Tuesday, May 27, 2008
|Bank Holiday|
At around 4pm Central European Time (CET) yesterday, for about the 17th time, I'd once again forgotten that it was Memorial Day in the states and that's why still none of my stateside friends were online. I've become so accustomed to the bulk of the 2nd half of my day being filled with idle internet chat because I have literally not a single thing to do at work other than sit here. At around at a little after 4pm CET it hit me, "Hey, but what about friends in the firm's London office! Why aren't they online?" Then I remembered (yes, I'm slow), that London is closed, too.
But... hold the phone. Does London celebrate Memorial Day, as well? Or is it a touch of the "We should get everything the colonials get"-itis?
So as soon as my friend in the London office got online, I assailed her: "So, how'd you enjoy the day off? And, btw, WHY did you have the day off?"
"Bank holiday," she replied. I asked, "What holiday?" "Bank holiday," she said again. She asked if the system was being weird, since it seemed like I was not getting her messages.
"No, your message came through. But isn't 'bank holiday' just a general term? What were you celebrating?"
NQA. No Questions Asked. She was told it was a "bank holiday" and that's all the reason she needed not to go into work.
So I googled "England bank holidays 2008." May 26, 2008: "Spring Bank Holiday." WTF?! C'mon, England! Really? Really?!
When I informed my friend that her willful blindness was well placed, she replied (somewhat facetiously), "But we work hard here! We deserve a day off!"
To which I pointed out that there was just a holiday just a couple of weeks ago in early May: "Early May Bank Holiday."
Really?
At around 4pm Central European Time (CET) yesterday, for about the 17th time, I'd once again forgotten that it was Memorial Day in the states and that's why still none of my stateside friends were online. I've become so accustomed to the bulk of the 2nd half of my day being filled with idle internet chat because I have literally not a single thing to do at work other than sit here. At around at a little after 4pm CET it hit me, "Hey, but what about friends in the firm's London office! Why aren't they online?" Then I remembered (yes, I'm slow), that London is closed, too.
But... hold the phone. Does London celebrate Memorial Day, as well? Or is it a touch of the "We should get everything the colonials get"-itis?
So as soon as my friend in the London office got online, I assailed her: "So, how'd you enjoy the day off? And, btw, WHY did you have the day off?"
"Bank holiday," she replied. I asked, "What holiday?" "Bank holiday," she said again. She asked if the system was being weird, since it seemed like I was not getting her messages.
"No, your message came through. But isn't 'bank holiday' just a general term? What were you celebrating?"
NQA. No Questions Asked. She was told it was a "bank holiday" and that's all the reason she needed not to go into work.
So I googled "England bank holidays 2008." May 26, 2008: "Spring Bank Holiday." WTF?! C'mon, England! Really? Really?!
When I informed my friend that her willful blindness was well placed, she replied (somewhat facetiously), "But we work hard here! We deserve a day off!"
To which I pointed out that there was just a holiday just a couple of weeks ago in early May: "Early May Bank Holiday."
Really?
promulgated by SWS2.1 at 05:15.
1 comments
1 Comments:
Actually, I think the Bank Holiday's were started during the great depression to keep people from running to the banks to draw their money out.
Don't worry, dear, Paris has its share of random holidays, like, say, the month of August. ;)
By 
Michelle Chaplin, at
4:10 PM
________________________