Is Your Place of Work Closed For Easter? Good Friday?

edgarblythe wrote:

At my job, they remain open as per normal, but we each take turns having a day off. I am the only one off today.

I once worked in a place that did the same thing. The Christians would take Good Friday off, and the Jews would stay home on Yom Kippur. Worked very well.

Whoa whoa whoa.

An explanation/observation.

Anyone who wants Passover off is an idiot. I say this as a person who observes Passover. It is 8 days long and the celebrations are at night, and generally only for the first two nights, which are already done. Pack a freakin' matzoh-based lunch like the rest of us and get over it.

However, an Easter Egg hunt is definitely a celebration of a religious holiday. That holiday being, of course, Easter. Not Spring. Not the Equinox. Easter. The holiday that centers around Christ's death and resurrection. For those of us who do not believe in Christ (not just Jews, but also Hindus, Buddhists, etc.), this is not our holiday and an Easter Egg hunt, while charming, is not our celebration. BTW, I don't expect you to hold a seder for my benefit and I certainly don't expect to hold a seder and tell you that you should participate because it's festive or whatnot, or instead of your Easter celebrations. Come over for a meal if you wish, and you might have fun, but make no mistake, it's not to celebrate the Equinox and it's not a consolation prize for not celebrating Easter. It's to celebrate Jews escaping from Egyptian slavery.

Now, BTW, I'm in a funky situation. The company where I am contracted to has the day off. Why? It's not for religious reasons. It's because the financial markets are closed (should the financial markets be closed? Probably not, but go after the NY Stock Exchange if that bugs you). However, the company where I actually work, the one that signs my paychecks, does not have the day off. Therefore, I'm going to my company's home office location and I'll be attending a class today, instead of going to the financial services company. I was offered the option of working at home, but I don't have a multi-gig Oracle database running out of my spare room so, no go. Hence it's an education day for me.

I definitely sympathize. These days can be crazy-making. Some want the day off, some don't, some want other days off, etc. Do you celebrate or not? Do you decorate or not? If you do nothing, the work place is just a sterile and sour place to work. If you do something, is it enough? Is anyone offended? Does it look like you're endorsing one group over another? Does the majority rule? Do you try to include those who are left out, or just give them the day off? Is that okay, since a day off is a valuable perk?

I have my own ideas of how to handle it but the upshot, of course, is that I don't know the people you work with so I can't say. Someone, inevitably, is going to be offended or disappointed. I guess the trick is to try to minimize the disappointment levels in whatever way seems best to you and your company.

I would expect then that if this is the calendar the community follows ...either a closing or celebration for all of the above. I may be mistaken, but I do not remember this being the case.

Additionally, If the States and Congress may designate holidays for their employees, then this community could if it wished to do so could certainly choose to be more inclusive and representative of its entire population.

Quote:

then this community could if it wished to do so could certainly choose to be more inclusive and representative of its entire population.

....What am I missing here? Inclusive to me means NOT doing religious celebrations. They seem to think it means doing something for everyone, and not doing so is exclusive.