Anyone working on Thanksgiving? How do you feel about it?

I am scheduled to work 10am- 10:30pm.

I work near large retail centers and I know I am going to be busy (700 reservations so far).

I personally am excited about the opportunity to make money to spend on my daughter for Christmas.

I have to sacrifice Thanksgiving for Christmas but in the end it will be worth it.

a reply to: abe froman

At least your not working on Black Friday.

My friend is gonna work in Black Friday which he dread since he's gonna witness the locusts.

Ill be doing tedious work at a restaurant for 7.25 an hour. Wondering how many families go to I hop for thanksgiving honestly. Dont know what to expect. But it still sucks.

I really dont mind working any holiday, and I will fill in for anyone who would rather stay home, for overtime and holiday pay. I can celebrate later.

i work for myself and from home (which is nice) however i often wonder about why we place so much emphasis on one day particular day that is considered a holiday...and the rest of the year is less important. and usually on the holiday we are spending time either gorging on too much food or spending money on miscellaneous holiday themed items. is it truly about spending time with family or the latter?

a reply to: abe froman
I am not working on Thanksgiving Day and I feel good about that.
As far as other people working, I understand emergency personnel and service people working....
But retail employees should be at home with their families.
All retail stores, including grocery stores, should be closed that day.

originally posted by: dreamlotus1111
i work for myself and from home (which is nice) however i often wonder about why we place so much emphasis on one day particular day that is considered a holiday...and the rest of the year is less important. and usually on the holiday we are spending time either gorging on too much food or spending money on miscellaneous holiday themed items. is it truly about spending time with family or the latter?

im with you.
i have that thursday and friday off. im glad i have it off cause i get paid for both days but if i was asked to work for double time i would.
i dont really put any stock into thanksgiving. this is actually the first year that i have talked my wife into us either just staying at the house and doing nothing special or going to a restaurant.
i usually cook the bird and do the family thing even though i really dont want to.
kind of sucks really.

this year nobody is coming over and i am not making holiday rounds.

its just another day. just so happens to be a day that i get paid for staying home and that works fine for me

Always enjoyed Thanksgiving, and I'm the cook, so It's even more fun for me.

Mostly over the last 10 years though, due to my wife's job at Walmart, most times she's at work and we end up having a very late meal. We didn't mind it too much, as I spend the day with my step son having fun.

However, the last couple of years, Walmart now has their "Black Friday" sales on Thanksgiving itself. I loath all the retail owners that decided sales are more important that family time on a holiday.

My wife explained it to me: Walmart saw that every Thanksgiving, people would show up that evening and camp out at the store waiting for the Friday sales to begin, waiting literally all night long. So Walmart decided to just go ahead and have the sale on Thanksgiving day itself.

This year she has to work 1pm to 10pm on Thanksgiving, so our meal will be warmed up left overs for her. I blame both: the greedy corp and the greedy buyers, who just had to have that xbox one or flat screen TV so bad, they literally camped out over night every year at the store.

Still though, I'll be spending the day with my step son. Last couple of years we played some computer games together. This year we're going to play 7 Days To Die together and see what trouble we can get into!

a reply to: abe froman

I don't have to work that day or Friday.
I'm glad, I am looking forward to the time off.
I am on call this week, thank Gosh, not next. Of course, honestly, the person who is on call after me I don't particularly care for so I usually THROW the phone at her when it's her time. I know that sounds bad but, we have history.

The field in which I work is a "service" type. The support staff usually "split" the shifts so that they can spend some time with their families. If they are qualified, they get holiday pay for both Thursday and Friday so usually it is easy to get two staff to split an 8 hour shift or three to split a 12. They do this on Christmas also...
It's usually a big production for the people that they work with. Some have no family except for their staff so, the staff try very hard to make it as special as possible.
The company will have a big dinner on Tuesday for everyone.

Last year was the first Thanksgiving without Mom. We had the usual group over. I know I cooked, as usual but, truly it was through a haze (medicated and otherwise) and I am not sure I remember much!
We will have a group again. I will cook again. I will try to keep my mind off of the sadness again. I will stuff it down and make everyone happy again.

Maybe sometimes, those who work are lucky...

I haven't had more than a day off in months. I'll have 4 days off next week.

I just might go nuts.

originally posted by: abe froman
I work near large retail centers and I know I am going to be busy (700 reservations so far).

One of my restaurants was located in a huge retail complex so Thanksgiving and Black Friday were two of the busiest days for us.

After we closed on Thanksgiving I would have 'family dinner' for the staff; guajolote con todo.

a reply to: abe froman

I personally am excited about the opportunity to make money to spend on my daughter for Christmas.

You're good people.

I might have been a weird kid, but my favorite part about Christmas when I was little was seeing how happy it made my parents to give a gift.

She's a lucky girl. It's got to feel rough not being there for both holidays, but she knows. Even if she's at that horrible age, she still knows.

Blame yourselves.

As someone noted, consumers want to be able to shop on Thanksgiving.

It is called Black Friday because that is the day that many retail stores actually turn a profit for the year (being in the black is considered being profitable for you progressives... it ain't racist!). Being in the red is losing money. Hey, that is racist against Indians.. I mean Native Americans....Elizabeth Warren.

If consumers didn't line up or demand stores to be open, no stores would open. It really is that simple. Few businesses would turn away that much revenue if given a choice.

For the employees who have to work it may suck for some, but many want the extra money. They should have that choice.

a reply to: abe froman

I'm on-call for Thursday and Friday. Just the nature of the job. Responsibility sucks, but there are rewards.

a reply to: abe froman

Interesting thread. I've read all the comments and given all stars and a flag for the op.

I am a magicians assistant and I work every year at the Memphis zoo lights, since 2009. Every year the zoo is closed during the day on thanksgiving but open at night for the zoo lights. I found that to be very frustrating. Since I'm married, we go to my husbands family during the day and then my family at night. Since I had started working, my family wasn't seen anymore on thanksgiving. Which made me really sad, especially after my mom passed away in 2011, I wanted to be there at my moms families house.
But last year, my magic boss(), hired me and another girl!! So last year and this year I am able to attend thanksgiving dinner with my moms family. And that makes me super happy, because I choose to see my family rather than making more money.

And I'm not saying if you choose to work, you're bad, I'm just saying that's what I get to choose and I am very grateful for that option.

I do not like the corporate greed and the consumers needing their deals.

Much peace -nat

originally posted by: natalia
I am a magicians assistant....

Noooooo. Shut. The. Front. Door.

I am a magician myself. I make beer disappear. It really is quite impressive.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I am a magician myself. I make beer disappear. It really is quite impressive.

When I was younger I could make a LARGE quantity of beer disappear. Wasn't that impressive though as it usually reappeared later in the night.

originally posted by: mymymy

When I was younger I could make a LARGE quantity of beer disappear. Wasn't that impressive though as it usually reappeared later in the night.

If you were a proper Beer Magician like myself the bottles would had appeared miraculously refilled later in the evening.

a reply to: Edumakated

I know why it's called Black Friday, but I always think of it as Black Friday because it's the absolute worst day to realize that you have to do to the store for something.



... unless it's the grocery store that is.

I've done my share of Thanksgiving holidays at work, so I understand it. In fact, our family always celebrates the larger family celebrations on the nearest weekend off the actual days themselves for this fact.

We understand that most families are not flexible enough to celebrate a holiday on any other day, so we give them priority. We also recognize that some jobs demand service on those days and that it's easier to arrange time off on an "off" day.

This year, our Thanksgiving will be a three person family affair at home while the larger celebration will be the weekend after at my aunt's. Christmas will be arranged similarly. Some years, because my brother-in-law is a guard at a state penitentiary and has real trouble getting time off at holiday time, we may not even get together until almost New Year's Day.