First time we are open on New Year's Day ... some CWs go wonky

[Pixilated]

For the record, I've been at this job for, I dunno, five years? Six? Longer?
We have never been open New Year's Day.
Until this year.
So, since it offered double time, I signed up early on.
Two stories from the day.

1) CW says to me: "How'd you get scheduled today?"
Me: "Um ... I signed up ... ?"
CW: "But you don't have much seniority!"
Me: "Well, maybe the people with more seniority didn't want to work today and so didn't sign up ... ?"

I was telling a couple of other CWs this story later on and they stared in disbelief: "Seniority has nothing to do with it! They schedule whoever signs up. If they didn't get enough people signing up, they'd have scheduled some of the newbies!"

2) CW (one of the "other" CWs in the above story) was saying that some people had announced they were going to "make a point" or "take a stand" or something by not signing up.
Well, okay; that is certainly their right.
And opening for the first time on NY Day might be a significant symptom of Late Stage Capitalism ... but again ... DOUBLE TIME.

I live in Ontario; the minimum wage here is $17.60 per hour. So day I got roughly $35 an hour, for five hours.
You BET I'm signing up for a shift!

[Jay 2K Winger]

Reminds me of when I was still working the IT service desk at The Client. Because the desk was 24/7, we were open on holidays. Most coworkers requested time off on those days.

I am not most coworkers, and apart from the usual major family holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) I had no particular need to have those days off. So I would work, and get time and a half.

As a result, I would get close to maxing out earning leave hours. One time, my boss told me to take some time off before I reached the cap, and my CWs were bewildered.

Them: "How do you have so much leave?"
Me: "I don't take vacations, I don't get sick, and I don't have kids."
Them: "..."
Me: "And I work the holidays, so you don't have to."
Them: "..."
Me: "You're welcome."

[Ceir]

Reminds me of when I was still working the IT service desk at The Client. Because the desk was 24/7, we were open on holidays. Most coworkers requested time off on those days.

I am not most coworkers, and apart from the usual major family holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) I had no particular need to have those days off. So I would work, and get time and a half.

As a result, I would get close to maxing out earning leave hours. One time, my boss told me to take some time off before I reached the cap, and my CWs were bewildered.

Them: "How do you have so much leave?"
Me: "I don't take vacations, I don't get sick, and I don't have kids."
Them: "..."
Me: "And I work the holidays, so you don't have to."
Them: "..."
Me: "You're welcome."

Sounds quite familiar from my contractor days, oh yes.

[MadMike]

Me: "And I work the holidays, so you don't have to."

My mom worked as a nurse for many years before she retired almost 20 years ago. Since people don't stop getting sick or injured on holidays, sometimes she'd get stuck working on Christmas. Once she didn't have kids in the house anymore, she started volunteering to work Christmas so that those who still had kids at home could be with them.

[csquared]

Back in the day of gasoline at under $1.25/gal, I worked at a self-serve gas station (I was working there when gas broke $1.00 and they did half price pumps). One year they decided to be open on Thanksgiving day and were offering double time. $7.10/hour.

My Dad worked for the Federal Government. As they paid double time for holidays, they were only allowed to work three of the six major holidays. More like you had to work three of the six major holidays. The two oldest siblings were married, so my parents sent them off to their In-Laws for Thursday, and we would have the big family gathering on Saturday.

Double time and not missing anything at home. I volunteered.

So, me and the other volunteer coworker spent most of the day playing cards. In the eight hours that we were open, we had maybe 12 customers.

Later in the day, his parents brought over dinner. He got the usual: turkey, stuffing, etc.

My parents also brought over dinner. Note what I said above. We're cooking the bird on Saturday. What did I get? Italian sausage sub. I had to listen to my coworker rant for an hour about not having Turkey on Thanksgiving.

And with such a poor turnout, they were closed the following year.