THIS is how you spend a stat holiday??

[Pixelated]

Today (Monday, Feb. 20) was Family Day in Ontario. It's a stat holiday so most places are closed (this is optional for pretty much any retail outlet). My store was not closed, although we did close early (6 p.m.)

So I don't know whether the Apocalypse is right around the corner (again) or what, but it appeared that the vast majority of people in this city and its environs decided to spend a stat holiday -- with lovely weather, I might add -- prowling around the grocery store for an hour or two, and then standing in line for 10, 15, 20 minutes, waiting to get checked out.

It NEVER STOPPED. Absolute craziness. One of the cart wranglers said people were still running into the store 10 minutes before we officially closed. In a desperate move of self-defence, they set up two lines of interlocking carts to block people's access to the doors. The one line of carts didn't completely block access because there were still customers who needed to get out ... and of course there were employees who were running for their lives as their shifts ended.

[Kristev]

Frankly, I think holidays are for the birds. But to be fair, most shoppers are coocoo.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I was wondering what a "stat holiday" is? Perhaps a misspelling of "state holiday"? Then I Googled it. A "stat holiday" is a "statutory holiday". It's a Canadian thing.

[KuariKaydrith]

I was wondering what a "stat holiday" is? Perhaps a misspelling of "state holiday"? Then I Googled it. A "stat holiday" is a "statutory holiday". It's a Canadian thing.

Yeeah, we Canadians are a bit weird like that. I wish that retail shut down on those days, but it is what it is. In most places, so long after you have been employed by the company for a minimum of 30 days you get stat holiday pay for it, and the amount depends on whether or not you're scheduled to work it or not, and whether you're f/t or p/t because for p/t staff the amount you get paid if you have that day off depends a lot on how many hours you worked during the three weeks prior. And some places will let you take PTO at a later date instead of dealing with stat pay. I used to do payroll, and this was a regular thing to have to figure out because at the hotel we did our payroll manually instead of inputting it into a handy dandy program or spreadsheet.

[Pixelated]

I'm fairly sure we don't get paid anything if we don't work a stat holiday. If you do, though, you get double time. Management puts up a sign-up sheet and anybody who wants to work a stat holiday can put their name down. IF they don't get enough sign-ups, they will start scheduling people as needed, based on seniority. But because of the double time, I'm pretty sure that's never an issue.

Sorry, Ironclad Alibi, I am forgetting my journalism training ... I should've spelled it out in full the first time I used the phrase!

[Ironclad Alibi]

Sorry, Ironclad Alibi, I am forgetting my journalism training ... I should've spelled it out in full the first time I used the phrase!

No apologies needed. It's not an education if you don't have to put a little effort into learning it.