Stores open on Thanksgiving...

[draggar]

Don't forget Old Navy!

The one that really confuses me though is Michael's. Who the hell has a crafting emergency so dire that Michael's feels the need to be open?!

Martha Stewart?

[jedimaster91]

I can think of very little that would be worse than being sick and having to pick up a prescription on black friday, only to find the pharmacy register clerk is being forced to pander to the black friday crowd.

I'd pretty much have to be at deaths door in order to put up with that. Ugh.

Start coughing on them. They'll move.



Honestly, I wouldn't mind working a shift on Thanksgiving. That being said, I work in medicine and my department usually closes between noon and 3:30pm depending on the location and patient load.

[AdminAssistant]

The one that really confuses me though is Michael's. Who the hell has a crafting emergency so dire that Michael's feels the need to be open?!

We don't have an appropriate tablescape!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!

[Midnight12]

From what hubs tells me walmart used to close half a day on thanksgiving but now the ONLY days they close are christmas eve and christmas day. And as he works the graveyard shift so as annoyed and angry as i am with that fact the shock has long worn off.
Glad that some stores are closed today
Last I heard with some stores the volunteer sign up sheet was posted at least a month or three weeks in advance but i'm sure that too has gone

[sarasquirrel]

so the store made $2000 today. yup. thats it.

[Jester]

But your bar seems to be non-corporate. I'm sure if you needed the day off the management would respect that? (Of course, you'd miss out on a lot of tips!).

Very non-corporate. As I tell many inquiring tourists, we are a chain of ONE.

As for getting the day off, perhaps. But then again, if a lot of people asked for the day off, someone is going to have to work. And honestly, I have never minded working on Thanksgiving. And since there are only so many batenders, and one of them DID ask for the day off, I had no problem working.

And I did make 2 bills, so as you said, I would have missed out on some tippage.

AND I had a few more than normal patrons buying me shots. Jester was very happy by the time he hit Photo Dude's place for dinner after work....

Just make sure she doesn't talk or at least loses the attitude.

How can I say this politely.....?

Her mouth would be full.

Who says you need a traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes dinner on Thanksgiving?

No one. I rarely do turkey.

Twice today I had the full dinner, but with no turkey, extra stuffing--as I don't care for turkey and LOVE stuffing. Hell, my record is six helpings at one sitting. At the time, my stepbrother, whose nickname in the family is "Hoover," looked at me and asked, "What the hell is WRONG with you, dude?"

On one memorable Thanksgiving, I went out with my mom and stepdad to a restaurant where we had Cornish game hen for dinner. No cooking for us, no cleanup for us, it was all good, and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Hell, I could see having sushi on Thanksgiving if my friends were down with it.

I only need three things to make it Thanksgiving for me: stuffing, football, and beer. And by noon thirty today, I had gotten a bit of all three.

Last I heard with some stores the volunteer sign up sheet was posted at least a month or three weeks in advance but i'm sure that too has gone

Back when I worked for the Red and White Stripes in Key West, we had a volunteer sheet like that: two shifts for Fantasy Fest, Thanksgiving, Chrismas Eve and Day, New Year's Even and Day--seven days, fourteen shifts, you were required to sign up for X shifts (I don't remember the exact number). I always signed up for enough shifts to get me out of NYE and NYD. I have no problem working T-Day and Christmas.

This year, if my regular set schedule holds true (and I have been told it will), I will work New Year's Eve day shift, which is a Friday, and then have off till the following Monday....which gives me an entire weekend to party for New Year's.

Yeah, that rocks!

[MadMike]

Publix and Target both have in-store pharmacies and both are closed.

Same with the Giant (a local supermarket chain) near my house. The whole store closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

[draggar]

And I did make 2 bills, so as you said, I would have missed out on some tippage.

Nice - how does that compare to a normal shift? (Weekend? Weekday?)

Twice today I had the full dinner, but with no turkey, extra stuffing--as I don't care for turkey and LOVE stuffing. Hell, my record is six helpings at one sitting. At the time, my stepbrother, whose nickname in the family is "Hoover," looked at me and asked, "What the hell is WRONG with you, dude?"
(snip)

I only need three things to make it Thanksgiving for me: stuffing, football, and beer. And by noon thirty today, I had gotten a bit of all three.

I love stuffing - and squash. I can do with both but turkey is good. (And potatoes, bread, drown it all (except the squash) in gravy...)

[Jester]

Nice - how does that compare to a normal shift? (Weekend? Weekday?)

It's hard to say, because nothing is ever "normal" in Key West, and I can make a bucket of cash on a Monday and have a dead Friday some weeks, but I always say that any shift where I make a bill is a worthy shift. Two bills? Awesome. (By comparison, Monday I barely squeaked it over a bill, and two Saturdays ago, filling in for a coworker, I made three bills, but that was highly unusual....last Saturday, the same coworker had a very slow shift.)

[Rine]

I work at Sears. For my crew, they took volunteers to work, but for the hardlines side (electronics, applicances, tools, etc) it was all hands on deck. 200 people were outside waiting when the store opened at 7 AM.

None of us were very happy to hear our store was opened on Thanksgiving. We've never been open that day--we had Easter taken away a few years ago, so we really held onto Thanksgiving and Christmas as the two days we could spend with family.

I was hoping that no one would shop, but of course I was wrong.

If we do keep open next year, I hope it's at such limited hours. Then again, some of the people that worked Thanksgiving didn't get home until 4 or 5 that evening and we closed at 12 PM. Sad, sad.

[Seshat]

I agree...if the reasoning is that people need to be able to get their meds, then by that logic the pharmacy should never be allowed to close.

The ER nearest us has both an after-hours medical clinic (for those emergencies which need a doctor, but not full ER facilities) and a 24/7/365 pharmacy.


I agree that emergency services and some related facilities need to be 24/7/365. The rest? ... meh. Fratching time.

[draggar]

It's all over by now and even the mass-chaos that ensures on black Friday morning is winding down (so to speak).

I hope that for large chain stores that don't need to be open didn't do enough business so that they reconsider the decision next year.

Jester - I'm glad you had a good day yesterday. At least the pay helped offset missing the holiday (but you mentioned that New Years is bigger for you - so I hope you do enjoy it as much as you can (yeah, is that possible in Key West? ).

Now, back to your regularly scheduled shopping sprees.

[roothorick]

The Indian buffet is run by, well, Indians, who don't really observe Thanksgiving, so it's just another day for them.

Why not? They're still Americans, are they not? It's not like we're talking about a religious holiday here. I can't really see there being a real reason to not observe Thanksgiving, unless you have a major beef with the east coast NAs.

[Kirking]

I work at one of the stores that was open on Thanksgiving. We were open 6am-9pm. Our entire staff had to work. I was lucky and my shift was done by noon, but half our crew had to work till close.

Although at my store, not a single person is allowed Thanksgiving off. Everyone is required to be there. It sucks because more than half our staff have kids and spouses. I have relatives two hours away from me that I havent spent Thanksgiving with in two years.

As long as our corporation can make money on Thanksgiving and there are people who will shop, we'll stay open.