It's Queen's Birthday weekend here in New Zealand. Perhaps because the Queen has so many birthdays every year, she probably wont mind this one being taken over by atheists and liberals. And it has been. It's a weekend where the shops are going to be open from dawn to dusk, discounts and specials on offer like some mid year boxing day sale.
No Christians to lament that low paid shop assistants are bring forced to work rather than worship. Barely a murmur from the unions, who have already negotiated penalty rates and time in lieu. Not to mention 4 weeks annual leave, not three as it was a few months ago.
Nope, if atheists and liberals wanted their own religious holiday, with freedom to worship on the alter of the cash register, with permission to succumb to the temptation of brunch at a cafe, followed by penance of towels and underwear purchased at 30% discount, then surely, Queens Birthday weekend is their day?
Full on shopping, and no-one and no-thing standing in people's way. Well, apart from the queues for parking perhaps.
The only ironic thing I've noticed is that my good and dear acquaintance, David Farrar at Kiwiblog, who has been somewhat a champion for shopping through public holidays, has for some strange reason, locked himself away on a deserted (mall-wise) island for the next few days.
Maybe this whole freedom to shop thing only matters when it's a Christian holiday?
If the thought of having a few days off, and away from it all - away from 24/7 shopping, emails and mobile phones - seems like a really good idea after all, perhaps we could work out a way that others, such as shop workers, have the same opportunity to do this without the big expense of foreign travel.
Hey, I have an idea. Maybe we could make like 3 days a year where the shops don't open? That would do the trick. Family time, kick back and relax, optionally Church - no shopping, no materialism, no pressure to find the perfect shoe. Just 100% down time. Is that brilliant, or what? Don't answer - I'm not suggesting for a moment that we use the sacred "Queens Birthday". I've got a couple of other days in mind.
Anyway - enjoy this long week-end if you are one of the fortunate who don't need to work. The next official holiday doesn't come to October - Labour Day. Unless you are a banker, then you get a day in august I believe. I said banker. But speaking of Labour - when's the election? There's a couple of political parties facing long holidays. They could be starting from around Labour Day.
Which could mean an early Christmas for us all.
Related Link: Holidays are for serving others
No Christians to lament that low paid shop assistants are bring forced to work rather than worship. Barely a murmur from the unions, who have already negotiated penalty rates and time in lieu. Not to mention 4 weeks annual leave, not three as it was a few months ago.
Nope, if atheists and liberals wanted their own religious holiday, with freedom to worship on the alter of the cash register, with permission to succumb to the temptation of brunch at a cafe, followed by penance of towels and underwear purchased at 30% discount, then surely, Queens Birthday weekend is their day?
Full on shopping, and no-one and no-thing standing in people's way. Well, apart from the queues for parking perhaps.
The only ironic thing I've noticed is that my good and dear acquaintance, David Farrar at Kiwiblog, who has been somewhat a champion for shopping through public holidays, has for some strange reason, locked himself away on a deserted (mall-wise) island for the next few days.
Maybe this whole freedom to shop thing only matters when it's a Christian holiday?
If the thought of having a few days off, and away from it all - away from 24/7 shopping, emails and mobile phones - seems like a really good idea after all, perhaps we could work out a way that others, such as shop workers, have the same opportunity to do this without the big expense of foreign travel.
Hey, I have an idea. Maybe we could make like 3 days a year where the shops don't open? That would do the trick. Family time, kick back and relax, optionally Church - no shopping, no materialism, no pressure to find the perfect shoe. Just 100% down time. Is that brilliant, or what? Don't answer - I'm not suggesting for a moment that we use the sacred "Queens Birthday". I've got a couple of other days in mind.
Anyway - enjoy this long week-end if you are one of the fortunate who don't need to work. The next official holiday doesn't come to October - Labour Day. Unless you are a banker, then you get a day in august I believe. I said banker. But speaking of Labour - when's the election? There's a couple of political parties facing long holidays. They could be starting from around Labour Day.
Which could mean an early Christmas for us all.
Related Link: Holidays are for serving others
When - and state the date and time - did you become an Emo Zen?
ReplyDeleteBTW that magazine should be out any time now.
FAME - Covert fame anyway.
The first step to dealing with a problem is admitting it Murray.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm not saying anything :-)
Cheer up emo kid.
ReplyDeletesuccumb to the temptation of brunch at a cafe, followed by penance of towels and underwear purchased at 30% discount
ReplyDeleteThen they get the credit card bill. Then they blame the govt, reserve bank, farmers, corporates,sub-prime, oil companies and so on. The right likes to trumpet personal responsibility in everything except consumerism it seems.
It could be a universal problem Ruth.
ReplyDeleteThe left also blame the govt (handouts too low), reserve bank, corporates (greedy capitalists), sub-prime, oil companies and so on.
Except they start off saying the state needs to manage our lives because every-one else is to blame, or we can't control ourselves.
Consumerism and materialism is a problem for many, because greed first starts out as the sensible need to improve one's life and make it comfortable and safe.
But loaning money (via credit and mortgage extensions to fund lifestyle is where things start going off the rails. A sin I've been guilty of. I now have a low interest credit card with a small limit, which I pay off every month.
My issue with public holidays is this - why is it YOUR business or anybody else's when someone opens THEIR shop? If you work there you may want a say, but again you shouldn't veto it. Otherwise don't shop. Nobody makes you. There is no force. Much as there is no force with almost all places of worship open 7 days a week.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked in the service sector I appreciated working public holidays because it offered me another chance to earn good money. Of course everyone expects plenty of professions to work on public holidays without a second thought - Police, medical, transport, electricity, smelters, steel works. So the argument about whose businesses should be forced to close down because other people want them to is rather facile.
LS, that is all predicated on the assumption that people who work in businesses other people run actually want to work on those days too.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad worked in an "industry" that required him to work Christmas day many times, and when I say *required*, that's exactly what I mean.
To suggest that people who are *for* having a couple of shop free days a year don't give the police, doctors, nurses, hotel staff, security companies, public transport drivers etc a second thought is totally incorrect (at least from my point of view). I think about those people working, I remember Christmas without my Dad being around, knowing he wanted to be with us, and I think "thank you".
So I could equally call the argument that businesses should force their workers to work because they want to make an extra buck facile too - but both positions are more complex than that simplistic dichotomy.
And my concerns over what we gain as a society in granting freedom to shop 365 days a year, versus 362 days a year are also not so simplistic, so I'll save that discussion for another post.
Indeed, but then many of us don't want to work other days. It is a tradeoff, and it depends on how valuable you are to your employer as to whether you can negotiate different times. The fact many businesses can find people willing to work on public holidays says that some people prefer money (and time off during the conventional working week) than the holiday.
ReplyDeleteBusinesses don't "force" workers to work, workers sign up to employers and jobs knowing they get paid under certain terms and conditions. For some jobs there is more competition for them, so the employer can choose whoever works hardest, best, for least as a tradeoff. Others there is less competition, so you can be the inflexibleone.
Remember abolishing shop trading hours is NOT about freedom to shop. There is no right to shop, otherwise it would be compulsory minimum hours. It is about freedom to choose when to do business, and that is no more my business than it is yours. That for me is a fundamental right, and the idea that bureaucrats (people who produce nothing and live off of money taken from those who do) can come round and prosecute you for opening your business when you see fit is abhorrent. My parents owned a shop, they worked on it 6 days a week, no employees - the idea some jackbooted little busybody could essentially tell them that they couldn't trade, increasing the length of time they had to pay off their mortgage, is absurd.
I appreciate employees may feel pressured to work when they don't want to, the appropriate answer to that is - get another job, save money set up your business and discover what risking capital means.