It is Labor Day, a national holiday, a day to
celebrate the American worker, the ordinary citizen.
This day is meant to honor laborers, it is a
day to honor work, it should be a day of rest, repose, respite.
I am not working, and that is unusual.
Perhaps one or two Labor Days have passed in
the last ten years, on which I have enjoyed the day off. I cannot recall when,
or what I did.
I spent most of my life working in the
hospitality sector. There are many restaurants that close, and give their staff
the day off There are many who see this as an opportunity to “make hay,” as
they say, never mind the lives of the staff whose labor the business depends
upon.
Forget about them, squeeze a little more
profit out of a day.
The last restaurant I worked in, they were open
on Labor Day, they are open today. It will see ten maybe twelve thousand
dollars in revenue, double the haul for an ordinary Monday. It is busy, all
hands on deck, there will be forty staff members toiling away.
Like most restaurants, that establishment sees
ten percent profit or less on average, and the owners do not flinch at the
prospect of ruining the holiday for forty people, to put a mere thousand
dollars in the bank.
It is Labor Day in America, and many people
are working. Though, it is virtually guaranteed that the bankers, the office
managers, and the whole white collar world have taken this day for themselves,
and paid themselves for it as well.
Well paid, well rested managers, and owners…I
guess the world needs more of those, and someone needs to be on task to pour
their coffee, to serve their brunch, and fuel their frolicking holiday.
Happy Labor Day, you laborers!
Unite!
2017.09.04
Given
1st - 2016.09.05
