Working Graveyard? We'll Miss You at the Table

A post on Target's Facebook's page posed a question: why the big deal over stores opening at midnight on Thanksgiving when police, EMTs and other emergency workers are on the job 365/24/7? What's the difference? I've been thinking about this a lot because a fair number of friends who are fellow writers and musicians work in retail. I used to live there myself.

One answer to the poster's question is apparent in the name of the general vocational field, emergency services. Recreational shopping is not an emergency need.

But there's something else. To me it feels like the midnight opening crosses a line. Four a.m. is tough enough for employees who have to work that shift but at least it's possible for them to spend an afternoon with family or friends. Having to be at work at 11:00 pm makes celebrating the holiday virtually impossible...and it's to accommodate shoppers, not to save lives. What will be next - opening on Christmas afternoon so that the people who tore open their packages that morning can rush in to make exchanges?

One of the ways that families, communities and cultures create bonds is by celebrating together. That's why holidays are important. I sometimes wonder if the disengagement I've seen in some of the young people I've worked with comes from not feeling like they belong to any kind of community. Gathering with others for the sole purpose of enjoying each other's company and experiencing gratitude together, while only a start, would be a step towards building that community.

But this kind of bonding is difficult if a large number of members can't be present. In nonessential services, the customers' wishes drive decisions. However, it's not reasonable to let customer whims or "the market" dictate all decisions, especially when the decision has the potential to be detrimental to employees.

And in the end, it might prove detrimental to all of us, even those who never have to work on major holidays, by making it harder to bring people together as well as making our culture even more stuff-driven than it already is. When a large number of us lose something, we all eventually lose.

Some day, maybe holidays will actually be days of rest for everyone who doesn't provide emergency services. Meanwhile, my thoughts are with the people who will be clocking in at 11.