Juneteenth and My Job

[busymom]

Jun 16, 2022 22:24:20 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Jun 16, 2022 21:16:07 GMT -5 busymom said:

Sheesh!  Who owns your company, and are they members of the Proud Boys, or one of those other organizations?  That's just mean...

You “own” my company. But my salary does not come from any taxes you pay,  even though I work for the federal government. 

If that doesn’t make sense to you, please just trust me, that what I said is true.

    My only other thought is, they're so worried about playing favorites, that they've decided to mess up everyone's weekend.  Either way, it's just plain ugly what they're doing to the employees.

[justme]

Geeze and I thought my company putting out a press release last year about how they're giving their employees Juneteenth off from now on when in reality they just moved one of our holiday days to that was shiesty. Getting good PR for doing literally nothing.

But at least we still get the day off! Total crap they don't draft that many for other holidays.

[finnime]

I agree with almost everyone else. Something went deliberately awry here and I imagine it will continue over the years, until someone makes something of it publicly (you can do that publicly but anonymously). I remember MLKJr's birthday became a holiday. At first there was a lot of push back from some people, but they combined Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into one Presidents Day for a holiday.

You should have the holiday off. It should be given without strings. And if it's normal to have volunteers to work the holiday, that should apply here, too.

[wvugurl26]

They did this crap on purpose. They knew what they were doing. It makes perfect sense hoping they somehow made a mistake. Unless everyone is also drafted for the July 4th holiday, I don't think it's a mistake. I guess you have to wait and see what happens then.

I'm in a training conference Monday to Wednesday but I assume big global conferences like this one set their schedules years in advance. I get another day in lieu of the holiday.

[daisylu]

No doubt race is playing a part in this, but which part? It is clear that they have to address this holiday this year, yet it does not seem like they planned for it. 

To play devil's advocate - Could the higher ups who made the decision to make everyone work been trying to avoid a situation where the company could have accused of favoritism or discrimination practices on a holiday meant to celebrate African-American culture, so they just took the easy way out?

[gs11rmb]

I'm with everyone else that it does seem fishy.

One possible non-fishy reason that occurred to me is that the wider population is probably not off on Monday and so will be carrying on with business-as-usual.  I would guess that most people have plans around Memorial Day*, Labor Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, etc. because they are so closely associated with family and friend activities. I expect businesses (including retail) to be closed on July 4th but expect them to be open on Presidents Day.  

If this is the first Juneteenth for your organization maybe management doesn't have a good understanding of how much work will need to be done.  If it turns out that you are super quiet and next year the same thing happens then I think the motivation for over-scheduling will become painfully obvious.

Does that even make any sense?



*Slightly off-topic but I've been in this country for over 20 years and I still think it's really odd that Memorial Day is the start of summer fun and not a day of mourning the dead.

[TheOtherMe]

Jun 17, 2022 8:45:10 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

*Slightly off-topic but I've been in this country for over 20 years and I still think it's really odd that Memorial Day is the start of summer fun and not a day of mourning the dead.

This is my big gripe about holidays.  Growing up, this is what Memorial Day is and it's what it still should be.

The speaker on the Juneteenth talk last night said the leaders of the Black Community are doing everything possible to not let Juneteenth become another Memorial Day.

[nidena]

It's always been my thinking that if one person feels something off then *more than one* person probably feels something is off.

Maybe they drafted everybody because they perceived if they drafted only the amount they needed and all those workers were Black, it would be taken as racist?

Maybe they did it so that they could dismiss any concerns that it was racist since EVERYBODY got drafted...the old "you're imagining things" excuse?


As for Memorial Day, gs11rmb, the marketing gurus of this country have turned every holiday into something to "celebrate", no matter its origin.

In the military, Memorial Day marks the start of the 101 Critical Days of Summer because we tend to get extra stupid and reckless when it's hot and we're drinking and partying.


@pinkcshmere, you're in quite the conundrum.  I think your suspicions are totally valid.  You just need to see how it plays out and go from there.

[engineerdoe]

Jun 16, 2022 19:28:47 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Jun 16, 2022 18:49:29 GMT -5 engineerdoe said:

To respond to your post, I need to explain a little more about how it works. 

My regular days off from work are Monday and Tuesday. Like I said before, holidays that fall on a Monday, Sunday is my holiday, because of how the holiday schedule works.

Because Monday is my regular day off work, if they made me come in Monday, it would be overtime pay (time and a half) instead of holiday pay (double time, except for Christmas, which is 8 hours of straight pay, plus time and a half). To make me work on Monday (since it’s my regular day off), they would have to draft everybody on my shift whose holiday is on Monday, before they could make me work Monday. Which they could’ve done this time, since they drafted everybody each day. My *holiday* is Sunday, because Monday is my regular day off work. 

If my off days were Saturday and Sunday, I could volunteer to work Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the holiday schedule. That would mean I got paid OT for Saturday and Sunday, and holiday pay for Monday. And they would have to let me work those days before they started drafting people.

It’s kind of complicated and I don’t know if I’m explaining it well. 

During my 20+ years there, supervisors and managers have always had an issue with the fact that employees like me can actually make more money than they do if they’re willing to work OT. 

This was not a mistake. They know how they have to pay us for working our holidays and off days on a holiday schedule. 

This makes more sense now.  Thank you.

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2022 8:43:19 GMT -5 daisylu said:

No doubt race is playing a part in this, but which part? It is clear that they have to address this holiday this year, yet it does not seem like they planned for it. 

To play devil's advocate - Could the higher ups who made the decision to make everyone work been trying to avoid a situation where the company could have accused of favoritism or discrimination practices on a holiday meant to celebrate African-American culture, so they just took the easy way out?

They make the holiday schedule strictly according to seniority. I don’t see how they can be accused of discrimination or favoritism if they drafted just like any other holiday. 

[laterbloomer]

Silly question but can half the staff volunteer to cover off days for the other half so theu have to pay double time? Then at least the ones stuck working make bank. You can offer to return the favour another time.

[Deleted]

Jun 16, 2022 22:41:24 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Sure, as hell sounds racist to me. I think that's why they made everyone work so they can say oh no, we treated everyone the same, while they know they are not.  So, is management working that day too? Me bets they are not. I would be mad too. The stuff people do, then they wonder why people are poed. 

Some of the supervisors will probably work. But upper level managers and the people that work in offices don’t usually work holidays.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t have drafted anybody. And it’s not about me getting drafted. Even if they just drafted a few people on my shift, I probably would’ve been one of those few people, because I don’t have much seniority on my shift. I expect to get drafted for holidays now, because I usually do. But everybody?!

[finnime]

Having everyone drafted in a typically slow part of the year is particularly suspicious.

[Deleted]

One of my coworkers did bring it up yesterday and today, and she didn’t hesitate to call it racism.

It will definitely be interesting to see what the July 4th schedule looks like.

And FTR, today, which was part of the holiday schedule where everybody got drafted (including me, since today was my “holiday”) there was no work to do in my area. And really nowhere else in the building that needed our help. So me and the ladies that work with me, did what I call “busy work” all day. 

I don’t mind easy days at work, except for how slow time seems to pass if I’m not busy. But I do kind of mind being forced to work a holiday when I’m not actually needed. That’s time I could spend with my family or doing something meaningful that pertains to the holiday.

I guess the shift that comes in after mine rebelled though. Either that, or a lot of them were sick today, because many of them were MIA when I left work today. They were drafted to work, I guess they called out. Idk and it’s not my problem.

[daisylu]

DH's job recently went to a 12 hour schedule that they knew they did not have enough people for, so there are extra built in days that you have to work. They treat their employees like trash, and many of them fought back by calling in sick yesterday. This caused many systems to shutdown. Those who called in will likely get pointed, but they are at a point where they DGAF.

[Deleted]

Jun 20, 2022 7:10:28 GMT -5 daisylu said:

DH's job recently went to a 12 hour schedule that they knew they did not have enough people for, so there are extra built in days that you have to work. They treat their employees like trash, and many of them fought back by calling in sick yesterday. This caused many systems to shutdown. Those who called in will likely get pointed, but they are at a point where they DGAF.

Morale is pretty low at my job too. They don’t seem to get it that supervisors like the crazy lady I was talking about last week are one of the reasons people don’t want to come to work.

[teen persuasion]

We are still figuring it out at the library.

We were open - the director decided that since the actual holiday was Sunday we wouldn't close Monday. We don't do an observed date for July 4, or Veteran's day, either. We close on those dates if they fall on a work day, but no extra day if they don't. But we are also hourly, so no paid holidays at all - no work, no pay.

We were decently busy, but I did field quite a few phone calls checking to see if we were open, so people were unsure. They may be surprised next year, when we will be closed because it lands on a work day.

The Board of trustees has debated the issue - should a library be closed on federal holidays, or should it be open for the patrons that now have a day off to visit us? We aren't a *public* library (owned by a local govt), so don't *have* to close with govt. We are an association district library, "owned" by the board of trustees for the benefit of the community.

[azucena]

Pink - was it a quieter, low volume workday?

[bookkeeper]

Our county commissioners, who are all white, have decided to give the day off to employees under a different name.  Hughes County Day was last Monday.  What racist crap.


drgnews.com/2022/06/20/113469/

I live in a part of the world where native people and whites have been intertwined for 400 years.  This level of racism should not exist here and should definitely not exist in county government.

[msventoux]

I didn’t have the day off and was surprised that our mail was delivered on Monday. I thought there wasn’t supposed to be mail delivery.  Some of the banks were open as well. 

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 10:37:59 GMT -5 msventoux said:

I didn’t have the day off and was surprised that our mail was delivered on Monday. I thought there wasn’t supposed to be mail delivery.  Some of the banks were open as well. 

We didn't have mail delivery here.  It was a city holiday as well which affects trash collection.  Most banks close because the Fed is closed so lots of transactions can't be processed.  

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 9:19:14 GMT -5 azucena said:

Pink - was it a quieter, low volume workday?

Yep.  Me and the 3 ladies that were supposed to be working with me, had no work to do. They area they would’ve normally sent us to, didn’t need us either. That’s why we ended up piddling around all day. They guys that work on the docks didn’t have much to do either. 

That’s at least 10 people right there, that could’ve stayed at home that day.

[TheOtherMe]

There was no mail delivery here.  Monday was not an official banking day.  Any bank that was open was not able to completely process transactions.  

[Deleted]

The holiday schedule for July 4th should be posted next week. I will report back here, whether or not they draft everybody again.

[swamp]

I’m not sure where to post this, but this is as good place as any. 

On juneteenth I was perusing Facebook and a local know it all posted something about Juneteenth being stupid because it causes racial divisions.  Later in a comment she said something about not needing the holiday because we already have MLK day celebrating the day MLK freed the slaves. 

Oy. 

[TheOtherMe]

This speaks to the reason Juneteenth is needed.  

I know I was not taught any Black history in high school (along with a lot of other topics I should have learned) but I have managed to educate myself over the 50 plus years since high school.

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 18:00:32 GMT -5 swamp said:

I’m not sure where to post this, but this is as good place as any. 

On juneteenth I was perusing Facebook and a local know it all posted something about Juneteenth being stupid because it causes racial divisions.  Later in a comment she said something about not needing the holiday because we already have MLK day celebrating the day MLK freed the slaves. 

Oy. 

Wait, WHAT?!

MLK FREED THE SLAVES?!

Please tell me that was a typo.

[swamp]

Jun 22, 2022 20:15:48 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Jun 22, 2022 18:00:32 GMT -5 swamp said:

I’m not sure where to post this, but this is as good place as any. 

On juneteenth I was perusing Facebook and a local know it all posted something about Juneteenth being stupid because it causes racial divisions.  Later in a comment she said something about not needing the holiday because we already have MLK day celebrating the day MLK freed the slaves. 

Oy. 

Wait, WHAT?!

MLK FREED THE SLAVES?!

Please tell me that was a typo.

No, she’s an idiot. 

Someone told her her she should ask for a refund for her college tuition. 

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 20:32:49 GMT -5 swamp said:

Jun 22, 2022 20:15:48 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Wait, WHAT?!

MLK FREED THE SLAVES?!

Please tell me that was a typo.

No, she’s an idiot. 

Someone told her her she should ask for a refund for her college tuition. 

I literally don’t know what to say to respond to that.

[msventoux]

Jun 22, 2022 19:48:07 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

This speaks to the reason Juneteenth is needed.  

I know I was not taught any Black history in high school (along with a lot of other topics I should have learned) but I have managed to educate myself over the 50 plus years since high school.

I don’t necessarily think this is specific to Juneteenth, she’s just a moron.  How many late night/other types of shows have interviews asking people basic questions and they know nothing about US history.  And even less about world history. I used to think those were scripted skits, but the older I get the more I’m able to believe there are that many ignorant/stupid people walking among us.