Would you go shopping on St. Stephan's day?

[wmpdd3]

It's that time of the year again when just as all retail staff dread Christmas, the threat of having to work on St. Stephan's day looms.

It has been on the cards with years, mostly kept at bay by shopping centers that don't want to open. This leaves it up to large standalone stores to lead the way.

The main choices last year were PC World, B+Q am.. the petrol station.....

This year many other stores are looking in to it, but would you really go shopping and if you would, do you have more than 36 hrs off for Christmas?

[jhegarty]

No, give the poor people a day off.

[dudara]

OK, I'm not sure what you're asking here but we'll leave the thread stand for now,

Firstly, the whole concept of shopping on Dec 26th (Boxing Day) is a very British thing. It doesn't fit with the whole Catholic concept of Christmas. St Stephen's Day is the day of the wren and all that. It's a church holiday. And even though you may argue that a lot of the cash-affluent people in Ireland no longer observe Catholic holidays, it is true that tradition is hard to overcome.

Secondly, Ireland traditionally has very generous holidays over the Christmas period. A lot of salaried Irish people are used to a week off over Christmas - some of my american colleagues cannot comprehend this - a lot of them are back at work on Dec 26th.

Personally, I dislike sales on Dec 26th. It's too soon after Christmas. I really cannot verbalise a better reason than that.

[leeroybrown]

I prefer to see shops closed on St. Stephen's Day. Certainly not for any religious reasons, but mainly because it's the one national holiday we have that brings most families together. Obviously a limited number of people will need to work but having retail staff back at work really eats into this. As it is some major stores already have staff back in work on St. Stephens Day to prepare for their early opening on the 27th. If sales start beginning on the 26th the logical progression is to have people back in work without a full night's sleep after Christmas.

In the US context it's very important to note that they also have thanksgiving in late November.

[Cabaal]

Nope everything should be closed for 25th and 26th, shops pubs the lot, sadly pubs are not and more and more shops are open and its an awful shame people can't live for two bloody days a year without drink/buying stuff

[calex71]

Originally Posted by Cabaal

Nope everything should be closed for 25th and 26th, shops pubs the lot, sadly pubs are not and more and more shops are open and its an awful shame people can't live for two bloody days a year without drink/buying stuff

Don't many of the Bar's in the Dublin city center stay shut on the 26th? I always go home for xmas so I'm never in the city

Agree though 2 days shut for shops/pubs would be no harm, the sales and pubs will still be there on the 27th.

[Jip]

Originally Posted by jhegarty

No, give the poor people a day off.

I thought poor people had every day off, hence them being poor.

[rubadub]

Originally Posted by dudara

Secondly, Ireland traditionally has very generous holidays over the Christmas period. A lot of salaried Irish people are used to a week off over Christmas - some of my american colleagues cannot comprehend this - a lot of them are back at work on Dec 26th.

I would not call it "generous", that implies you are getting it free or something, these are legal entitlements. I get 20 days per year and am FORCED to take some of them at christmas by my company. They force me to take off far more days than I would like, I would never consider this "gernerous".

I am always confused by peoples comments, like if I say "I get 2 weeks off at christmas" they might comment "oh you are so lucky" -now the majority of these people could have simply asked for these holidays (i.e. they are not forced to work like a doctor/nurse/retail staff might). The same happens on good friday, again I am forced to use up one of my holidays and people call me "lucky", when again they could have simply applied for that day off in their own job with no problem.

It is like people somehow view these as paid days off given by their company out of the goodness of their heart. In some cases it could be somewhat true, i.e. I know a guy who gets his legal entitled holidays and a bonus day off on good friday.

Originally Posted by Cabaal

Nope everything should be closed for 25th and 26th, shops pubs the lot, sadly pubs are not and more and more shops are open and its an awful shame people can't live for two bloody days a year without drink/buying stuff

I don't see why any business should be forced to close down because of some mythical character that many do not believe in. Why those 2 days in particular, I would prefer summer days if we had to vote for this bizarre obligatory shut down of businesses.

[eth0_]

Too soon after Christmas. New years day sales are a better idea.

[Davidth88]

I used to work in the Head Office of a major furniture co in the UK ( since gone bust )

26th believe it or not was our biggest sale day. Our shops were closed from Dec 20th ( or thereabouts ) and opened 9am on Boxing day. To put this in perspective we used to take approx 1 busy days takings every HOUR across all the branches.

I could never understand it , I could think of a thousand things I would rather do on the 26 than go shopping , esp as in our case you ordered the furniture , the same stuff was still available at the same price until 6th Jan ( when phase 2 of sale started ). I used to have to get in to restart the computer systems around 5am on the 26th.

Don't Next open at 4am or something stupid forcing their staff in at midnight ? I heard of at least one person that walked out of a job there because of this policy.

[jhegarty]

Originally Posted by rubadub

I don't see why any business should be forced to close down because of some mythical character that many do not believe in. Why those 2 days in particular, I would prefer summer days if we had to vote for this bizarre obligatory shut down of businesses.

Except for pubs there is no law stopping shops open. If there was a market they would.

But believe it or not , people want time off for Christmas.

[Lollipops23]

I work in a dept store. We're open 24th til normal time,then off 25th/27th. Honestly, most years we need the 2 days off in order to get up the strength to deal with the January sales (starting 27th dec) as they're MENTAL!!

[pithater1]

I currently work in retail so I suppose my judgement may be slightly clouded

Personally I don't agree with shops being open on Stephens Day. The main thing I enjoy about the Christmas holiday is being able to completley switch off for those 2 days.

Also bear in mind that for the shops to be able to open on Stephens Day you probably would have to have public transport workers working the day too.

[leeroybrown]

Originally Posted by rubadub

I don't see why any business should be forced to close down because of some mythical character that many do not believe in. Why those 2 days in particular, I would prefer summer days if we had to vote for this bizarre obligatory shut down of businesses.

While I'm neither a fan of our commercialised Christmas or the religious formality that goes with it, the simple fact is that it's one of only a few real national holidays in Ireland. In particular it's the only holiday that is focused on bring families together. Regardless of some people's individual ideals there is very little reason to dilute what is an excellent event for the majority.

This reminds me of the annual "Why can't the pubs be open thread' that generally crops up around Christmas.

[Captain Morgan]

I personally think shops should stay shut 25th and 26th. People should be able to relax and enjoy Christmas. I'm not a religious person but I like the way Christmas brings the family together and we have a good time.