“Blessed Equinox, y’all!”
“Looking forward to the day when I don’t have to choose between using PTO OR celebrating my religious holidays! Blessed Equinox, y’all (from work *eyeroll emoji*)!”
Today marks another year that I’ve spent an Equinox at work – for most, if not all of the day, like today. I posted the quote above on my FB & Insta stories today as an outlet to my ongoing frustrations with the working world. My sardonic declaration of a desire to one day work in a space where I can choose the holidays that work for me and not have to blow through my PTO to get days that are meaningful to me off. I know I’m not alone in this sentiment, I’ve had many a conversation with friends, peers, and colleagues of various faith and non-faith traditions, that have significant holidays that don’t fit into the Christonormative “Federal” or “Bank” holidays. Depending on the company I work for, I can waste up to 5 or 6 workdays a year, an ENTIRE workweek, being off on holidays that I don’t celebrate, and some that I am morally against their mere existence… I see you, Columbus Day! I know others who end up wasting even more than 5 days, all with the knowledge that they could have swapped those out for personally meaningful days if their organisation was just the smallest bit flexible.
Floating holidays aren’t hard, nor are they complicated. Federal and bank holidays don’t necessarily need to go away (though I’d be psyched if we would take a good hard look at what values we prioritise in a nation of people who have varied beliefs and practices). Close the office on Thanksgiving & Christmas, I’ll gladly work AND I’ll finally get all my backburner projects launched! I want my colleagues to enjoy that family reunion that always happens at Thanksgiving or the Midnight Christmas Mass that has a profound impact on their new year. Cause in a world where we’re mindfully inclusive, my Mabon or Samhain Sabbats get the same respect and reverence.
And I know that not everyone has the luxury to not work on holidays, I’ve worked in 365 positions before (behavioural health in an ED, 24/7 wrap-around services, etc.), so don’t @ me!!! But even then, the argument remains similar; you getting time and a half for a Monday in July and me not getting time and a half for a Wednesday in September is kinda inequitable, ain’t it?
