Who Is Working United States Thanksgiving XI? (2023 Edition)

[ZLoth]

It's that time of year again where some turkey asks "Who is working Thanksgiving Day?" Lets see here, we have the Original (2013), II (2014), III (2015), IV (2016), V (2017), VI (2018), VII (2019), Coronavirus (2020), IX (2021), and X (2022). The original thread was created over a decade ago because people were complaining that "the retailers were open and making the retail workers WORK", not realizing that other people were also earning a paycheck during the United States Thanksgiving holiday. Plus, we have the following sports (All Times Eastern):

• 12:30 PM - NFL on FOX: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (and Dallas is hosting the following Thursday as well)
• 4:30 PM - NFL on CBS: Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys
• 8:20 PM - NFL on NBC: San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (and Seattle plays the following Thursday as well)
• Friday @ 3:00 PM - NFL on Amazon: Miani Dolphins at New York Jets
• Multiple NCAA Mens and Womens Basketball Games
• No NBA or NHL Games on Thursday, November 23rd

[ZLoth]

You remember the part where the critics say "Those who make the schedule don't work the holidays?" Guess what... I made the schedule for my team and... I have to work the morning (8 AM-2 PM Eastern) on Thanksgiving, plus the afternoons (2 PM-8 PM Eastern) on Saturday, November 25th and Sunday, November 26th. The Saturday and Sunday shifts had no takers, so I'm ending up working them. It's a contractual obligation that we provide support for the product even though most of the entities will probably not be calling in. Work on the holiday schedule for Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas through New Years, and MLK was started after Labor Day and completed in mid-October.

Having said that, I'm on badly needed vacation from Saturday, December 23rd until Sunday, January 21st. I haven't had a real vacation since September, 2018, and a planned vacation in late September, 2022 had to be cancelled.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Guess what? Just another normal day in Spain. However I have workmates in the USA, and they will be off. Interestingly, it's going to be the only day that week in which I'll work, since I'll be out for a company meetup until Wednesday, and I don't work Fridays.

[1995hoo]

I have off both Thursday and Friday. I'm glad my direct boss is not in charge of that issue because he would not close the place on Friday if he were. He resents Thanksgiving being on Thursday because "nobody wants to work on Friday." (Duh!!!!! Except him!!!!!)

[Hunty2022]

I'll most likely be at my extended family's yearly Thanksgiving party watching the Cowboys game.

Something inside of me is telling me I should do the 2024 (XII) edition...

[GaryV]

Not me, but then again I'm retired.

Unless you want to count the support roles I'll have in hosting family members at our house.

[Rothman]

I'm not working Thanksgiving Day, per usual, but I will be working on Friday.  I'm also going to be working the week between Christmas and New Year's.  I'm doing this because it provides coverage in the office and staffers need to worry less about whether or not their leave requests get approved.

[NWI_Irish96]

Federal employees (except a few, notably TSA) are off Thanksgiving. The day after is not a Federal Holiday, but my position allows me to take it off nearly every year.

My wife is a respiratory therapist in a hospital and has had to work Thanksgiving in the past but now she's part time and isn't required to work any holidays. She usually works one of Friday or Saturday.

[Max Rockatansky]

Unless a building I manage sinks into the earth I won't be.

[SSOWorld]

It's that time of year again where some turkey asks "Who is working Thanksgiving Day?" Lets see here, we have the Original (2013), II (2014), III (2015), IV (2016), V (2017), VI (2018), VII (2019), Coronavirus (2020), IX (2021), and X (2022). The original thread was created over a decade ago because people were complaining that "the retailers were open and making the retail workers WORK", not realizing that other people were also earning a paycheck during the United States Thanksgiving holiday. Plus, we have the following sports (All Times Eastern):

• 12:30 PM - NFL on FOX: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (and Dallas is hosting the following Thursday as well)
• 4:30 PM - NFL on CBS: Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys
• 8:20 PM - NFL on NBC: San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (and Seattle plays the following Thursday as well)
• Friday @ 3:00 PM - NFL on Amazon: Miani Dolphins at New York Jets
• Multiple NCAA Mens and Womens Basketball Games
• No NBA or NHL Games on Thursday, November 23rd

ok zoomer

[formulanone]

Recognition is not taken away because others deserve it as well; another group's loss does not equate to lost valor for others' sacrifices.

That's because there's never been a shred of remembrance nor pause for thought for retail workers until very recently. When families and workers were annoyed that their annual traditions were being modified because of large businesses' continual need for greed that we noticed. When we realized the clerk making $8/hour was risking their lives in a pandemic so someone could yell at them for a lack of toilet paper, that suddenly many people straightened up. And when someone is modifying their wellness schedule so that you can get a discounted deal on some marginally improved piece of electronics, maybe there's a spare moment of reflection to go with it.

I intentionally took this week off this year because we're hosting family; I'm on-call for tech support on Friday. But I haven't actually worked on Thanksgiving...ever? (Though I have worked the occasional New Year's Day, Easter, Labor Day, et cetera.)

[Max Rockatansky]

I don't know if anyone was per se "risking their lives" on any Black Friday.  That said, I usually have a crowd control plan implemented and in the past customers tended to be very aggressive when the front store doors were unlocked.  Swing doors in particular were problematic since the customers would push them up unexpectedly fast once the tumbler was unlocked. 

If I recall, the whole being open on Thanksgiving idea started when Sears/Kmart got desperate and implemented the idea.  I was fortunately on my way out of Sears at the time for new District LP position elsewhere and put my notice two weeks in before Black Friday.  Once every retailer started opening on Thanksgiving it became watered down.  Customers and employees started pushing back which led to most retailers mostly opening at midnight on Black Friday.  Seemingly Thanksgiving shopping was just one of those items that the majority of retail customers weren't willing to widely accept.  Online retail no doubt played a significant factor in the retreat from Black Friday and Thanksgiving in general. 

[Rothman]

I don't know if anyone was per se "risking their lives" on any Black Friday.

Covid has killed 1.2 million people in the U.S.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

This goes back to well before COVID. As I remember it retailers started becoming wary after a string of customer deaths in door-busting events so they pushed the start of Black Friday to Thanksgiving night in hopes it would mitigate the crowds.

I find the "but x group has to work" to be silly. An EMT is an essential service. You buying a TV is not an essential service.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Which is what I was more or less trying to speak to.  Nowadays I don't need police assistance for crowd control, but I still put a crowd control policy in place nonetheless.  The big thing I always tried to do was stop the department managers from putting bulk stock near the entrance doors.  A lot of those bottlenecks you used to see in the news used to be due to poor sales floor planning. 

My first LP Manager back at Target had about 40 years of experience and taught me a lot about crowd control measures.  He had lots of stories about all sorts of incidents which led to customers and employees getting hurt in Black Friday mishaps. 

I don't know if anyone was per se "risking their lives" on any Black Friday.

Covid has killed 1.2 million people in the U.S.

The further back in time you go, the more people were in stores on Black Friday sales days.  Most retailers (including mine) had a hard cap on how many people could be in the store during 2020 and 2021.  During 2020 we didn't even let customers in unless they were wearing masks.  The employee mandate for full masking had been in place since May of 2020.  The average wait time to get in the store was about 60 minutes but went up to about 100 in 2020.  Our sales ultimately were about 1/4 of what they normally were that year for the entire Black Friday weekend. 

Prior to COVID, one would likely need to be on their death bed (I wish this wasn't hyperbole) to be permitted to call out on a Black Friday.  In 2007 (at Sears) I had a severe flu and spent the bulk of the day throwing up in an office trash can.  I came in because I was the LP Manager and knew there was no point in even attempting to call out on a day where our sales were projected to be $2,500,000.  By contrast, I was out for Black Friday last year because I pulled a positive COVID test the Monday prior.  Our policy required (and still does) being out for five days past a positive COVID test.   

As an aside, probably the year that carried the most risk for me personally was in 2012.  I went to my store in Yuma for Black Friday that year because they had a robbery attempt the day prior to Thanksgiving.  I hired an armed contract security service, but they weren't able to start until Sunday.  Essentially, I was on robber watch the entire and was supposed to "something" if he showed back up.  The robbery didn't show back up, but I did have a quadruple shoplift case at about 7:30 PM which I needed help from Yuma PD on.  My thought was that having three Yuma PD cars outside for several hours was likely a strong enough deterrent.  I went home to Phoenix on Sunday morning and the robbery was caught the following Monday trying to hit a Bank of America.

[ZLoth]

Once every retailer started opening on Thanksgiving it became watered down.  Customers and employees started pushing back which led to most retailers mostly opening at midnight on Black Friday.  Seemingly Thanksgiving shopping was just one of those items that the majority of retail customers weren't willing to widely accept.  Online retail no doubt played a significant factor in the retreat from Black Friday and Thanksgiving in general.

Once I realized that Amazon was price matching most of the major retailers on pricing, that's when I stopped bothering with the Black Friday sales, and that was over ten years ago. Plus, some of those "door buster" deals are either older technology or special makes of products with a reduced feature set (e.g. televisions with limited input ports, especially HDMI).

While I am looking for some deals this Black Friday, my list is delightfully short. I have already ordered some speedier and more spacious NVMe drives for my main computer, and will be transferring the slower NVMe drives to my secondary computer. I "need" a bigger external hard drive to back up my Plex media library. I will also keep an eye on some BluRays or 4K movies as well. But a new television, gaming console, Bluetooth device, tablet, or phone? Nope, waiting on phone upgrade until next year.

The other issue I have is the need to try and figure out what someone wants as a gift or, worse yet, giving someone some $5-$10 worthless bauble that ends up in next year's gift exchange. Yet, giving someone a gift card is somehow portrayed as "heartless and thoughtless". I would be very happy if someone gave me a Steam, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, or Lowes gift card rather than try to figure out what I like. Plus, a gift card is much easier and cheaper to send through the mails than packaging that bargain gift.

[Max Rockatansky]

Once every retailer started opening on Thanksgiving it became watered down.  Customers and employees started pushing back which led to most retailers mostly opening at midnight on Black Friday.  Seemingly Thanksgiving shopping was just one of those items that the majority of retail customers weren't willing to widely accept.  Online retail no doubt played a significant factor in the retreat from Black Friday and Thanksgiving in general.

Once I realized that Amazon was price matching most of the major retailers on pricing, that's when I stopped bothering with the Black Friday sales, and that was over ten years ago. Plus, some of those "door buster" deals are either older technology or special makes of products with a reduced feature set (e.g. televisions with limited input ports, especially HDMI).

While I am looking for some deals this Black Friday, my list is delightfully short. I have already ordered some speedier and more spacious NVMe drives for my main computer, and will be transferring the slower NVMe drives to my secondary computer. I "need" a bigger external hard drive to back up my Plex media library. I will also keep an eye on some BluRays or 4K movies as well. But a new television, gaming console, Bluetooth device, tablet, or phone? Nope, waiting on phone upgrade until next year.

The other issue I have is the need to try and figure out what someone wants as a gift or, worse yet, giving someone some $5-$10 worthless bauble that ends up in next year's gift exchange. Yet, giving someone a gift card is somehow portrayed as "heartless and thoughtless". I would be very happy if someone gave me a Steam, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, or Lowes gift card rather than try to figure out what I like. Plus, a gift card is much easier and cheaper to send through the mails than packaging that bargain gift.

Amusingly I had no idea what Black Friday even was until I went into a Meijer's during one accidentally to get a Mountain Dew when I as 16.  I ran into someone I went to school with who explained to me what was going on and let me cut the lines.  It certainly reaffirmed that working part time for a garage was the correct choice. 

[bing101]

I might be called into work on Thanksgiving day due to tourists making stops at my workplace during Thanksgiving week for the Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas celebrations on their way to their main destinations in the Bay Area or Sacramento. Yes I work in Fairfield.

https://www.jellybelly.com/jelly-belly-10-flavor-christmas-gift-box/p/94786

[vdeane]

It's that time of year again where some turkey asks "Who is working Thanksgiving Day?"

I thought it was the time of year where we discuss DST for a few more hours before the thread inevitably gets locked.

Crimes and medical emergencies happen when they happen.  People can shop another day.

[CtrlAltDel]

I will be off from Tuesday to Friday. I can't quite yet justify taking Monday as well, but maybe next year.

[1995hoo]

While I'm supposed to have this Friday off (Veterans Day falls on Saturday this year), there's a pretty good chance I might have to work. I'm trying to decide which is the better day to ask to have off in return: the day before Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas. Normally I'd say that's easy—Christmas is a Monday this year, so take the day after Christmas—but my wife and I are hosting my mom and my next-door neighbor for Thanksgiving, so I'm thinking maybe having the day before freed up for advance cooking etc would be useful.

Practically speaking, though, the odds are that if I wind up working Friday I will get nothing for it (no compensatory day off, etc.—I'm salaried, so extra "holiday pay" won't happen).

[ZLoth]

While I'm supposed to have this Friday off (Veterans Day falls on Saturday this year), there's a pretty good chance I might have to work. I'm trying to decide which is the better day to ask to have off in return: the day before Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas. Normally I'd say that's easy—Christmas is a Monday this year, so take the day after Christmas—but my wife and I are hosting my mom and my next-door neighbor for Thanksgiving, so I'm thinking maybe having the day before freed up for advance cooking etc would be useful.

Day off before Thanksgiving. Accept no substitutes. Your wife will thank you.

[mgk920]

Aso, how many of us are planning on answering reveille at 0300 on Friday for shopping maneuvers?

(Ugh...)

Mike

[Flint1979]

Definitely not working.

[kphoger]

The day after is not a Federal Holiday, but my position allows me to take it off nearly every year.

I'm often the only one in the office on that Friday.  It's a corporate holiday as well but, if I'm not there to do at least part of my usual daily job, then our company doesn't get paid for two days' worth of work until the following week.  In the grand scheme of things, it would be no big deal, but they let me come in for a half-day anyway.  They let me either (a) get a full day's holiday pay plus the hours I work, or else (b) take a half-day some other time during the pay-week to even it out.

Crimes and medical emergencies happen when they happen.  People can shop another day.

Very well put.  And, even then, a lot of medical staff end up getting either Thanksgiving or Christmas off, because it's recognized that having to work both holidays just ain't cool.