do get that day and, if I whine loud enough Big Grin Thanksgiving. Otherwise, Monday nights and Tuesday nights are my regular days off, so I don't work Memorial Day nor Labor Day either.

New Year's Day and 4th of July are the only other paid holidays at our store and if it just so happens that either day falls on a Monday or Tuesday I get them off. If not, fine.
If so, then I get paid for doing nothing.....something I get accused of on a regular basis. Razz

05-20-06, 11:21 AM
aminator2002
No Nostalgia here. I don't agree with any of your choices though so I won't vote.

05-20-06, 12:38 PM
FredPuli
We used to have everything shut on Sunday in Britain years ago. It still is so in France. Public holidays were the same as Sunday (and still are in France). It is such a pain ! If there's the demand it should be satisfied, not made the subject of some global prohibition. The fact that there is a demand is shown not just by the trade that goes on but also in France by the enormous brouhaha that there is when (usually)a hypermarket or big supermarket which has been allowed to open exceptionally e.g before Christmas, overruns the hours allotted by half an hour. The fuss is from other traders who didn't apply, not from angry locals.

05-21-06, 04:18 PM
Scotty
It may be a nice thought that everyone is at home enjoying the holiday with their families, but when I want something I want it now.

THEREFORE

Capitalism above all else!

05-21-06, 04:33 PM
Rakuchild

quote:
I think this is one of those things that sound good until you give it more thought, somewhat like "the good old days" of the 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever. Do women want to go back to how life was in the 50s, when many job opportunities were not open to them (and divorce was not necessarily easy to get)? Do blacks want to go back to Jim Crow laws? Do those that remember TV of the 50s really want to see the sophomoric humor that was the basis for most TV shows? (A great deal of the "Golden Age" of television was pyrite.)



LOL- Whoa! DG! I'm not talking about turning the clock back on everything! LOL I just wish there were holidays when most people could be able to get the family or friends together. I haven't worked on the four I mentioned in many years (and I won't shop on those days). We don't necessarily go anywhere- some of the younger family members are usually working all day so no one plans a cookout or dinner any more. And friends that have to work are too bummed and/or tired to get together.

Holidays have just become another day off for many of us. The feeling that these days are "special" is just gone.

(Was Ernie Kovacs in the fifties? His goofy show still makes me laugh.)

05-21-06, 05:13 PM
DorianGreyed
Sorry. It's just that the good old days weren't good for everyone, and, yes, comic genius Ernie Kovacs started in the 50s.

"It's appropriate that television is considered a medium, since it's rare if it's ever well done." - Ernie Kovacs

"Nothing In Moderation" - The epitaph on his tombstone

05-21-06, 08:27 PM
newnickname

quote:
I just wish there were holidays when most people could be able to get the family or friends together.

How about Buy Nothing Day ?

05-21-06, 10:31 PM
Rakuchild
Oh yeah, newnick, this is one I observe. Smile I hate to go shopping any way so I tend to get everything I need and if I don't have it, I do without it till the next time out. I won't go near a shopping mall from the end of November until mid-January. Sort of explains why my Xmas packages arrive at their destinations either very early or very late.

05-22-06, 05:26 PM
honilov
I think stores should have limited hours on holidays. Most stores here do have limited hours and always get lot of business. People will shop til the last minute that they're open, too.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,