During the pandemic my company added a number of “holidays” where they gave the whole company off, and I think most people felt the benefit was massively greater than adding a few more days of vacation. Knowing that when you had the day off you weren’t missing meetings, falling behind on email, and so forth made those days much relaxing, and the benefit would have been even greater if they were federal holidays and not just company holidays. Couldn’t agree more with this one.
Matt has this bit about how Europe isn't as good as the US because the middle class is poorer, their houses are smaller, their driers are bad and they don't put ice in their drinks.
These are all massively compensated for by *everybody taking the month of August off.* (Really, everyone taking off at least two weeks and leaving early otherwise.) Take it from me, you have no idea how much that improves your quality of life.
We had a discussion about this at least for Germany any gap disappears on a per hourly basis. They make the same per hour (or even more) they just work far fewer hours.
My last job had a policy where no one worked the week of thanksgiving and the two weeks of Christmas and New Years. It was so much more relaxing to know that I wasn’t missing anything.
Or more states should follow some western states and go with 100% mail-in voting. There are no polling places for me to go to here in Oregon on Election Day, and there haven't been for decades. I'd rather have an extra holiday during the summer.
Nationwide mail-in voting, no one is allowed to count votes until noon Eastern time on the first Sunday on November, so we can all take in the results at a reasonable time of the week instead of deep into the night in the middle of the work week. This is the way.
On the coordination side it's all about buy-in by the public. People what the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc off because they have particular things they want to do. No one is really sure what to do on labor day or even veteran's day. To this end I would put new (or move existing) holidays to times when people already have holiday-ish stuff they want to do. Make Halloween a holiday (Or make 10/31 a holiday that at least doesn't thematically conflict with Halloween). Move memorial day to around Easter (kind of fits right?). Put something in August because it's hot out and will be an easy sell.
Generally agree with your comment but moving Memorial Day to Easter is a crazy idea. I'd argue that Memorial Day and Labor Day are two of the most strongly observed holidays as they are the official start and end of Summer, respectively.
Exactly — if you move Memorial Day and Labor Day, there will be mass confusion as people try to figure out when it’s appropriate to wear white pants and shoes.
Really? what do you do on those days? And "cookout with family/friends" doesn't count because that's just any weekend with nice weather. They've always seemed like random days off for government workers and teachers. I had to google when they were. I haven't noticed any particular demand for getting those days off when scheduling. Nothing like thanksgiving/christmas/new years/easter/4th.
The only person I know with strong feelings about memorial day is my marine cousin who deeply dislikes all the casual celebrations and thinks people should be more somber (he lost a number of friends in Afghanistan). I respect that a lot, but it seems like a hard thing to base a all-society holiday on.
To be honest, you're the only person I've ever encountered who has trouble understanding labor day and memorial day. Maybe its a regional thing but in the NE and Mid-Atlantic its well understood that they are the bookends to summer and are usually celebrated by going to the beach, lake, etc or having a BBQ with friends and family.
And yes having a BBQ with friends and family does count because they are typically larger and more of a production than a regular cookout with a small group.
I don't quite understand "they seem like random days off" just because you personally don't enjoy those holidays doesn't mean millions of americans don't. There's a reason AAA always publishes a prediction of how many people will travel for Memorial Day and its not because "it's a random day off".
But hey, who am I to take away traditions of yacht club members in Nantucket, so I promise not to steal any holidays. Enjoy white pants (I guess?) and eating food outside!
I'm from Vermont and live in upstate NY now. Sure everyone loves a day off, and a long weekend is something to look forward to, and the dates are nice times for one, but none of that is really connected to the theme. In fact, as I mentioned, in the case of memorial day the festival traditions are kind of inappropriate for the theme.
Another way of putting it is that if I'm in the hospital working on Christmas I can wear a Santa hat. On thanksgiving the dinning hall will serve turkey and people will wish each other "happy thanksgiving." On Halloween you can wear a fun costume. etc. Labor day is just another day noteworthy only because you have to find child care.
I have no idea about the white pants and all. Maybe it's a fussy Connecticut thing or something?
Making Halloween a holiday is genius. Or more generously perhaps Halloween and All Saint’s Day together. One for the kids and the other for recovery for adults who stay out late.
When I interned in Congress, I pushed the idea of making Opening Day of baseball season a federal holiday, which I think is a great idea both politically and on the merits
I always loved that episode of the Weeds because it was bringing academic rigour to something I had observed in my own life - then I worked in universities, and the christmas break was great because nearly the whole university was off, so you could genuinely switch off because nothing was happening at work. Even if you were at a loose end and felt like doing some work, there was no point, because nobody would get back to you. I think it would be call to have a week in July or August that was a mandated holiday or at the very least a long week.
Pretty common in the aerospace industry to take off the week between Christmas and New Years. Not a holiday in my experience but many people take vacation so you get the same community benefit of not falling behind.
Regrettably, our big yearly professional conference was the first week or two of January every year, so the lab was bustling on 12/26 even as the rest of campus was shut down...
(I think we always successfully avoided going in on Christmas proper)
Once we adopt an absolute hereditary monarchy with King Obama the First, his birthday (Aug 4) will be well timed to fill the lull between Independence Day (now, “We were wrong to reject monarchy Day”) and Labor Day.
Once America becomes a parliamentary system using MMP after the 2025-2032 Civil War Redux, I suggest that we rejoin the British monarchy and admit that 1776 was a mistake. We can have a Prime Minister, like normal healthy countries, and then the Queen will appoint a Governor General as the head of state, as she does for Canada and Australia now. We'll probably have to crawl back to Britain begging to reinstate the monarchy....
While we're implementing my Fantasy Geopolitical Scenarios for the mid-21st century, I'm also voting for China's wish to be fulfilled a la the monkey's paw- China and Taiwan become one country. That is to say, Taiwan forcibly invades China, overthrows the CCP, liberates the citizens of Xinjiang and implements a parliamentary democracy- uniting the two countries and bringing peace to the world
More 3-day weekends is a mini-step to the permanent 4-day work week. 50% more leisure time built into the system combined with reduced commuting (for those who still commute) by 20% would improve the economy in untold ways, and reduce carbon emissions in the process.
You can read more about this and other novel win/win/win policy prescriptions in my political manifesto, available upon request!
I think changing Columbus Day to either Indigenous Peoples Day or Italian American Heritage Day would be good. Whichever one isn’t chosen could be given its own day as a new holiday.
100% agree with the thesis, but as an exec at a healthcare company, 85% of our workforce can't take more holidays without significant impact on client care. While technology has made more holidays a viable and desirable thing for many, there's still a huge group that aren't benefited by it.
I tend to agree that about one public holiday a month is about right - the UK has only eight and seven of those are concentrated into two small groups (three at Christmas and New Year, four between late March and the end of May).
I'm also very much inclined towards creating public holidays based on existing celebrations rather than trying to establish them from nothing (Juneteenth is a good example of something that was already being commemorated).
Skimming through the US list, there are no public holidays in the following months: March, April, August. The long gap from President's Day to Memorial Day is the most obvious hole in the US holiday calendar. I suspect it's partly there because Easter falls into it and lots of people do use it as a coordination point for a vacation, even without the public holiday , so the need wasn't as obvious when that was more normal than it is now. Because Easter is a moveable feast, making it a public holiday would be very difficult for both practical and First Amendment reasons, but picking a fixed date that can coincide with Easter would not be ideal either. Perhaps something in mid-March before the earliest possible Easter? Or late April/early May? Cinco de Mayo might be good (there isn't anything Hispanic on the current calendar, so that would be nice for inclusiveness).
The other large gap is from Independence Day to Labor Day. A day off at the end of July or the beginning of August would be nice, though I can't think of anything particular to commemorate
A law that would be very popular would be one saying that anyone paid a salary has the right to two days off in lieu if they are required to work on a federal or state holiday, and anyone paid hourly is entitled to double time for any hours worked on those days. That would ensure that most workplaces that don't need to be open would close, and those serving the public on public holidays would be suitably rewarded for doing so.
The spring holiday "gap" is actually even worse than it appears on paper because probably a majority of US workers don't get President's Day off (very few private sector businesses close for it, in my experience), so really the gap runs from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in mid-January to Memorial Day in late May for most households.
Also, adding Cinco de Mayo to be "inclusive to Hispanics" is a terrible idea. Cinco de mayo celebrates the Mexican defeat of the French in the Battle of Puebla. It is something that is Mexican American, and not celebrated by all Hispanics.
Ah, right. I suspect that the only dates likely to be shared throughout Latin America are Catholic religious commemorations (there isn't an "independence day from Spain" that is shared, AIUI) which are problematic for First Amendment reasons.
During the pandemic my company added a number of “holidays” where they gave the whole company off, and I think most people felt the benefit was massively greater than adding a few more days of vacation. Knowing that when you had the day off you weren’t missing meetings, falling behind on email, and so forth made those days much relaxing, and the benefit would have been even greater if they were federal holidays and not just company holidays. Couldn’t agree more with this one.
Matt has this bit about how Europe isn't as good as the US because the middle class is poorer, their houses are smaller, their driers are bad and they don't put ice in their drinks.
These are all massively compensated for by *everybody taking the month of August off.* (Really, everyone taking off at least two weeks and leaving early otherwise.) Take it from me, you have no idea how much that improves your quality of life.
We had a discussion about this at least for Germany any gap disappears on a per hourly basis. They make the same per hour (or even more) they just work far fewer hours.
Problem is - they can’t get paid more by working extra hours. It’s only good if you’re satisfied with European income levels.
You can still work harder within the time allotted. One could argue people end up being promoted based on productivity rather than but-in-seat time.
My last job had a policy where no one worked the week of thanksgiving and the two weeks of Christmas and New Years. It was so much more relaxing to know that I wasn’t missing anything.
Clearly Election Day should be a holiday.
Or more states should follow some western states and go with 100% mail-in voting. There are no polling places for me to go to here in Oregon on Election Day, and there haven't been for decades. I'd rather have an extra holiday during the summer.
Nationwide mail-in voting, no one is allowed to count votes until noon Eastern time on the first Sunday on November, so we can all take in the results at a reasonable time of the week instead of deep into the night in the middle of the work week. This is the way.
It is for us NYC bureaucrats.
I want more "happy" holidays, like July 4th, rather than occasions where people argue about who is recognizing it the most appropriately.
This is "Sad Day That The Motherland Lost The Colonies" erasure /s
Following Douglas Adams, we tend to call it "B-Ark Day" over here :-)
If you think that July 4th doesn't generate arguments about who is recognizing it most appropriately, you must not hang out with young progressives.
I've seen some, but it doesn't generate nearly as much heat as, say, Thanksgiving.
(This is, of course, absolutely an All Sides Do it Situation, of course. It was inspired by someone complaining about Memorial Day sales being tacky.)
On the coordination side it's all about buy-in by the public. People what the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc off because they have particular things they want to do. No one is really sure what to do on labor day or even veteran's day. To this end I would put new (or move existing) holidays to times when people already have holiday-ish stuff they want to do. Make Halloween a holiday (Or make 10/31 a holiday that at least doesn't thematically conflict with Halloween). Move memorial day to around Easter (kind of fits right?). Put something in August because it's hot out and will be an easy sell.
That said, I'm an ED nurse so the fuck do I care.
Generally agree with your comment but moving Memorial Day to Easter is a crazy idea. I'd argue that Memorial Day and Labor Day are two of the most strongly observed holidays as they are the official start and end of Summer, respectively.
Exactly — if you move Memorial Day and Labor Day, there will be mass confusion as people try to figure out when it’s appropriate to wear white pants and shoes.
Really? what do you do on those days? And "cookout with family/friends" doesn't count because that's just any weekend with nice weather. They've always seemed like random days off for government workers and teachers. I had to google when they were. I haven't noticed any particular demand for getting those days off when scheduling. Nothing like thanksgiving/christmas/new years/easter/4th.
The only person I know with strong feelings about memorial day is my marine cousin who deeply dislikes all the casual celebrations and thinks people should be more somber (he lost a number of friends in Afghanistan). I respect that a lot, but it seems like a hard thing to base a all-society holiday on.
To be honest, you're the only person I've ever encountered who has trouble understanding labor day and memorial day. Maybe its a regional thing but in the NE and Mid-Atlantic its well understood that they are the bookends to summer and are usually celebrated by going to the beach, lake, etc or having a BBQ with friends and family.
And yes having a BBQ with friends and family does count because they are typically larger and more of a production than a regular cookout with a small group.
I don't quite understand "they seem like random days off" just because you personally don't enjoy those holidays doesn't mean millions of americans don't. There's a reason AAA always publishes a prediction of how many people will travel for Memorial Day and its not because "it's a random day off".
But hey, who am I to take away traditions of yacht club members in Nantucket, so I promise not to steal any holidays. Enjoy white pants (I guess?) and eating food outside!
I'm from Vermont and live in upstate NY now. Sure everyone loves a day off, and a long weekend is something to look forward to, and the dates are nice times for one, but none of that is really connected to the theme. In fact, as I mentioned, in the case of memorial day the festival traditions are kind of inappropriate for the theme.
Another way of putting it is that if I'm in the hospital working on Christmas I can wear a Santa hat. On thanksgiving the dinning hall will serve turkey and people will wish each other "happy thanksgiving." On Halloween you can wear a fun costume. etc. Labor day is just another day noteworthy only because you have to find child care.
I have no idea about the white pants and all. Maybe it's a fussy Connecticut thing or something?
If having a thematic meal with family and friends doesn’t suffice as a holiday, is Thanksgiving out too?
Thanksgiving is more than a generic meal though. Thanksgiving dinner is thanksgiving dinner. A memorial day cookout is just a cookout like any other.
For August I propose the ratification of 19th amendment (August 18th). I leave it to others to find a cool name :)
Off-By-One Error Day? :-)
Making Halloween a holiday is genius. Or more generously perhaps Halloween and All Saint’s Day together. One for the kids and the other for recovery for adults who stay out late.
When I interned in Congress, I pushed the idea of making Opening Day of baseball season a federal holiday, which I think is a great idea both politically and on the merits
Super bowl Sunday (observed) would also be wonderful. Though January/February is already pretty full
I always loved that episode of the Weeds because it was bringing academic rigour to something I had observed in my own life - then I worked in universities, and the christmas break was great because nearly the whole university was off, so you could genuinely switch off because nothing was happening at work. Even if you were at a loose end and felt like doing some work, there was no point, because nobody would get back to you. I think it would be call to have a week in July or August that was a mandated holiday or at the very least a long week.
Japan has a series of holidays in early May called “Golden Week” (in English naturally!) that end up being like that.
Great idea. Make it early August. July 4th has this effect already some years.
Pretty common in the aerospace industry to take off the week between Christmas and New Years. Not a holiday in my experience but many people take vacation so you get the same community benefit of not falling behind.
Regrettably, our big yearly professional conference was the first week or two of January every year, so the lab was bustling on 12/26 even as the rest of campus was shut down...
(I think we always successfully avoided going in on Christmas proper)
How about Earth Day?
This one seems inevitable at some point, and would fit in well with that Presidents' Day/Memorial Day lull that's been mentioned.
Massachuestts & Maine have long had that lull covered with Patriots' Day and it works quite nicely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots%27_Day
District of Columbia has something similar going on with Emancipation Day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Day#District_of_Columbia_-_April_16
Once we adopt an absolute hereditary monarchy with King Obama the First, his birthday (Aug 4) will be well timed to fill the lull between Independence Day (now, “We were wrong to reject monarchy Day”) and Labor Day.
Once America becomes a parliamentary system using MMP after the 2025-2032 Civil War Redux, I suggest that we rejoin the British monarchy and admit that 1776 was a mistake. We can have a Prime Minister, like normal healthy countries, and then the Queen will appoint a Governor General as the head of state, as she does for Canada and Australia now. We'll probably have to crawl back to Britain begging to reinstate the monarchy....
King William, you mean.
While we're implementing my Fantasy Geopolitical Scenarios for the mid-21st century, I'm also voting for China's wish to be fulfilled a la the monkey's paw- China and Taiwan become one country. That is to say, Taiwan forcibly invades China, overthrows the CCP, liberates the citizens of Xinjiang and implements a parliamentary democracy- uniting the two countries and bringing peace to the world
Skipping over Charles was quite the clever touch here.
🤷🏻♀️
Wouldn't we just use Harry for our own King, cut out the middle-monarch?
The British sure seemed to enjoy the 4 day Jubilee weekend.
Can confirm, it was great. I'm still annoyed at having exams scheduled on both of the Golden Jubilee holidays back in 2002.
More 3-day weekends is a mini-step to the permanent 4-day work week. 50% more leisure time built into the system combined with reduced commuting (for those who still commute) by 20% would improve the economy in untold ways, and reduce carbon emissions in the process.
You can read more about this and other novel win/win/win policy prescriptions in my political manifesto, available upon request!
(borrowing some of the ideas in the threads)
- Election Day
- Opening Day
- Super Bowl Hangover Recovery Day (Monday after super bowl)
- Democracy Resilience Day (Jan 6, the day we stood up to the insurrectionists)
- Tax Day
Also, generally, we need more holidays in March (maybe St. Patricks Day?), and August (I dunno, make something up, Slow Boring Day?)
2/15, intern day
Intern day people can take off, but its usually not a paid time off holiday.
Children’s day for August. It’s the third Sunday of august in Argentina and Peru. Just move it there instead of making the first of June a holiday.
We should have Vernal Equinox Day and Autumnal Equinox Day as holidays like Japan
Strongly agree! Also solstice days.
I think changing Columbus Day to either Indigenous Peoples Day or Italian American Heritage Day would be good. Whichever one isn’t chosen could be given its own day as a new holiday.
I am a fan of replacing Black Friday with Indigenous People’s Day, but I don’t know if many indigenous people are a fan too.
I’m at work right now! If this were a strongly coordinated holiday like Memorial Day or Labor Day I’d be getting double pay.
If you are an office worker enjoying your day off you expect the stores and restaurants to be open. Sounds like a class divide issue.
100% agree with the thesis, but as an exec at a healthcare company, 85% of our workforce can't take more holidays without significant impact on client care. While technology has made more holidays a viable and desirable thing for many, there's still a huge group that aren't benefited by it.
I tend to agree that about one public holiday a month is about right - the UK has only eight and seven of those are concentrated into two small groups (three at Christmas and New Year, four between late March and the end of May).
I'm also very much inclined towards creating public holidays based on existing celebrations rather than trying to establish them from nothing (Juneteenth is a good example of something that was already being commemorated).
Skimming through the US list, there are no public holidays in the following months: March, April, August. The long gap from President's Day to Memorial Day is the most obvious hole in the US holiday calendar. I suspect it's partly there because Easter falls into it and lots of people do use it as a coordination point for a vacation, even without the public holiday , so the need wasn't as obvious when that was more normal than it is now. Because Easter is a moveable feast, making it a public holiday would be very difficult for both practical and First Amendment reasons, but picking a fixed date that can coincide with Easter would not be ideal either. Perhaps something in mid-March before the earliest possible Easter? Or late April/early May? Cinco de Mayo might be good (there isn't anything Hispanic on the current calendar, so that would be nice for inclusiveness).
The other large gap is from Independence Day to Labor Day. A day off at the end of July or the beginning of August would be nice, though I can't think of anything particular to commemorate
A law that would be very popular would be one saying that anyone paid a salary has the right to two days off in lieu if they are required to work on a federal or state holiday, and anyone paid hourly is entitled to double time for any hours worked on those days. That would ensure that most workplaces that don't need to be open would close, and those serving the public on public holidays would be suitably rewarded for doing so.
Add Patriots' day! (Holiday in Massachusetts and Maine celebrated on the third Monday of April to commemorate the battles of Lexington and Concord).
Morning baseball is the best thing (writes someone who is five hours ahead of the US and so gets the 11:30 am start for the Red Sox game at 4:30 pm)
The spring holiday "gap" is actually even worse than it appears on paper because probably a majority of US workers don't get President's Day off (very few private sector businesses close for it, in my experience), so really the gap runs from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in mid-January to Memorial Day in late May for most households.
Also, adding Cinco de Mayo to be "inclusive to Hispanics" is a terrible idea. Cinco de mayo celebrates the Mexican defeat of the French in the Battle of Puebla. It is something that is Mexican American, and not celebrated by all Hispanics.
Ah, right. I suspect that the only dates likely to be shared throughout Latin America are Catholic religious commemorations (there isn't an "independence day from Spain" that is shared, AIUI) which are problematic for First Amendment reasons.
Lol'd. (Doing a thorough re-listening of Revolutions and just finished Bolívar).
You suggested Cinco de Mayo and “Something mid march” but forgot about St Patrick’s day!
First Thursday and Friday of the tournament, obviously.
Not like anybody's actually working on those days anyway.