Is Friday a Business Holiday

[billbenson]

When I had a real job, Good Friday was an optional holiday. Are businesses generally closing Friday (not retail)?

[Patrysha]

It's a stat here. It's Monday that's the optional one...

[vangogh]

I can't recall ever having Good Friday off, though many of my jobs were either retail or working for myself. Even office jobs though didn't give the day off from what I remember.

Probably depends on the company and if those making the decisions about days off want the day off.

[Patrysha]

Interesting - Does the US not have stat holidays declared by the Gov't - is it strictly a state by state thing or a company thing?

Good Friday is a stat holiday across Canada except for Quebec where it's optional, whereas Easter Monday is the stat there.

I used to love working on stats because it meant double time and a half and was usually a slow day...

[vangogh]

There are 8 official holiday days in the US known as bank holidays, since it's the days banks close.

New Year's Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas

Most, if not all, offices will close for those days. The day after Thanksgiving is a common optional day. Christmas is the only religious holiday included and I think it's more to do with the universal appeal of Christmas than the religious significance of the day. Most employers should be understanding when someone asks for a religious holiday, though it's possible it comes out of sick days or vacation days.

Every state outside of Arizona considers Martin Luther King Day a holiday (maybe Arizona does too now), though for some reason it's not an automatic day off.

[Patrysha]

Let's see we have
New Year's Day
Good Friday
Victoria Day
Canada Day
Labour Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas


There are a couple of provincial holidays that we have here that are bank holidays:
Family Day in February
Heritage Day in August

Boxing Day is our equivalent of Day after Thanksgiving...and that falls the day after Christmas.

As as sidenote...I can't figure out what kind of crazy business decided to slash pricing in the States before the Christmas season at Thanksgiving.

We kind of have progressive sales throughout the holiday season with the biggest deals landing after Christmas...

[vangogh]

I can't figure out what kind of crazy business decided to slash pricing in the States before the Christmas season at Thanksgiving.

I don't know who that person was, but he or she turned the day after Thanksgiving into the busiest shopping day of the year.

[Patrysha]

Yeah, but the spending pretty much would have happened anyway with Christmas around the corner. Maybe not as much on one day like it is now, but over the season.

I think the 23rd is the busiest shopping day of the year here. At least it used to be, I don't know if that has shifted at all with the recession...

[vangogh]

I think the idea started after a slow holiday season. The early sales jumpstarted things that year. I'd guess it helps the overall spending.

[Blessed]

Hubby works for a major US Manufacturer and they have Friday off. I always worked for small businesses and I never had it off. My mother-in-law works for a major retailer here in the states and they don't get any holidays off except for Christmas and Thanksgiving when the retailer actually closes - and they don't receive pay for those days.

[billbenson]

Well, it sounds like its going to be a slow work day for me, which is really what I wanted to know.

Even for the 20 plus years I had a real job, I was a field sales guy, so I worked my customers schedule more than the companies, so I don't remember...

[KristineS]

I've worked for businesses where we had a half day, and businesses where we ignored it entirely. Most businesses make people work, although some will allow time to attend church services.

[billbenson]

From a business standpoint, if people are just counting the hours to get out of there, its a SLOW business day for me! Did get an order last Christmas day though...

[vangogh]

if people are just counting the hours to get out of there

At some places where I've worked the above would have applied every single day. :)

[huggytree]

i work anytime..Friday was a full 10 hour day for me..

i work weekends and Holidays if the customer is willing to pay extra