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why are people up in arms over people having to work Thanksgiving?

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I dont get it either.

Many people have to work on Thanksgiving. What makes retail workers special?

Lets see

Police Officers
Fire Fighters
Utility Workers(Power plant workers, waste water treatment plant workers etc)
The hospitality industry(hotel workers)
Restaurant workers(many resturants have been open on Thanksgiving long before stores started opening for part of the day)
Nurses(for 30 years my mom has been required to work either Thanksgiving Day or Xmas day, and not just a few hours, but a full 12 hour shift)
Drs

If you don't understand the difference, you're a moron.
 
I'd rather work and get paid extra than deal with the drama and bullshit of family members screaming at each other and arguing with each other for literally hours on end.
 
i wouldn't mind working honestly. my family doesn't really celebrate the holiday. we'll cook a turkey and eat all the other fixings just because they're really cheap at this time of year.

if i had the option to work (im assuming at time and a half for most) I'd probably do it. I'd rather have friday off so I can buy some stuff.
 
Not sure why everyone assumes they are getting paid extra. When I worked at Kroger I got paid the same amount because I was only part time. The full time employees, which they fight tooth and nail to make sure you do not become one, were paid time and a half on Thanksgiving.

LOL at the person comparing retail work to the skilled service industry. If you really think the guy stocking shelves is comparable to a linesman fixing power lines in both pay or benefits then I pray you work in a retail or "low intelligence" setting.
 
between talking heads on the news and just talking to people in real life, it seems like there's a lot of outrage over stores people open over Thanksgiving and people having to work.

am I alone in my logic that I don't really get it? if I were a low-wage earning worker at Walmart, Target, etc... I'd be pretty glad to make the extra overtime money right before the holiday shopping season. less work = less money.

I don't watch the talking heads on the idiot box so the only place I've seen this idiotic outrage is on FB and here where I pretty much ignore it.
 
Blame the people that are out shopping on these days. If the customers didn't want to shop on Thanksgiving then the stores would remain closed. Employers are responding to a shift, a desire, in the market.
 
I used to love working OT on holidays and whatnot. The extra cash was sweet. Now I am salaried, but I still often end up working holidays. :\

KT
 
Newsflash: you don't need a special day to purposely spend it with family - unless you're that close to extended family which you only see this one time a year.

Do we need more sad events or natural disasters to remind us that we should cherish the time we have together?
 
When you work in retail you have to expect to work holidays, weekend, during the Super Bowl, etc.

Not to mention if you work in any one of most customer service jobs. People call customer service when they can't get TV to watch the game or internet to play games, forget something for dinner and need to run to the store, get flat tires driving to the inlaw's place, blah blah blah.

There are a billion reasons why people would want or need a service during the holiday. Why people don't understand this, I will never know.
 
So, you're not shopping at any retailer at all, eh? Cannot think of a single one not open on Thanksgiving Day, except Chick-Fil-A.

Trying to call restaurants 'retailers' is a real stretch there. As is grocery stores, theatres, etc, etc.
 
I love how everything is blamed on corporations. Oh, those evil, terrible corporations.

Nevermind that the only thing corporations due is meet consumer demand. If there was no demand for ever cheaper products, things would still be made in the USA. If there was no demand to open Thanksgiving day, stores would be closed.

The American consumer drives all of this, but nobody wants to look in the mirror. What a bunch of pigs this country has become.

For the record, I've never shopped on Black Friday. I don't even want to be near that bunch of greedy pigs.
 
I don't watch the talking heads on the idiot box so the only place I've seen this idiotic outrage is on FB and here where I pretty much ignore it.

I'd love to see how outraged they'd be if they lost their internet on Thanksgiving morning and it was down until the start of the business day on Monday because all the techs were off for the holiday weekend to spend time with their families.
 
I love how everything is blamed on corporations. Oh, those evil, terrible corporations.

Nevermind that the only thing corporations due is meet consumer demand. If there was no demand for ever cheaper products, things would still be made in the USA. If there was no demand to open Thanksgiving day, stores would be closed.

The American consumer drives all of this, but nobody wants to look in the mirror. What a bunch of pigs this country has become.

For the record, I've never shopped on Black Friday. I don't even want to be near that bunch of greedy pigs.

It's been a while since I bought anything on Black Friday, close to 7 years. I would love for everyone to not go out and buy stuff, that would be just...unreal. Imagine the corporate outrage?
 
Trying to call restaurants 'retailers' is a real stretch there. As is grocery stores, theatres, etc, etc.

What's the difference? Grocery stores and theaters aren't exactly mission critical, but all of their low income employees are working holidays too. What makes retail special?

The only people stretching are those that think retail is special.
 
I know I won't be shopping this holiday season at retailers that force their workers in on thanksgiving day.

how do you know which retailers force their workers to be there, though?

obv I don't work in retail, but I do work at a company that's staffed 24/7/365. every year, the policy is that the management asks for volunteers, and if no one does, the people who are scheduled to work that day are forced to. but in all the years I've been here, we've never not had all-volunteer coverage.
 
I love how everything is blamed on corporations. Oh, those evil, terrible corporations.

Nevermind that the only thing corporations due is meet consumer demand. If there was no demand for ever cheaper products, things would still be made in the USA. If there was no demand to open Thanksgiving day, stores would be closed.

The American consumer drives all of this, but nobody wants to look in the mirror. What a bunch of pigs this country has become.

For the record, I've never shopped on Black Friday. I don't even want to be near that bunch of greedy pigs.

You realize that the USA is still in the top three manufacturers in the world, right?
 
Depends on whether families or corporations are the framework of the US. I am personally rooting for the American family, as it seems like a dying breed.
 
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