What with the holiday season coming up, I know that we are in for some more bed wetting about the "War on Christmas." I can hardly wait!
Of course, as a pre-emptive response to all of the bed wetters, I would like to channel a comment I saw on SNL's Weekend Update this past weekend.
"All Holidays Matter."
You are right . At said hospital I work, a couple of years ago a fellow employee in our department who is Muslim from Pakistan wanted to take all his holey days off . Who doesn't , right ? Working in a hospital , as you say your mother did , you know workers are allowed a limited number of " holidays " ( a mixture of Christian , and if you will , patriotic holidays off) So , " Sal " I will call him , wanted the Muslim holiday that is the same day as Easter ,which is the most important Chiristan holiday of all . no it's not Christmas! Anyway , Sal was not granted the Muslim equivalent of Easter off BUT! Our department LET HIM LEAVE for THREE HOURS TO ATTEND HIS PLACE OF WORSHIP. This is unheard of for a healthcare worker to be allowed to leave for a couple of hours if his shift . It just does not happen , EVER . Excluding emergencies. Of course , some people had problems with this due to the fact that they would also like to attend Easter Sunday services. I'm guessing those people went to management because from that time forward we were no longer catering to his requests to attend his religious services . Remember we are a hospital operating 24/7 , we are expected to be required to work some religious(Christian) and non secular holidays . I'm wondering how this would have been handled if it were a normal business and Sal needed to take a Thursday that happened to be a religious holiday off ? Would Sal always get his requested days off no matter what they were or what they interfere with simply because he is a minority? Would the denial of his requests be viewed as racism ? Bias ? Would a lawyer hop on the case ? Any thoughts , Mr. Lawyer ?
ReplyDeleteBTW , I like " Sal " I think he's an interesting character . Guess where he lives ? CARMEL! LOL