As part of the research, Kare11 requested comments on their Facebook page in response to this story idea. Many people posted that retail people should be thankful they have a job, while others in the medical field commented that they have worked holidays for years. I get their point but it really isn't a fair comparison, as a nurse you enter into your profession or a hospital setting knowing that holidays are a part of the deal. Also, as a medical professional you are paid significantly more than someone working retail. Point of reference, I won't receive holiday pay as a part time sales associate... but I digress, this is just one example and there are so many.
So anyway, I was reading all of this and getting a little frustrated because the general idea of the story by Kare11 is the fact that more and more time is being taken away from people's families. Think about it, over the last decade or more we have become more and more a 24/7 society, no longer working 40 hours, no longer taking a true vacation where you aren't checking on work. I remember back when I was a kid and then holidays were something special, surrounded by friends and family, where the only thing open on Thanksgiving was the hospital and an occasional convenience store.
This thanksgiving, I will be hanging with friends and resting, knowing that on my day off from my full time job, I will be working a mandatory 12 hour shift at my part time retail gig. The store I work at is opening at Midnight with 100 others at the Mall of America. I didn't draw that shift and I am grateful but I am not looking forward to a 12 hour Black Friday either. Woo Hoo!
1 comments:
i worked retail for about 10 years and worked 12 hour shifts, every Black Friday for all 10. it was hell. i cannot imagine being told i had to work Thanksgiving Night at midnight. that's absolutely ludicrious and barbaric and my heart goes out to those people being forced to leave their families to do it.
and i cannot stress how much i loathe hearing "you're lucky you have a job at all"; that's one of hte most insulting statements one can make to someone because it's tantamount to "you're a whore; shut up and do it for the $50 you're being paid".
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