I find it fascinating how it appears (I have not statistics to back it up, just seems like it to me) that people now get all up in arms about different things much more quickly than in the past.

For example, the whole “work on Thanksgiving” idea. Why is it that this year everywhere I look someone is saying they love it, or hate it, or don’t judge me because I don’t have the day off, or something else?

A couple things. One, why is Thanksgiving such an Important Family Holiday? Two, since when has everyone been closed on Thanksgiving? Airlines, hotels, police and fire, military, utilities – all have people who work year round. They don’t get holidays off.

Biggest day of the year at movie theaters – Christmas. “Oh, but not everyone celebrates Christmas.” Exactly. And maybe not everybody celebrates Thanksgiving. I do realize that many more retail stores are opening on Thanksgiving, and that is driven by various factors, the same way being open on Sunday evolved many years ago. Once a big competitor starts to do something, there is pressure to follow suit. And what is new and different one year is expected later on. It used to be next to impossible to find an open gas station if you were travelling on Christmas, that is no longer the case. Not everyone does this, of course. In ten years it will be normal to be open on Thanksgiving, I expect. Maybe less.

I don’t really have a point, other than to vent a little, because I keep hearing how horrible it is that people have to work, yet the people saying this won’t think twice about sitting in their heated home and watching a football game or parade or watch TV and checking their email, all functions which require someone else to be working, somewhere. If you have the day off, be happy. And be nice to anyone who is working that day, too. It’s not that complicated.