December Employee Celebrations
One of the best ways to avoid needless employment law disputes is to stay in touch with what your employees are thinking, feeling and doing. As part of our never-ending quest to keep you up-to-speed on the latest developments affecting your workplace, the following is our guide to some of the lesser-known holidays/celebrations your employees might be observing this month.
Just to make sure you’re paying attention, I included two made-up days on our list. The rest are very real. The first people to post a comment below identifying the bogus days will win valuable prizes.
- Day Without Art Day (1)
- National Dice Day (4)
- AFL-CIO Day (5)
- Bathtub Party Day (5)
- International Ninja Day (5)
- National Pawnbroker Day (6)
- Cotton Candy Day (7)
- Buy Something You Can’t Afford for Someone Who Doesn’t Need It Day (12)
- Cat Herders Day (15)
- Barbie and Barney Backlash Day (16)
- National Chocolate-covered Anything Day (16)
- National Re-gifting Day (17)
- Underdog Day (18)
- Humbug Day (21)
- National Haiku Day (21)
- Festivus (23)
- No “L” Day (25)
- National Whiner’s Day (26)
- National Chocolate Day (28)
- Falling Needles Family Fest Day (30)
- Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done This Year Day (31)
What does this mean for employers? For decades, employment lawyers have advised their clients to avoid references to any specific celebrations at this time of year and to use instead the seemingly innocuous phrase “Happy Holidays.” But is that good advice?
In light of the above, by uttering ”Happy Holidays” you may be unwittingly sanctioning gambling, whining, cat herding, bathtub partying, pawnbroking, humbuggery, haikus, chocolate over-indulgence, artlessness, discrimination against the letter “L,” violence against beloved children’s icons and unionization of your workforce.
Our advice? Drop the word “Holidays” from any greeting and simply say: “Happy.”
Enjoy the month!
(Sources: holidaysmart.com, emotionscards.com, brownielocks.com)
November 30th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I’m going to go with AFL-CIO Day and Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done this Year Day. Although so many of them sound fake!
November 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
International Ninja day is the 5th of dec, I think.
not real?
Buy Something You Can?t Afford for Someone Who Doesn?t Need It Day (12)
Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done This Year Day (31)
November 30th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
WOW, those were good this month. I have to say that the
“Buy Something You Can’t Afford for Someone Who Doesn’t Need It Day on 12/12/09″ and “Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done This Year Day on 12/31/09 are the fake ones . . . I found the AFL-CIO day listed in Google, but I thought it was fake at first.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Thanks Laura, Nick and Ed for paritipcating! We’ll let a few others chime in and then I’ll announce our lucky winners. (Nice catch on International Ninja Day, Nick — how on earth did you know that??). Mark
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
I agree with Laura: AFL-CIO Day and Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done this Year Day.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
I ran across Ninja day somewhere else. I did not believe it existed, so we had to look it up. It was one of those unofficial debates that I unfortunately lost.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
It’s “Buy something you Can’t Afford for Someone Who Doesn’t Need It Day” on 12/12/09 and “Finish Everything You Were Supposed to get done This Year Day” on 12/31/09.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi Mark–I’m going to say the two made-up days are “Buy Something you Can’t Afford for Someone Who Doesn’t Need It Day” and “No L Day”.
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I’m going to have to go with AFL-CIO day and Festivus (I’m thinking this was a made up one from a sitcom).
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Why would National Re-gifting Day be before the holidays on December 17?
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I was wondering the same thing myself, Melanie. Maybe it’s because people are unloading last year’s presents in time to make room for this year’s.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Mark,
When will we know the answer to this puzzle?
December 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I’m going with No “L” Day on the 25th, and Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done This Year Day on the 31st.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Thanks for the participation, everyone! To answer your question, Jim — I’ll give people a few more days to weigh in and then I’ll announce the winners sometime next week.
December 7th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
My votes are Buy Something You Can’t Afford for Someone Who Doesn’t Need It Day (12) and Finish Everything You Were Supposed to Get Done This Year Day (31)
December 8th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Melanie & Mark, check out http://www.nationalregiftingday.com/ for why it’s the Thursday before Christmas. Hilarious!
December 8th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Thanks for sharing, Beth! I figured there had to be some reason for it being that day. Makes perfect sense to me. Only 9 days and counting . . .