Days In Retail Often Feel Like Weeks, But This Is Special

My dad told me the story of when he worked Christmas Day at a grocery store in college. He would always work Christmas Day because it gave all of his coworkers with families the day off, whereas he was a single, poor college student stuck on campus. Also, they paid triple time for working Christmas Day.

Eight hours into his shift, Dad still hadn’t been relieved, so he called his manager. The person who was supposed to relieve him flaked out, and the manager asked if he could also cover the second shift. The union regulation required paying overtime — time and a half of whatever that day’s rate was, which was already triple time. So, that second shift was paid out at four-and-a-half time.

That day, he made seven and a half days’ pay. A very Merry Christmas, indeed.