What ever happened to the sanctity of Sundays? I still remember when most businesses were closed on Sundays. People would spend the day with family or just the whole day on pajamas.
Today, 35% of the American workforce is scheduled to work on the weekends. There are people who have never not worked at least one weekend day a week. Although the majority of those jobs are in the retail and hospitality sector, there are even more increasing instances where office professionals clock in (mostly from home) during the weekends.
The driving force to this shift is greed. The big companies want more money. This means working on the weekend. So if the big companies benefit from this trend, who loses? The biggest loser is the American family. Kids don't know what if feels like to have their dad cook breakfast on Sunday mornings. I remember working on my dad's truck with him on Sundays, which is how I learned how to change my oil and breaks. In the summer we used to go to the park or the lake and have cookouts.
TodaycloseFebruary 15th and a Sunday. If I was off today, I would have spent the morning in bed with my wife then hung out with my daughter. Instead I left the house with a wind chill of negative 7 degrees at 5am. I expected business to be slow. Instead people piled in as soon as the doors opened at 8 am. They weren't in there just picking up a few things. They were stocking up. It seemed they only asked for stuff that they didn't see. The worst part is they were unapologetic and arrogant, barking out orders and looking at you like you were crazy when you told them you didn't have a product you tell them that they have to wait 5 minutes while you put it together.
These interactions have negative repercussions for all parties involved. The customers feel entitled and look down on the employee. They don't understand why their requests can't be materialized out of thin air. They don't see that the person they are standing over only slept a few hours because they were up with a sick child or that they had to wait for a bus in -7 weather.
On the other hand, the interaction makes the employee resent the customer. As the employee tries to multitask and get more done they get interrupted, not by excuse me, or good morning. Instead they wave you over our simply holler out HEY! The worst is when they scream out, IS ANY BODY WORKING? As to insinuate that were just standing around or not doing anything. Most customers don't think enough of you to say please or thank you.
Expecting everything to be open on Sundays is making us uncivilized. It is destroying family life and it is making employees disgruntled. It takes away from a day of worship or relaxation. What started out as a courtesy is now an obligation. They abused it and took away it's significance. I subscribe to the belief that if something is being misused, it should be taken away. Let's go back to simpler times. Let's make Sundays fun again.
Businesses should be forced to close or open shorter hours on Sunday. Focus less on the bottom line and more on the people that make it all possible.
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