We Need More Holidays

[Pomai]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this President's Day off. We need more days off like this. After all, we're a hard-working, prosperous nation, right? Therefore, we should propose to enact more state and federal holidays!

Such as...

• Poke Day - Held on "pauhana" Friday To observe this seafood delicacy
• Warriors Football Day - Held on a Monday in observance of the UH Football's 2007 winning season, and also to treasure the high salary we're paying the head coach
• Superbowl Monday - to give folks a day off to recuperate after the hard partying on Superbowl Sunday (this would reduce folks calling in sick)

Any other holiday suggestions?

Of course, getting the boss to give you a paid day off in observance of any of these is another story.

[scrivener]

In years when Good Friday falls in March, there are no state holidays in April. In fact, it's a straight shot from Kuhio Day in the last week of March to Memorial Day in the last week of May without a holiday in those years with early full moons following the Spring Equinox.

This simply cannot be. I do not think it's a coincidence that we have more state holidays than any other state in the union AND the longest life expectancy. So I propose a conditional holiday to fall midway through April in years when Good Friday comes in March. Call it "Great Monday."

[Menehune Man]

With the kinda work I do, we get 'Holiday' pay for those observed.
But there always has to be 'us' there. So unless taking a vacation day, set up in advance, with full coverage, we all work five or more days a week.

So to you that have the day off, enjoy it fully and think of 'us'. HaHa!

[helen]

You forgot the time between Labor Day in September and Veteran's Day in November with no state holidays in between. Unless of course you work for the Federal Government in which case you have Discovery's Day off.

[Pomai]

On September 10, 2004, President Bush declared September 11th of every year "Patriot Day (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040910-19.html)".

This year, that falls on a Thursday. Therefore, we should have Thursday and Friday, September 11th and 12th, 2008 off.

Upon looking at my wall calendar, I see this Friday is Washington's Birthday. We need that day off too. :rolleyes:

[scrivener]

You forgot the time between Labor Day in September and Veteran's Day in November with no state holidays in between. Unless of course you work for the Federal Government in which case you have Discovery's Day off.
I didn't forget that. I know that's a long stretch, too, but since Veterans' day is followed so quickly by Thanksgiving and Christmas, that stretch doesn't seem as long. Plus, I'm on a school calendar. That stretch in the spring term is much, much, much less bearable than that stretch in the fall term!

[tutusue]

[...]So I propose a conditional holiday to fall midway through April in years when Good Friday comes in March. Call it "Great Monday."
I have an April holiday. It falls on April 21 and is my own, personal Labor Day! All of you may share it with me if you like!
[...]Upon looking at my wall calendar, I see this Friday is Washington's Birthday. We need that day off too. :rolleyes:
You're too young to remember when we used to get both Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday off. Then someone got the bright idea to combine them into one day and call it President's Day. Bummers!

[Pomai]

For your convenience, following are all the state (Hawaii) and federal days of observance for the rest of 2008.

Friday, February 22 - Washington's Birthday
Sunday, March 16 - Palm Sunday
Monday, March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
Thursday, March 20 - Spring begins
Friday, March 21 - Good Friday
Sunday, March 23 - Easter Sunday
Wednesday, March 26 - Prince Kuhio Day
Sunday, April 20 - Passover begins
Sunday, April 27 - Passover ends
Sunday, May 11 - Mother's Day
Monday, May 19 - Victoria Day (Canada)
Monday, May 26 - Memorial Day
Wednesday, June 11 - King Kamehameha Day
Saturday, June 14 - Flag Day
Sunday, June 15 - Father's Day
Friday, June 20 - Summer begins
Tuesday, July 1 - Canada Day
Friday, July 4 - Independence Day
Friday, August 15 - Statehood Day
Monday, September 1 - Labor Day
Sunday, September 7 - Grandparents' Day
Thursday, September 11 - Patriot Day
Monday, September 22 - Autumn Begins
Tuesday, September 30 - Rosh Hashanah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah)
Thursday, October 9 - Yom Kippur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur)
Monday, October 13 - Columbus Day
Friday, October 31 - Halloween
Tuesday, November 4 - General Election Day
Tuesday, November 11 - Veterans' Day/Remembrance Day (Canada)
Thursday, November 27 - Thanksgiving
Sunday, December 21 - Winter begins
Monday, December 22 - Hannukah begins
Thursday, December 25 - Christmas
Friday, December 26 - Boxing Day (Canada)
Monday, December 29 - Hannukah ends

Very few of those are paid holidays off for me. Far too few, gunfunnit!

[craigwatanabe]

I personally don't believe we should have holidays unless we are absolutely going to honor the reasons for them, otherwise they have no meaning other than a day off.

I had a co-worker who complained that he (as an Army Reservist) should get Veterans day off because he's in the military. When Veteran's day came he got it despite not being on Active Duty at all.

I on the other hand am a Veteran but I had to work.

He ultimately got fired for a shoving incident in front of customers.

It seems the only holiday we really celebrate for it's intended purpose is New Years Day.

I cannot fathom why on Memorial day, retail stores sell stuff on sale to commmorate our fallen heros. Imagine that our US Soldiers killed in action are memorialized here in the US by selling women's underwear at 20% off! How bizzare thinking is that? But we do and we take it for granted.

We need to remember why that holiday is there and what we should be doing on that day to honor that reason...like Christmas...oh brother another holiday with it's meaning lost to commercialism.

[Mike_Lowery]

I think that we should go with less holidays, but change it to a 4-day work week, nationwide. It'll be better for families. Watch divorce rates drop.

[Palama Kid]

Shortened work week, more holidays.

Bah, humbug. Us retirees get so inconvenienced by all your holidays and capricious days off. Go work and no boddah us !!!

[cabanalane]

I just want Discover's Day back as a Holiday. I'm all for MLK and all, that should be a seperate day, not in place of.

[Sharilyn]

My husband's company gives their employees their birthdays off, and another extra day off they call 'floating holiday' to take whenever they want. I don't know why they call it a 'floating holiday', and why it's different from vacation.

[leashlaws]

I used to work for a fantastic local company that did the employee birthday too - unfortunately if you were on the front line in their stores you didn't get it unless you were a store manager/assist.mgr., the hourly people didn't get it which I felt
caused unnecessary ill feelings, everyone or no one. Considering if not for the front line there would be no reason for everyone else to be in whatever it was they did for those to sell to tourists/locals. A bit off topic (probably my next paragraph as well) but same company once sold to a jerk decided that all front line (store hourly employees) did not qualify for sick leave, who is more exposed to sickness from visitors/locals than the front line? we'd have to come in sick and hacking and miserable as it was financially taxing to stay at home and get well so germs and illness was spread due to new policy - what a loser the new owner was/ is. If not for those out there (and I was one eventually) there would be no need for all of them to be in management to make sure we worked our asses off and made UPC and ASPC goals.......jerk.

If you think about it there are no national holidays dedicated to a singular person except MLK day - we have "President's Day" as an example. However in Hawaii Nei we have "Kamehameha Day" and "Kuhio Day" which is interesting since we don't understand (maybe there's a good reason..) why the day isn't "Kalanianaole Day" since correctly his name was Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole.

Then again many say "Kam Hwy" but not an abbreviated version of Kalananiole Hwy......

In any case the drought of holidays as others have noted is fast approaching!

[pzarquon]

I was stunned when our company simply shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Apparently it doesn't happen every year, but 'twas my first year with the company, and it made a strong impression. We don't get all the usual holidays (I think we even work a couple of "federal holidays"), but that long break is the longest break I've had away from any job for several years.

I almost never take earned vacation, except when the kids are home from school for an extended stretch and my wife begins to fear for her sanity. One of my first paid jobs let employees accumulate vacation indefinitely, so cashing out after three and a half years was quite a treat!

[Kalihiboy]

I don't think Patriot Day is a legal federal holiday in which the government shuts down, nothing ever special was done on Pearl Harbor anniversaries.

I think it is wrong they have in many ways eliminated Columbus Day/Founders Day in many schools.

I do remember getting both Lincoln and Washington's birthday's off, those were great. Didnt the federal government combine the holiday and in its place create MLK Day?

I remember voting on election day in Arizona many times and having to cover my ears because of band practice down the hallways or football practice and the noisy whistles as I came into the building and kids running amock all over the place.

Here, schools are off so people can vote, makes sense to me. That should be established nationwide.

Aj

[Leo Lakio]

If you think about it there are no national holidays dedicated to a singular person except MLK dayWell...some would say "Christmas" is...or used to be. :D

[helen]

I do remember getting both Lincoln and Washington's birthday's off, those were great. Didnt the federal government combine the holiday and in its place create MLK Day?
Nope. While they did combine Lincoln and Washington's birthday into President's Day which might have been done in the mid-70's, they didn't create Martin Luther King Day until at least in the 1990's.

[Leo Lakio]

Nope. While they did combine Lincoln and Washington's birthday into President's Day which might have been done in the mid-70's, they didn't create Martin Luther King Day until at least in the 1990's.In 1968, legislation was enacted that affected several federal holidays. One of these was Washington's Birthday, the observation of which was shifted to the third Monday in February each year whether or not it fell on the 22nd. This act, which took effect in 1971, was designed to simplify the yearly calendar of holidays and give federal employees some standard three-day weekends in the process.

Apparently, while the holiday in February is still officially known as Washington's Birthday (at least according to the Office of Personnel Management), it has become popularly (and, perhaps in some cases at the state level, legally) known as "President's Day." This has made the third Monday in February a day for honoring both Washington and Lincoln, as well as all the other men who have served as president.Source (http://www.patriotism.org/presidents_day/)
On Monday, January 20, 1986, in cities and towns across the country people celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, the only federal holiday commemorating an African-American.

All through the 1980's, controversy surrounded the idea of a Martin Luther King Day. Congressmen and citizens had petitioned the President to make January 15, Martin Luther King's birthday, a federal legal holiday. Others wanted to make the holiday on the day he died, while some people did not want to have any holiday at all.

January 15 had been observed as a legal holiday for many years in 27 states and Washington, D.C. Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.Source (http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm)

[craigwatanabe]

Wasn't it somewhere in the Northwest (like Montana) where entire production facilities shut down for Hunting Season? Once I tried to order a crapload of gas regulators (thousands) only to find out the plant that made them up north was shut down for a couple of weeks due to hunting.

[Frankie's Market]

I just want Discover's Day back as a Holiday. I'm all for MLK and all, that should be a seperate day, not in place of.

That was the trade-off when the Hawaii state govt. (and the counties) adopted MLK Day as a holiday. Discoverer's Day had to be supplanted, otherwise there would be too many state/local holidays. Only other way to have kept Discoverer's Day (without adding yet another costly "paid" holiday) would have been to eliminate another holiday. Taking away Kamehameha Day or Kuhio Day would have pissed-off the Hawaiian community. Taking away Admission Day would have eliminated the only state holiday between Independence Day and Labor Day.

But since you list your location as being "Arizona," why do you care anyway?

[Leo Lakio]

But since you list your location as being "Arizona," why do you care anyway?Maybe that's what keeps him from moving back? :p

[Kalihiboy]

What I seem to remember was getting both Washington and Lincoln's Birthday until about 1985 or 1986 and then MLK came into the picture, eliminating the seperate Presidents birthdays. I was in high school by 1986.

Aj

[craigwatanabe]

Remember one thing about what you wish for may come true, however in the case of paid vs unpaid vacations it's up to your employer to decide whether to pay you for it or not.

If you choose to honor that holiday and the company allows you to do so, it may come as an unpaid day off. And if you are an hourly wage employee you may have to make it up either thru vacation or work extra hours.

I personally think state workers get too many days off compared to the private sector already. When you consider most government workers are civil service workers, taking holidays leaves less time to service the civillians which absolutely runs counter to their job.

Holidays are a great way to honor those people or persons for which that holiday was declared for however it shouldn't be an excuse to do whatever you want except honoring that day for its intended purpose. That would be wrong. Our society has become so skewed in our interpretation of priorities. When you mourn the day of a deceased loved one, you don't do so by buying a DVD player on sale at Walmart right? You go to their grave and spend some quiet time and think about the good times with them.

On MLK day or any holiday your focus should be on the importance of that day and spend the time to understand why that day is so important, not go to the beach and worry about the SPF rating on that tube of sunscreen you bought at Walmart during their MLK day sale.

[Sharilyn]

That was the trade-off when the Hawaii state govt. (and the counties) adopted MLK Day as a holiday. Discoverer's Day had to be supplanted, otherwise there would be too many state/local holidays. Only other way to have kept Discoverer's Day (without adding yet another costly "paid" holiday) would have been to eliminate another holiday. Taking away Kamehameha Day or Kuhio Day would have pissed-off the Hawaiian community. Taking away Admission Day would have eliminated the only state holiday between Independence Day and Labor Day.

Yeah, I remember they did away with Discoverer's Day for MLK Day. I thought that was a mistake, since it's a Federal Holiday. I think they should have gotten rid of Good Friday instead, but I know others would have raised objections.

[cynsaligia]

i'm not all that down with adding more holidays. i would prefer that longer paid vacation times became the norm, nationally. many working folk in other industrialized countries get a more than a month off each year (http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/03/technology/fbvacations0803.biz2/index.htm). by comparison, americans get less than two weeks, on average.

[leashlaws]

well fortunately city & county (state too?) get 21 vacation days and 21 sick days a year.

[craigwatanabe]

I think they should have gotten rid of Good Friday instead, but I know others would have raised objections.

Good Friday as a Federal or even a State holiday still confounds me. I can see Christmas day being a day off since it's lost all of it's meaning with commercialism. However Good Friday is such a reverant day for Christians and hasn't been commercialized at all YET no one seems to mind this VERY Christian day to be recognized by our government?

So for those against having the Ten Commandments in a courtroom on a plaque, I call you hypocrites for accepting and taking off of work for ANY religious holidays that you don't believe in.