Another recently published article. I was pretty active with my writing during December. An election, Christmas and New Years. All this material is a writer's dream.
Judy
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It is time to take the gloves off when it comes to the fight over Boxing Day. Considering that most of us at some point or another in our lives supported ourselves through employment in the retail sector we must have short memory spans. For the most part these days a career sales clerk who has chosen and enjoys this line of work is about as common as an empty parking space close to the door. People work in retail because it is the best job they can get right now and they need money. Many staffers these days are temporary fill in's that will be cashing their meager final cheques to pick up a hangover remedy New Year's Day. But then most of us are too busy yelling or scowelling at them for being sold out of this or that to notice.
As a society we give these people very little of the respect we would want in their shoes however the one thing we did do right was the Retail Holiday Sales Act. At one time that meant these folks would get atleast one day a week (Sunday) to spend with their families. Now the stores stay open 7 days a week so instead of shopping on Monday or Tuesday evening after work we can shop on Sunday afternoon. We used to also give them Boxing Day off to enjoy like the rest of us. Of course that was such a bother having a day of peace and quiet after Christmas before the big sales started on the 27th that we put an end to that. Now we want to allow extended hours on Boxing Day because 9 hours of pushing, shoving and clawing each other isn't enough. It fills your heart with the joy of the season doesn't it?
Perhaps we could make Christmas Eve a Midnight Madness night or maybe we could get them to open Christmas Morning to allow us all to exchange the gifts we don't like. To be fair we would want to get the buses running a full schedule too for those without a car. We also might want to get the banks open for those who want to refinance their house after overspending on the holidays. Heck let's just make it easy and reopen all of the offices and factories so that none of us have to be inconvienced in any way by the holidays. But then that would mean the rest of us would have to go to work and do what we are volunteering these folks for wouldn't it? Were smarter than that. We have "good jobs", loud voices and enough clout to stop that idea.The Retail Holiday Sales Act was about drawing the line somewhere and protecting the rights of those whose voices are too easily ignored in our "shop til you drop" society. But then thinking and caring about others was always something that holidays were about.
If somebody wants to drive to Hamilton at 6pm on Boxing Day because the stores are open an hour later there let them. Most of us will be enjoying a quiet evening of rest and reflection knowing that another holiday season has come to an end and at supper tables all around Brantford the entire family will be home to enjoy it. A quiet tradition that is almost uniquely Canadian and says alot about the kind of community we want Brantford to be.
