Quote Originally Posted by Alan View Post
Coercion? I guess I see things a little differently after spending the 70's, 80's and some of the 90's working every holiday and odd shift that came along. If I had only known I was being coerced I might have refused the duties of my position and possibly quit in protest. That would have shown them, the big bullies.
It's true that you can choose to quit (unless you are talking about when you were in the military - then there is no way out :-)!) but if you have people (kids, spouse) who are dependant on you and bills to pay it's not always that easy. Lots of stories out there on the media about people being fired for refusing to work on holidays. A lot of these jobs didn't start being open on Holidays until fairly recently - and the hours and days required to work seem to keep expanding - so they may have originally taken the job and worked many years for the company thinking they would always have holidays off. And it's not just retail - many corporate companies (like my sister's work place Northrup-Grumman) no longer give the Friday after Thanksgiving off as a holiday so they can save money. Something that many places have always done.