You must log in or # to comment.
That comment also sucks when working holidays, particularly Thanksgiving. “They should let you be with your families!” Ok thanks, get out!
If that person wasn’t there, you’d still be open though. From what I have seen of people going in during a holiday, they are all overworked with no time off and cannot get what they need beforehand, leading to them being essentially forced to.
Not to mention that many places take volunteers to work holidays since not everyone celebrates. And it’s not uncommon to get a bit more per hour from it.
Depends on the store. I worked at a big box hardware store and every public holiday you’d have old geezers just milling about wanting to strike up a 30 minute conversation with you about some esoteric project they’ve been working on for the last six months while you’re frantically mixing four different customer’s custom paint colours and trying to point other customers in the direction of things that have huge signs already directing customers to.
It’s a degrees of the same, they’re lonely and would be telling their kids/grandkids if said family weren’t also being forced to go to work. Next time you’re run into one, I’d encourage asking why they aren’t with their family/with loved ones.
yeah but then if nobody comes in the first year, they might close for next year
I’ve gone to places on holidays only because I knew they were open. It wouldn’t have been a big deal at all if they weren’t open.
At least some places like New Zealand have a surcharge on public holidays.
Most of the time, it’s the store being open that causes customers to come in. People expect places to be closed on holidays, so they check online. If the store’s listing on Google Maps or whatever confirms it is indeed closed, most people will just say “oh dang, too bad”. If it actually ends up being open then they go, buy their stuff, and then make a sympathetic comment to the employees.
I agree and that’s how i operate. However the counter argument to this is, if a store is open and no one shows up at all then next year they will not open because there was not a single sale. Not sure how acurate that is in terms of corporate BS but that is the general counter argument i hear.
That’s how the grocery store I worked at, Save A Lot, from 2014-2025 operated. Being open was based on the sales of the previous year. It also wasn’t uncommon that we’d just close after a few hours if no customers showed up. It’s what made me dislike customers on these days even more cause if they stayed home, I’d actually be able to go home early (or if I worked the closing shift, I wouldn’t have to come in at all).
The catch 22 is that the companies are opening on these days to catch the customers that come out. People go because the store is open, the store is open because people go. If people consistently, collectively didn’t go in, the stores would close.
but what fraction of those people are those that wouldn’t just go the day before or after closure instead?
The only gain the store is making is customers who need something that day and will go to another open store instead
Exactly…? If no one goes in, the store gains no benefit (only expending the cost of being open). But stores will open just on the off chance of customers coming in. And customers do go in, because the stores are open. Sometimes they go in and don’t even buy anything.
If you want retail employees to be able to spend holidays with their families, don’t go shopping on holidays. Make it unprofitable to be open.
nah. I’m not taking responsibility for shit management. I don’t care if they’re open or not, and I think they shouldn’t be, and it doesn’t change how much money I spend at their store, so they should close to save the labour costs. but it ain’t my responsibility.
“You” the general public, not “you” mrgoosmoos
Exactly.
“Stfu, I need my stat pay”
Yeah that’s why, if I say anything, I just thank them for being there.
Serious question: Is it about the tone or would you rather nobody comes? I mean it’s the same working hours for you. Where I live, shops are closed on holidays and Thanksgiving isn’t one so don’t ask me if I might be that customer.
When I worked retail, I would have rather nobody came at all. Store would then close up early for the day and I wouldn’t have to deal with the public for minimum wage.
Thanks, that makes sense. I never worked in retail, that’s why I asked
I would usually respond something along the lines of well, people still show up so we’re here. Don’t miss that line of work one bit.
“They make you work on a holiday?” says the reason they make you work on a holiday.
It isn’t like they can send you home. I know, I know, no raindrop feels responsible for the storm, but the people who give half a shit aren’t nearly numerous enough to get companies to stop this, even if all of them stopped going.
I remember on 9/11/01 people coming into my job like that: “so crazy huh? Can’t believe you guys are working. Anyway, let me get a half pound of potato salad.”
Also on something like blisteringly humid 40°C days, where you’re only doing inside service but tables insist on eating outside
Like bro, I’m a person too
It works both ways. When it’s -10°C outside and you walk into a store where the thermostat is set to a cozy 27 and the employees are walking around with short sleeve t-shirts. You spend 2 minutes 37 seconds inside, and leave with your balls drenched in sweat.
Okay, but customers have to put up with it for 2 minutes. Workers have to put up with it for 8 hours while doing exercise
Removed by mod
There should be the opposite of a dollar store right next door to a regular retail store. Everything’s marked up by a factor of 10. It’s open 24/7/365 come hell or high water, like a waffle house. It doesn’t sell much unless everything else is closed. Employees get hazard pay as a function of sales. If sales go up, so does hazard pay.
I don’t mind as long as it’s said gratefully. Like they hoped for a miracle and you’re it.
Just make law forbidding people to work some days. Capatilatist will keep their shop open when they burn if they can get away with it.
I don’t have much guilt over using a grocery store or gas station on a holiday. Retail or restaurants, on the other hand, I’ll try to avoid. Not all businesses are equal in daily necessity.
I don’t need to go to the grocery store daily because I have a refrigerator.
I don’t need to go to the gas station daily because I don’t drive hundreds of miles a day.
The grocery stores in my country are all closed on holidays …
Me when there’s blizzard conditions outside and three people have died but Taco Bell is still open
Look it’s just fun to go out in the snow 😅
in the winter, I push my errands out until there’s enough snow to slide around in, if I have to drive
you’re telling me that I get to go drift (reponsibly, of course), I get a basically empty store with nobody blocking the aisles or anything, the parking lot is wide open, and the checkouts have no lines? fucking sign me up
I really think the argument that “people who go into stores are the reason the store is open” is kind of dumb. The reason the store is open is because the owners want to make more money, and they think they can do that by staying open. I had to do the errand sooner or later anyways, it makes no difference to the amount of money I am spending at your store if I go in today or tomorrow. but it’s more fun and convenient for me to go today. if you were closed because of the weather, I would be mildly disappointed, and then forget about it in 3 minutes because I’m having fun sliding around.
blaming the customer in this situation is like blaming the customer for your boss paying you below minimum wage.
I really think the argument that “people who go into stores are the reason the store is open” is kind of dumb.
The reason the store is open is because the owners want to make more money, and they think they can do that by staying open.
Okay, hear me out. I know this sounds crazy, but if the owner wants to make money, they do so when people come into the store and purchase things.
So if people didn’t come into the store, then they wouldn’t purchase things, right?
So if there’s nobody purchasing things, the store isn’t making money. Which means that if there’s a reason that people aren’t coming into the store and spending money, the owners of the stores will possibly try to avoid wasting money by being open. Not instantly, of course, but over time - say, the course of a year - a pattern showing a lack of customers because of a specific cause will make a business reconsider their policy if it impacts their bottom line.
I grew up in a tourist town, and outside of 3 months of the year 50% of businesses were closed. And probably 25% reduced the hours that they’re open. Because no tourists meant fewer customers and who cares about the locals. It was cheaper to close and for the owners to go to their second houses in Florida for the winter than stay open all year. But I knew of 1 restaurant that expected the entire staff to be there regardless of the weather - rain, snow, or shine. One time the owner was going to let his staff go home because of a blizzard so bad that the state declared a state of emergency and was closing down the roads, and some guy came in for dinner. And this was in New England, so we’re talking snow accumulation measured in inches per hour and whiteout conditions - not some southern state where an inch of snow grinds everything to a halt. The entire staff had to risk being snowed in at work and unable to get home until the state got the snow cleared because 1 guy decided to go out in a once in a decade winter storm.
My first self realization moment was a black Thursday. I said pretty much the same, reflected on it later as most neurodivergents do. And haven’t gone to a black Friday/Thursday since. One I didn’t need the shit, two if I really want it then I can wait a day.
I’m in retail management. My mom told me she had a baseball sized tumor they needed to be removed.
I was like “I don’t know what to say I haven’t prepared for this. All I can think right now is ‘you’re still coming in tho right?’”
