Boycott this, boycott that...

[Lancero]

Boycott anything that is open on Holidays!

Seems to be how most people think.

But none of you have said we should boycott hospitals. They were open on holidays. They are always open on holidays. Think of all the doctors and nurses, forced to stay at at the hospital instead of being home with loved ones.

If your going to cry out "Evil to make people work on holidays!", then don't be a hypocrite. Shame them all equally.

Edit - Since everyone else is going crazy over this, figured I'd throw in some crazy of my own.

[CorrectOfCenter]

1. Working holidays should be optional.

In right-to-work states, many employers will fire anyone that calls on Thanksgiving night.

If you think there's nothing wrong with that, you might be in the wrong party.

[bigwillq]

2. I am working all weekend.

Thurs-Fri-Sat-Sun.

No one ever says to close the newspapers or multimedia organizations.



Folks that work in retail know they will likely be open on holidays. I don't think it's right to be open on Thanksgiving or even all day Black Friday, but they know the deal when they apply and get hired for that job.

[JaneyVee]

3. Hospital workers aren't striking. Plus, they get PAID.

[Bluzmann57]

4. I used to work holidays

I worked at a place that has to be operable 24/7 because of problems if it isn't run that way. So they made 12 hour shifts which ran Sunday-Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday and every other Weds. I happened to be on the tail end of the week shift so I worked every Thanksgiving and Christmas if it happened to fall on one of my days. But, it was a Union place and we got paid very well for our sitting around, er, labor. Double time and a half plus eight hours holiday pay. So we could make a week's worth of wages in two days. If Wal Mart and others would do that, it would ease the inconvenience of having to work holidays.

[we can do it]

6. exactly.

[we can do it]

5. Firefighters, cops, hospital staff all expect to work holidays when they sign up for the job.

Minimum wage retail serfs probably do not (nor should they expect to- no ones lives depend on it)

I should also mention, hotel and transportation workers, and some restaurants, too.

[99Forever]

7. How many doctors and nurses can you name...

... that are working on holidays for minimum wage, at straight time, with zero holiday pay or medical insurance?

And while you are at it. Provide verifiable documentation of same.


Smells like bait under a bridge in this thread.

[kcr]

8. agree 100%

Particularly with your last sentence.

[PasadenaTrudy]

9. My thoughts exactly..(your last sentence) n/t

[Incitatus]

10. Yes, you are crazy.

If you are seriously comparing hospitals to companies like Walmart.

And nurses are probably making at least 3 times the retail workers wage (and even more depending on their skills and job) and the doctors are easily in the 6 figure range, both with benefits.

[Fumesucker]

11. Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat

Sorry, I have random outbursts of song lyrics triggered by stuff I hear or read.

[etherealtruth]

12. Holidays: for everyone

... except low wage workers. If they deserved a holiday they would have better jobs!

[Butterbean]

13. Erm, hospital nurse weighing in here...

1. Nobody forces you. You learn well before you leave nursing school (and probably before you ever start) that you will be working holidays, nights, weekends, and all the other times that the rest of the world is sleeping/with their families. It's part of the deal. By becoming a nurse, you are saying, "I accept that this is part of the deal."

2. We are paid a shit ton. At one hospital where I worked, I was paid double time and a half for every hour I worked.

So yeah, no....doesn't exactly wash...

[Nuclear Unicorn]

14. I'm not part of the anti-Black Friday set but this is category FAIL. n/t

[Boom Sound 416]

15. Their was a very nice picture of our president on thanksgiving in the Oval Office

Nobody cared about the photographer

[treestar]

17. Well, there's a point where it is well worth it!

If I had that job, I'd love working the holidays! It all depends on the job.

[Boom Sound 416]

18. Agreed

That's my point. Working on holidays is far more complex than "bankers' hours."

Working in production ahd restaurants I've missed more than the average share. Sometimes it's sad others it's what one has to do and it ain't all that bad.

[xmas74]

16. This has been discussed time and again on this forum.

There is a difference between essential and nonessential services. I know the difference-I've worked both. Most here also know the difference. At least in essentials you are either paid time and a half or receive a "holiday" that is taken at a later day. In many nonessential jobs neither is offered.

[onenote]

22. I've been going to the movies on Thanksgiving and Christmas for years

Is the kid selling me popcorn "essential"? Is every radio station, tv station, newspaper "essential"? Yet they work on holidays.

There are plenty of businesses that have stayed open on Thanksgiving over the years that aren't in any real sense "essential."

My take on this undoubtedly is colored by the fact that I grew up in an era of "blue" laws where the state declared that certain types of businesses couldn't be open on Sunday. That meant my family's business couldn't decide to be open on Sunday and closed on Saturday.

There is a magical mystical view of Thanksgiving among some people. But this isn't Norman Rockwell's America (if it ever was). I know lots of people that don't make a big deal out of Thanksgiving.

In the end I think the situation with "Black Friday" extending more and more into Thanksgiving is self-limiting. If everyone had to work on Thanksgiving, there would be no one around to shop.

[xmas74]

24. I don't go to the movies, I don't go out to eat,

I don't go shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend. When I worked in a mental institution I worked the holidays-I didn't like it, but understood it. When I worked as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I didn't always like it but understood it. I was treated well for working the holidays-in the institution I was given a holiday day, to be used as a full day off at another time. In dispatch I was paid holiday time. Both places actually gave us a free meal that day and we were thanked for our service that day. (Especially dispatch-I was thanked by fellow parents when they found out I would be working that weekend.) It wasn't fun but it was respectable.

OTOH, when I worked in a gas station on the holidays I was treated like shit. There was no holiday pay, I worked alone, I didn't even receive a break. I had customers scream at me, break things in the store, make demands that were far beyond my job. I cleaned up broken glass from beer bottles, I cleaned up puke on the lot and in the store For some reason, teens like to loiter even more than usual on the gas station lots during the holidays. On Thanksgiving night I dealt with single men coming in and propositioning me, sliding hotel room numbers my way with promises of "easy money". On Christmas I was robbed at knife point. Never again.

I've worked both sides of the essential/non essential coin and let me tell you-non essential really does get screwed during the holiday weekends. I won't be part of screwing over others.

[warrant46]

26. +1

[uppityperson]

19. I've worked often in hospitals on holidays, but understand your point here to be that

workers need to be treated and paid better. If that is your point, that is why I recc'd this thread.

Of course there is a difference between life and death employment needs and non life/death employment needs. But no matter where you work, or for whom, you need to be treated with respect, fairly, with at least a living wage. For me, saying I won't shop on Black Fri does less for workers than voting for people who will work to get them better working conditions. Joining WalMartians on their strike line does more than simply not going to buy at their store one day.

If that is not your point, oh well. It is mine.

[maced666]

20. Apples. Oranges.

Those in the health care service industry knew what they were signing up for when they began college.
It's a choice and has rewards for helping the sick in time of need along with justifiable pay.
Minimum wage workers aren't compensated enough to sacrifice holidays with -
Why does this need explaining to you?

[SheilaT]

21. I work in a hospital.

I used to be an airline employee.

Working holidays and weekends comes with the territory for jobs like those. And I did then and do now earn premium pay on the holidays.

Just the same, I'm looking forward to retiring completely in two years and savoring all holidays and weekends off.

[pipi_k]

23. And then there's

The USPS...specifically the bulk mail center one of my cousins works at

She lives near New Haven, CT and used to work in, or near, Hartford until she was transferred a few months ago to the Springfield MA facility. She drives all those miles five days a week

She had to go in Thanksgiving night for the 11 to 7 shift but didn't get overtime pay because her shift was technically the day AFTER Thanksgiving

She said the center is closed on Christmas, but it's open all other holidays

So, yeah...another business people might want to boycott while they're at it...

[NuclearDem]

25. Hospitals save lives, and sickness and injury don't take holidays.

Walmart and Target don't provide life saving services.

[Lancero]

31. Walmart does...

Well, the pharmacy that WalMarts put in their stores do.

But hey, who needs medicine? Not like it saves lives eh?

[NuclearDem]

32. Oh for the love of--

Right, because Walmart stays open on the holidays because of the damn pharmacy.

[LiberalElite]

27. I don't recall anyone EVER

saying it's "evil to make people work on holidays" in regards to vitally important institutions like hospitals, so please don't play the "you're all hypocrites" game.

If your post was intended as sarcasm, I apologize in advance.

[Laelth]

28. If "crazy" is what you were going for, you succeeded. n/t

-Laelth

[Courtesy Flush]

29. When I worked in a hospital

They made an effort to wrap up as many cases as they could, and send patients home for holidays. Not only for the benefit of the patients, but the staff as well. They'd be down to a skeleton crew on the holiday, and those people usually chose to work those days because of the overtime pay.

Contrast that to the retailers, who expect all employees to be there, and expect pandemonium, with no overtime pay.

[earthside]

30. You're not crazy.

If I boycotted every store, product, food, restaurant, electronic device, service, etc. that people on DU and other progressive web sites tell me I should boycott ... I would have to become a hermit and live in a hollow log (that fell down naturally, of course).

I like to be informed and I make choices the best I can.

However, it is still a matter of priorities. For instance, I feel strongly enough against Walmart that I will never shop there; but I like Target and purchase a lot of items there, even though some folks recommend not shopping there either (at least at various times). I like Apple computer products and I'm going to keep using and buying them, even though Apple has Chinese labor problems.

I am very tired of the Black Friday hype, but the day after Thanksgiving has been a Christmas shopping day for probably a hundred years in this country ... I'm not against that. I would never patronize a retail business that opens on Thanksgiving to buy Christmas gifts; but I think once or twice over the last 20 years or so someone in the house went to a grocery store that was open on Thanksgiving to get an item that was overlooked for the feast.

So, it is a reasonable point you are making ... it is all about common sense in the end.