Labor Day was established in the latter part of the nineteenth century* in recognition of laborers. It has become a holiday, presumably a day in which the laborer can lay aside the burdens of his work for at least that day.
Here's an irony. Now we have that probably one-quarter of all laborers in the US work in retail concerns. Retail sales on Labor Day have become such a large part of the industry that the day is second only to Black Friday in dollar volume.+ Now who makes the transactions? Why, the laborers who work in retail. And not only do they work on this, their holiday, but many of them are required to work extended hours!
Happy Labor Day, y'all!
*1894
+Or so I read somewhere.
13 comments:
Welcome to the service economy, available to you 24x7.
Costco is closed for Labor Day. I was surprised when they announced that. Finally, a retail concern that gets it!
BTW: I watch your live traffic feed when I check in to see where it locates me these days. Today it has me in Edgerton, KS. Most days I'm in Wellsville, KS. This is probably because our (not very reliable) internet service is provided out of Ottawa, KS.
Jim, instant gratification. I want something, I want it now!
Vee, surprising. Could it be that Costco starts a trend?
The first couple of weeks you were there, your service was from Ozawkie. I had to look it up.
For years I thought my father's birthday was a holiday. He was born 9/3 and often Labor Day fell on that day. My father was a big union man so Labor Day was a real holiday for him.
I love feedjit! and it appears that I come from the United States. With all moving I have done over the years, albeit all on the East Coast, that's as a good a guess as any.
Grace, my first daughter's birthday is on May 30, which used to be a holiday. Not so often anymore.
I have often wondered why Feedjit locates some people in "United States." That really isn't very specific.
I stopped at the library on Saturday during regular hours. They were closed. Ugh! Oh yes, it's Labor Day weekend. At least some folks are able to enjoy it.
Chuck, your librarians got a "long weekend." Ours closed today, but also Thursday through Saturday for the Pork Festival.
And since most retail jobs are minimum wage, they are not making that much, even working the holiday.
We had a funny (sort of) cartoon in our paper today, where the guy tells his wife,
"All three of my min. wage jobs gave me the day off today, for Labor Day."
Of course, my first job paid a dollar an hour. :)
Marsha, careful; you may reveal how far back you go! I was working minimum 65 cents when the gov't raised the minimum to 90 cents. But I'm much the older.
The Labor Economy is pretty much gone and with it the power of the laborer. Saw a piece on TV about companies that house you to live at work. You can brainstorm 24/7 and never have to commute. Hmmm
Sharkey, yeah, that is an appealing notion. Work 24/7. Does "prison" spring to mind?
Pork Festival sounds like something they'd celebrate in D C.
Chuck, those denizens of Foggy Bottom certainly know how to throw a Pork Fest!
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