Thanksgiving

As I'm sitting here, 3:10am the day of Thanksgiving, last year I would be fast asleep. Last year I worked for a certain food service company who is in charge of all of the food at Eagles games, I was a supervisor and ran about 6 stands-- about 25 people and saw more money in one night than I would make in 2 years at my current job :)

I had to get to the stadium by 2pm for a game that started at 8pm. This company told us that working on Thanksgiving day was not optional. Aside from that, they notified us that we (supervisors, mainly) would NOT be home in any time for dinner. They also told us that we would not be paid any sort of overtime for our inconvenience. They didn't even give us dinner. My thanksgiving dinner was a hot dog last year.

What's wrong with this situation? What -isn't- wrong with this situation. I completely understand that the goal of a company is to be profitable, but isn't this taking it a bit too far? How much "in the black" do you seriously need to be? Would it hurt you that bad to put together a pre-game Thanksgiving dinner for so many people who are giving up time with their loved ones to make money that they need to put food on the table that they can't even enjoy? Or would it hurt to give people time and half for not ditching work to be with their family the ONE day a year (that isn't religious) where you are SUPPOSED to be with your family?

I wasn't mad at this situation for myself either. I was going to have leftovers when I got home, I didn't have family flying in or anything like that. I was upset because of all of the people I worked with. My co-workers that I supervised. One woman told me she had cooked the whole meal and then went to work- she made EVERYTHING, she had a "soul food" Thanksgiving, she told me the meal consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn bread, stuffing, pumpkin pies-- my mouth was watering while she described the whole meal she set up for her family. I asked "Did you at least get to eat with your family before coming?" Her response? "No, I had to leave, I will have leftovers after the game though."

I couldn't believe it. Here was a woman so dedicated to her minimum-wage, benefit-less job that she would prepare a whole meal for her family and then come into work to work for about 10 hours before going home to FINALLY enjoy her meal- and I am sure she enjoyed every bit of it.

What does this story have to do with anything? Well, lots of things. First of all, this company is a SHINING example of putting profits before people and because of that behavior, their profits will never be at their maximum. Second, it shows how dedicated some people are to their jobs and how employers rarely realize and/or recognize that. Third, if you are making it mandatory for your employees to abandon their families on a family-based holiday- DO SOMETHING FOR THEM- cook up a few damn turkeys. Finally, it just shows that I am still thinking of this woman and while I really did not enjoy my time with this company- people like her were what made me happy to be there.

That small conversation I had with that co-worker made me realize just how much some people have to sacrifice for their family and it makes me really value the family dinners that I have and how lucky I am to not have to commit to working Thanksgiving this year.

I may not have been the best with using all of the computer programs exclusive to that company (mainly because nobody ever showed me how to use them during orientation and I just kind of winged it) but I hope that I touched some co-workers during my time there because I made it a point to get to know all of my co-workers and really cared about the ones I saw week-to-week and definitely am still thinking about those.... extended family members I was fortunate enough to spend my 2008 Thanksgiving with :)

Oh, and did I mention how the company rewarded me for my service? Hah! I got a Pin :) Yes.. pick up your jaw now.