kindkit: A late-Victorian futuristic zeppelin. (Airship)
[personal profile] kindkit
I really hate it when people are required to work on major holidays, unless their jobs are crucial to the health or safety or others. In general I disapprove of supermarkets, restaurants, etc. in the US being open on Christmas.*

And yet.

The Imitation Game is supposed to open nationwide in the US on Christmas day. Since I don't have any Christmas plans apart from Yuletide, I'm extremely tempted.

And then there's Yuletide. Judging by past performance, I may not have a working internet connection on Christmas day. I would hate not to be able to read my Yuletide fic on Christmas, especially since I'll probably have to work the next day. But Starbucks will be open.

If you listen carefully, you can hear my principles creaking under the strain.

(If I left a big tip at Starbucks, would that make it less wrong?)



*Obviously this doesn't apply to, say, a kosher bakery. Nor to any owner-operated small business whose owner chooses to personally work on a holiday. I'm thinking of larger businesses, and also of the fact that where I live, the overwhelming majority of people are at least culturally Christian and would probably quite like to have the day off.

Date: 2014-12-12 02:54 am (UTC)
lilacsigil: 12 Apostles rocks, text "Rock On" (12 Apostles)
From: [personal profile] lilacsigil
Do people get paid extra for working a public holiday in the US? Here you get paid at least 1.5 times your regular salary and sometimes up to 3 times, depending on the holiday and the hours you are working. In my experience, people who don't celebrate/are avoiding Christmas and people who don't have young families are lining up to work that day because of the higher pay. My mum used to have to work either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (she was a nurse at the time) until I was about 14, but then a lot more non-Christian Malaysian and Indian people had moved into our area and they were very happy to work for double pay! If that's not the case in the US, I'm sure a nice tip would go a long way.

Date: 2014-12-12 04:20 am (UTC)
executrix: (bahhumbug)
From: [personal profile] executrix
If you stay home, the people assigned to that shift at Starbuck's are still going to have to work. I think it'll be madly crowded and the people who work will get good tips on top of holiday pay.

Sometimes people *have* to work because they don't have vacation days or personal time and can't trade with someone else, and sometimes it means they can't enjoy themselves or spend time with their families, but in any organization there's usually a balance between people who don't want to work the holiday and people who *do.* I write an arbitration newsletter, and there are a lot more grievances brought by people who weren't allowed to bid on holiday shifts than people who had to work unwanted overtime on holidays.

Date: 2014-12-12 10:01 pm (UTC)
settiai: (Tennessee -- miggy)
From: [personal profile] settiai
It definitely depends on the job. Retail and such tend to pay extra; restaurants and other jobs where people are paid tipped wages, usually not. Although people do tend to tip better on holidays, so it usually worked out in the end when it came to our pay.

Profile

kindkit: A late-Victorian futuristic zeppelin. (Default)
kindkit

September 2025

S M T W T F S
 123456
789 10111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930    

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Sep. 16th, 2025 01:44 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios