"pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others"
Feeling pleasure from the misfortune of others isn't all that idealistic. I'd like to believe that I'm above that and can feel saddened by the misfortune of others.
But I'm human. And when there is misfortune of people that I believe are behaving badly, then there is a little bit of giddyup in my step.
Thanksgiving was one of those times. No, before you think so, my family is fine. No misfortune at our festivities beyond my brother B working (and his family spending time with the inlaws).
The misfortune that brought a smile to my face was instead brought on by all the douchebags going out on Thanksgiving for deal shopping. Lemme back up a bit and explain how I smiled all the way home.
Obviously, what I remember as a child is fogged and changed and not at all clear, but one thing that does come through is the streets on Thanksgiving. They were empty. No (or at least very few) stores were open. The people you saw driving around were simply going from home to some Thanksgiving feast. There were several holidays like that as a child; Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter... I think there may have been more but I recall all of those as 'empty days'.
Slowly over time they were reduced. More stores stayed open to lure in shoppers. Thanksgiving seemed like it would be impervious to change though as any move into Thanksgiving shopping would surely reduce the effectiveness of Black Friday. The holiest of holy days for shoppers.
Over the last few decades some places have opened up on Turkey day, but had limited hours. McDonalds opened up for the morning rush, but closed down around 11am. Several local grocery stores opened up in the morning so that those "Oh Crap we forgot the cranberry sauce" errors could be forgiven. But again, they closed down before noon to allow their employees the joy of a Thanksgiving Day feast.
Now I'm neither all that sentimental about Thanksgiving, nor am I religious about Black Friday. As time marches on, I've looked upon Thanksgiving as one of the few remaining 'family' traditions. The world closed it's doors and allowed families to gather and celebrate. Even those that couldn't attend those family gatherings had gatherings of fellow lone wolves. As for Black Friday... it was the sign of corporate greed. I don't like corporate greed, but having a day all about going out and spending meant that Thanksgiving could be left alone.
Then it happened. Black Friday started creeping closer and closer to Thanksgiving. Stores opened up at 6 AM. Then 5. Then 4. 2 AM! MIDNIGHT!!! And finally like a tsunami that you see coming from a mile away but are powerless to stop... stores started opening up on Thanksgiving evening. Some even opened up on Thanksgiving morning.
Bastards.
I was working in retail when that happened. It was mandatory for all employees to work on Thanksgiving AND Black Friday. One year I had to go to work at 5 AM Thanksgiving morning, work for four hours, go home for a bit and stuff turkey down my gullet, then go back into work for another four hour shift that evening. A few hours of sleep and then back into it for the Black Friday 4 AM opening.
It sucked. I was NOT thankful that holiday. I was bitter. I was mean.
Did I blame my soulless corporate masters? No. They have no souls, and their only goal is to make money. If they could make money selling poison to the masses, they'd do it. Of COURSE they'd trample all over a traditional holiday. Not only would they screw over their employees, they'd work hard at luring out those who still had the day off. They'd lure them out into the cold and take them from their families and time of being 'Thankful'.
No... I blame the shoppers. If they didn't show up, there would be no profit. No profit, and the souless corporate masters would remain closed on Thanksgiving. But the shoppers came out in droves.
Now many MANY stores are opening their doors on Thanksgiving. Heading over to my Aunt's house yesterday I was initially surprised by the amount of traffic on the roads. I missed that quiet drive.
I'm thankful that my family didn't go out for any shopping that day. I'm thankful that we gathered together and recalled what made us thankful over the past year. As any holiday must though, our day of being thankful drew to a close. It was snowing out and we didn't want a bad drive home, so we hugged each other and said our goodbyes. It was just after 6 PM.
The roads were a shimmering slippery sheet of ice. Those anti lock brakes saves us from flowing through many an intersection. And the roads were PACKED. We simply hadn't considered the fact that people would be out in droves to save a few bucks on door busters. There were accidents a plenty. Thankfully every accident we passed were already being serviced by the police, the fire department, or an ambulance service. If they weren't, I would have felt obligated to stop and offer assistance of my own.
This morning I saw the news reports... there were 50 accidents on Thanksgiving. The vast majority happened between 6 PM and 8 PM as people went from store to store. And that's where Schadenfreude comes in. I was so pleased to see people wreck their cars since they were out bastardizing a traditional family holiday. I'm sure some of them were people like us... people simply going home from their traditional feast of roast beast. I'm sorry that they got screwed. They probably would have been fine as normally those roads are empty, but no... they got into accidents because everybody else was out and about.
------------
Speaking about working on Holidays. In past jobs, it was a pain to work on any Holiday. Even the ones where everything is still open like Independence Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. It sucked, but it was expected. Other holidays though were always off... Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, New Years Day, Easter. There was a group of workers though that you always respected. Those who had to work those holidays The police. The fire department. Winter road crews. Military. Nurses.
Those people were always praised for working on days that we all otherwise would have off. It was understood that their jobs were required for everyone else.
So I'm surprised at the bitterness I see from Nurses in particular about retail workers working on Thanksgiving. The attitude in general seems to be "Since I work on that day, no one should receive any pity for having to work it too"
Well... fuck you nurses! Our career path was chosen (at least part of if SHOULD have been chosen) by our desire to serve others. Not serving their corporate capitalistic greed, but serving THEM. Nurses are keeping those people alive. Police are protecting our lives. Firemen are saving our lives. The military is saving our nation. We are serving other people directly.
Most of these careers that work on all those days are paid well for it. They are actual CAREERS. They earn a living wage and more often than not, are paid extra for working on those days. They earn paid time off so they can take time away from work and devote it to their family. Retail workers are paid near minimum wage. Most people couldn't raise a family by working as a standard retail worker. They don't get extra for working on those traditional days off, and they don't earn paid time off to devote to anything.
People who choose nursing as a career should hold up the fact that they work on those days as a badge of honor. They get almost automatic sympathy and respect for serving others in ways that most people avoid. Bitterness shouldn't be part of their vocabulary. Working as a nurse should never be compared to working at Walmart or Sears. Working as a nurse should be (at least partially) altruistic. Working at a retail outlet is almost always a last ditch effort to earn money. Working as a nurse should be a dream. Working in retail is almost always a nightmare.
So to those people that had to interrupt their family time so that a corporation could make a bit more profit and dumb shoppers could save a buck or two, I salute you. I was one of you and feel nothing but sympathy for what you are made to do.
And to those bitter self serving nurses who dare deride or laugh at those unfortunate souls that are economically stuck working at thankless jobs away from their families on a holiday.... Fuck you. Fuck you nurses.
No comments:
Post a Comment