Cornbread is really the only thing that should go with chili.
As a former retail worker, my UO is people who get upset at "Happy Holidays" are assholes.
"Thank you and Happy Holidays!" "Tch. It's MERRY CHRISTMAS" "Have a blessed Solstice since Christmas is an appropriation of Pagan Holidays to convert Europeans who refused to not get drunk this time of year"
@kangstadt the three kids I nanny made me cry this morning so yea I’m right there with you for needing a drink. The second the parents leave they turn into completely different children and the parents either laugh it off or don’t believe me. I stood in the kitchen sobbing from having them shout at me and treat me like poop...and then the oldest ( 6) actually started laughing at me for crying. So yea, I need a few shots of tequila.
@lilpotatomama you helped me remember! One of the UOs I forgot about is that I really could take or leave Thanksgiving. So many people LOVE it and I'm just over here wondering why. The food really does not do it for me, although I do love Stove Top stuffing. Nobody serves standard stuffing anymore though and it's always some weird rice concoction or something with cranberries and nuts in it. I do appreciate that the end of Thanksgiving kicks off the start of the Christmas season, because I do love Christmas, but I find Black Friday to be a loathsome day with the exception of online shopping.
I also think Easter food is the worst of all the holidays but I'm not sure I'd be alone in that opinion.
If you bring your husband ( or any other guests) to your OB appointment and there are no seats left in the waiting room when a VERY pregnant woman walks in, he needs to get up. Same with your kids. There are always huge families in my OB waiting room and they take up all the seats so the women who are about to pop and likely have swollen ankles and are tired have to stand.
If this makes me an asshole, so be it. Your husband can play candy crush while standing.
I LOVE black Friday and I actually PREFER that it starts on Thanksgiving because I would rather go at night then early in the morning.
There I said it.
We have started a tradition of walking around the local Walmart after dinner on thanksgiving just for fun and to get out of the house. We’re not the crazies who go wait in line. And then on actual Black Friday we head out shopping around noon. If we find deals great, if not no big deal. Also I know so many people love the holiday pay for working and we often forget the professions like medical, police, firefighters etc that always work holidays. No one is forcing you to work or go shopping so I don’t get why people get so cranky about Black Friday. I do agree that Black Friday sales are overrated and the deals aren’t as great as they were in the past. Retailers use the slogan “Black Friday prices” all year round nowadays
Also I love thanksgiving and Christmas time. Thanksgiving because you get to enjoy family without it being about gifts and Christmas because I love watching the joy in my children’s eyes
Chili: I personally don’t like chili because I’m very sensitive to spices (but I do love the smell!). I’ve heard of the peanut butter thing but never cinnamon rolls....so weird!
Also add me to the never remembering my own UO or FFFC lol
This is a terrible comparison. 1. They are generally better at rotating holidays so that you do not always have to work every holiday. 2. This is a given in those professions. They are there in the case of emergency and to potentially save a life.They understand the sacrifice they are making and the necessity of it. Discount vacuums are saving no ones life.
My Bffs dad growing up was a firefighter. They understand why they have to have someone there. They also have the potential to have their families visit. It's vastly different.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who like holiday pay, i'm also sure there are tons who would rather be with their families. I never got a choice in working all the holidays, retail is awful and regardless of if i was a worker bee or a manager i was there. You are there or you are replaced. You want to have a great day of sales that's cool, i love sales. But Black Friday has gotten out of hand. There is no reason to start on Thanksgiving. It's the escalation of it that's truly a terrifying snippet of America.
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Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014 BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
Coming back to add to the chili debate: As a soundly put midwestern girl (like I feel like I'm the most landlocked state there could possibly be), we eat the following with chili: cornbread, crackers, Fritos, AND CINNAMON ROLLS! It started in schools here and now it's a thing. I don't do it often but at least once or twice a year we have them like that.
Also, I think shopping on Thanksgiving is terrible. Let people have family time and you can trample over each other on Friday to get the things you HAVE TO HAVE, after you're done giving thanks for the things you have in your life.
@thatbaintforbetty Agreed. I have never had to work Black Friday up here in Canada but in all my years in retail I was never given a choice about working a holiday. At best I could request certain days off but even then I was still at the mercy of management and it was usually a long shot. I have worked more Boxing Day (December 26th) Sales than I care to remember.
Other fields can also be very different. My dad is an ER doctor and worked Xmas for years - for him it was choice and unlike retail workers on Thanksgiving, Xmas was a usually a slow day for him, as opposed to the full-scale madness that is retail on a busy day.
Years of retail will simultaneously destroy your faith in humanity and grant you overwhelming empathy for other front line service workers.
@thatbaintforbetty Agreed. I have never had to work Black Friday up here in Canada but in all my years in retail I was never given a choice about working a holiday. At best I could request certain days off but even then I was still at the mercy of management and it was usually a long shot. I have worked more Boxing Day (December 26th) Sales than I care to remember.
Other fields can also be very different. My dad is an ER doctor and worked Xmas for years - for him it was choice and unlike retail workers on Thanksgiving, Xmas was a usually a slow day for him, as opposed to the full-scale madness that is retail on a busy day.
Years of retail will simultaneously destroy your faith in humanity and grant you overwhelming empathy for other front line service workers.
Truer word have not been spoken.
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@blueberrymomma actually, a lot of retail employees are forced to work on black Friday or be fired. I view it as different with firefighters / police officers / nurses - first, because they're generally salaried employees with benefits who are doing jobs that are absolutely necessary to the safety and wellbeing of the community. (Working at Macy's on Thanksgiving evening is obviously not necessary to the safety and wellbeing of the community). And second, because those civil servants often be required to work a holiday, but may be able to choose which holiday they sign up for (though that does depend on locality etc). Retail on the other hand, often requires that you work all holidays - and again, preforming a service that is anything but necessary. When I was a waitress I was required to work on Christmas eve or be fired.
@blueberrymomma actually, a lot of retail employees are forced to work on black Friday or be fired. I view it as different with firefighters / police officers / nurses - first, because they're generally salaried employees with benefits who are doing jobs that are absolutely necessary to the safety and wellbeing of the community. (Working at Macy's on Thanksgiving evening is obviously not necessary to the safety and wellbeing of the community). And second, because those civil servants often be required to work a holiday, but may be able to choose which holiday they sign up for (though that does depend on locality etc). Retail on the other hand, often requires that you work all holidays - and again, preforming a service that is anything but necessary. When I was a waitress I was required to work on Christmas eve or be fired.
Yup. When I was a hostess maybe 5 people got the holidays off. The restaurant was only closed Christmas Day. I got to have Thanksgiving sitting at the bar doing ticket times and eating a cold plate of turkey from the prix fix menu ha.
I agree with almost all of you about everything else. I've also eaten my chili with rice, which is kind of gross but also delicious. Cornbread all the way. Black Friday is fine unless you have to work retail, then stores should just close. The holidays can be tedious but I LOVE getting into the spirit of the season and trying to cheer up amidst all the horrible world events (seems like every year). We are very pagan about the whole thing. Football is evil, but I feel that way about most sports.
Apparently my u/o is that I actually like Thanksgiving food. We raise our own turkey, make our own cranberry sauce, local garlic mashed potatoes w/pan drippings, fried greens, add some other foods that we love like curries, and there is plenty of homemade pie with homemade whipped cream on top for dessert.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone. Myself and family members have worked retail and restaurants and there was always a rotating schedule for holidays, so that is a reason why I’ve never felt forced working holidays. I know people who always volunteer to work thanksgiving and those without kids who work Christmas Eve so co workers can be home with their kids. Also do you think pilots and airports are necessary on holidays? Because flying on Christmas Day isn’t necessary or gas stations or restaurants when you burn dinner. And yes I understand emergency professionals are needed at all times of the year and they make sacrifices everyday. My point is that Black Friday sales aren’t that only reason for work on holidays Again I was just stating my opinion not trying to offend anyone
@sheepshepherdess you don't put the cinnamon roll IN the chili! You just eat it alongside the chili. Is that where the confusion is coming from!? I've solved the world's problems! lol
@blueberrymomma hey it's UO, so you're allowed to have a UO. (I'm not offended, I just have strong feelings on the subject). And different retail stores have different policies. I know Best Buy actually required employees to work on black Friday (or at least they did when my husband worked there, years ago). And like I said, when I waitressed, holidays were also required from us. Fully non-optional. And no, I don't think restaurants are necessary on holidays, particularly because of my experience missing out on time with my family. Burning dinner isn't exactly an emergency. There's always crackers and peanut butter - not very festive, but then again, neither is having a waitress whose missing out on Christmas dinner with her family. I have mixed feelings about pilots and airports and gas stations, because while they aren't strictly 100% necessary, they're certainly more important than retail. Someone whose mother is dying or whose child got in a car accident, or something like that, might feel that airports and flights and gas stations really are necessary. Transportation is pretty important.
There’s not much chili culture here in the PNW, so I don’t have strong opinions on this, but cinnamon rolls anywhere near chili sounds icky. I like thanksgiving, but the food isn’t my fav. Black Friday starting at 5pm on Thursday is wrong. And I love Christmas even though we don’t decorate or have a tree (we’ve never been home for it).
@thatbaintforbetty and @professormama Agreed- as someone who has worked both retail and critical healthcare roles, it’s a totally different situation. We need nurses and lab techs and firefighters to work on Thanksgiving, and they know it’s needed too. We understand the actual *necessity* of the work, and most workplaces make an effort to make sure everyone gets a Thanksgiving or Christmas off sometime.
Nobody needs to come into work on Thanksgiving (especially for <$15/hr) so someone can buy a sale item a few hours early. It’s bad enough they get dragged in the day after or be fired. Everyone in retail knows the work isn’t a lifesaving measure, and they’re sure not getting paid well enough to overlook it. You come in only because you have to, and you’re basically only ‘happy’ about it if you have bills you won’t meet otherwise.
-The Christmas season would rock if it were only a week long. I can be jolly for a week but no longer.
@mrstmoose Okay, that makes me feel a little better! Cornbread I plop down in the bowl, then pour chili over the top. Doing the same with a cinnamon roll was kind of a scary idea.
Yep, I think Black Friday was only time and a half when I worked fast food, whereas Thanksgiving was double time. At $8/hr wages that's not worth it to me either day. But I really value time spent with family.
Hey, in Rome and other Italian cities, almost nothing is open on Sundays. I think you can use the airport, that's considered necessary. But almost no restaurants or shops. Most museums, many embassies, some gas stations. It's kind of odd if you're trying to go about your day. I don't see why we couldn't do the same for holidays here.
We regularly have gas stations, grocery stores, and restraurants close during holidays and the surrounding days. My opinion is that businesses should advertise their holiday hours and everyone else should plan accordingly. Fill up your gas tank before they close and use a spare container if you're concerned about "what ifs". Make a grocery list and purchase supplies ahead of time. BUT if people WANT to work on holidays, they should be able to (UO?). I know at least in my area, businesses closing is actually really harmful to the people who work those jobs. Sure they get to spend time with family but now they have no money for food or housing or Christmas toys for their kids. I don't think this topic is as cut and dry as people think 🤷♀️
As a former retail worker, my UO is people who get upset at "Happy Holidays" are assholes.
"Thank you and Happy Holidays!" "Tch. It's MERRY CHRISTMAS" "Have a blessed Solstice since Christmas is an appropriation of Pagan Holidays to convert Europeans who refused to not get drunk this time of year"
100% this.
Also, I worked fast food for YEARS in my early 20s and you absolutely do not get an option for working holidays/black friday. You work those days or you don't have a job. And you didn't get holiday pay unless you were a salaried manager. I definitely know people who volunteered to work bc the money was necessary for their family, but I think it's bullshit ~requiring~ people to work on holidays.
I agree we need better wages and/or paid holidays as a whole. Paid holidays would be ideal for this specific issue since in the short term everyone wins (no mandatory working on a holiday and no missed wages). Living wages are so dependent on location. People easily get by here for $10/hour if they get a full 40 hour week so realistically the local businesses are only shorting employees about $40/week for a living wage. I also know this doesn't apply to a vast majority of the US. @thatbaintforbetty
@Becky012016 I guess this is an u/o but we live in a very inexpensive area and I don't believe $10/hr even at 40hrs a week is an acceptable wage. Oops, and now I've hit on a hot button topic.
I don't think $10/hr is fair, just that it pays the bills here. Plus since most of the types of jobs we're discussing don't provide healthcare, $10/hr qualifies for Medicaid for all but single men without dependents (in my area). That's saving most employees thousands of dollars each year just in premiums and copays (which helps keep their monthly expenses manageable here). I'm not saying it's right, just that it's the local reality. My personal opinion is that if business owners can't pay a fair wage and provide benefits, they don't deserve to have employees.
I'm with all you ladies who've worked retail before - 18 years in retail has made me a total Scrooge at Christmas! I can't get into the Christmas spirit at all anymore. Our mall was putting up their brand new, bigger-than-ever Santa display today, and it made me want to vomit...
I've also worked every Black Friday for the past 18 years, so I'm definitely not a Black Friday shopper. Most stores run sales that are just as good right before Thanksgiving now anyway, so why fight the crowds?
I do really enjoy Thanksgiving, though. I'm not always able to see my family during Christmas because of crazy work schedules or winter weather, so we make it a point to always get together for Thanksgiving. And I'm lucky enough to work for a retailer who's put their foot down on not being open on Thanksgiving day!
$10 an hour is under minimum wage here. You would need to make almost double that to live alone in my area. Years ago (pre DH) I worked a job that worked out to 17 an hour and I lived in a crappy shoe box apartment. I ate nothing but sandwiches and yogurt when home and got a ton of free food at work. Still barely made it. And I wasn’t paying my cell phone or car insurance at the time.
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I actively try not to use gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., on a holiday or during a storm because I believe people should be home, not staying dangerously late for my convenience. I’ve also closed early and sent my employees home at the beginning of storms because even if they could stay, they needed to take care of their own house/sidewalk/family more than work needed to get done.
also, I love stove top stuffing, with celery and sausage, the more sausage the better. It is everyone’s seconds and thirds. My mom never ever makes enough for it to last past Friday lunch, and then we’re stuck with massive amounts of turkey and cold gravy.
Employers should pay people a high enough wage where a full time employee should not qualify for Medicaid, and will instead be able to afford their employer provided health insurance. (Assuming our current system.)
Subsidizing a stingy employer through public programs should be more frowned on than it is. Companies are abusing the existing program and are allowed to underpay/withhold benefits from their labor at the taxpayers’ expense.
@lin0442 preach it mama! “Welfare” (both snap and other benefits) overwhelmingly goes to working Americans who make too little to survive. Government is actually subsiding corporate wealth. If corporations were required to pay more and provide benefits, we’d be better off. Although, I am strongly in favor of a robust social safety net.
Employers should pay people a high enough wage where a full time employee should not qualify for Medicaid, and will instead be able to afford their employer provided health insurance. (Assuming our current system.)
Subsidizing a stingy employer through public programs should be more frowned on than it is. Companies are abusing the existing program and are allowed to underpay/withhold benefits from their labor at the taxpayers’ expense.
I don't disagree with you but I do want to point out that low wage employees stil pay taxes, including the Medicaid tax. It's a false narrative that poor people don't pay taxes.
WOW — I have learned America and chili consumption today! I am a little shocked but also interested in trying this cinnamon roll or peanut butter sandwich idea.
Also I am 100% with @sheepshepherdess about Thanksgiving food being delicious. Would eat several times a month, turkey is so underrated.
On the service sector working holidays: I definitely wasn’t given any choice about it or overtime/holiday pay when I worked in bakeries and restaurants. Bakeries are also insane during holidays, so it definitely sucked. One time we got a $10 coupon to an ice cream shop for working all Thanksgiving week and making so so much product.
I can't believe we'd made it two whole pages and no one has mentioned this: do you put beans in your chili? We don't put beans in hotdog chili but if you're eating a bowl of chili there better be beans in it.
@gollygeeitsamy I literally made a pot of chili Tuesday night and this is what I put in it:
ground beef, chopped onion, a diced tomato, a can of dark red kidney beans, a can of light red kidney beans, two cans of rotel (diced tomato and green chili's), minced garlic, and chili seasoning.
Top it with cheddar cheese, sour cream and chopped scallions yummmm
@kangstadt I don’t eat chili unless it’s in my chili cheese dip. Actually no one in my family ate chili growing up either. My family doesn’t eat beans, no idea why.
Dh eats it once a week though.
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Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014 BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
Peanut butter and chili? No way! I typically don’t ick people’s yum, but my ms is giving me a visceral reaction.
Though I enjoy seeing other people post photos of their kids on Facebook, I would never. I want my children to have control over their own internet presence, especially photos or images that might embarrass them as adults.
@mermaidca In the South, hotdog chili is just ground beef mixed with chili powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, tomato sauce, and salt. You can even buy it canned but the homemade stuff is better. In the south, most people eat their hot dogs: mustard, slaw, chili, onions aka "all the way". So it's considered completely different than chili beans, I like the recipe that @sheknows6 posted.
Re: UO 11/1
As a former retail worker, my UO is people who get upset at "Happy Holidays" are assholes.
"Thank you and Happy Holidays!"
"Tch. It's MERRY CHRISTMAS"
"Have a blessed Solstice since Christmas is an appropriation of Pagan Holidays to convert Europeans who refused to not get drunk this time of year"
DD born: 3/31/19
I also think Easter food is the worst of all the holidays but I'm not sure I'd be alone in that opinion.
If this makes me an asshole, so be it. Your husband can play candy crush while standing.
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Also, I think shopping on Thanksgiving is terrible. Let people have family time and you can trample over each other on Friday to get the things you HAVE TO HAVE, after you're done giving thanks for the things you have in your life.
Other fields can also be very different. My dad is an ER doctor and worked Xmas for years - for him it was choice and unlike retail workers on Thanksgiving, Xmas was a usually a slow day for him, as opposed to the full-scale madness that is retail on a busy day.
Years of retail will simultaneously destroy your faith in humanity and grant you overwhelming empathy for other front line service workers.
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Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
I agree with almost all of you about everything else. I've also eaten my chili with rice, which is kind of gross but also delicious. Cornbread all the way. Black Friday is fine unless you have to work retail, then stores should just close. The holidays can be tedious but I LOVE getting into the spirit of the season and trying to cheer up amidst all the horrible world events (seems like every year). We are very pagan about the whole thing. Football is evil, but I feel that way about most sports.
Apparently my u/o is that I actually like Thanksgiving food. We raise our own turkey, make our own cranberry sauce, local garlic mashed potatoes w/pan drippings, fried greens, add some other foods that we love like curries, and there is plenty of homemade pie with homemade whipped cream on top for dessert.
Again I was just stating my opinion not trying to offend anyone
I have mixed feelings about pilots and airports and gas stations, because while they aren't strictly 100% necessary, they're certainly more important than retail. Someone whose mother is dying or whose child got in a car accident, or something like that, might feel that airports and flights and gas stations really are necessary. Transportation is pretty important.
I like thanksgiving, but the food isn’t my fav. Black Friday starting at 5pm on Thursday is wrong. And I love Christmas even though we don’t decorate or have a tree (we’ve never been home for it).
Nobody needs to come into work on Thanksgiving (especially for <$15/hr) so someone can buy a sale item a few hours early. It’s bad enough they get dragged in the day after or be fired. Everyone in retail knows the work isn’t a lifesaving measure, and they’re sure not getting paid well enough to overlook it. You come in only because you have to, and you’re basically only ‘happy’ about it if you have bills you won’t meet otherwise.
-The Christmas season would rock if it were only a week long. I can be jolly for a week but no longer.
Yep, I think Black Friday was only time and a half when I worked fast food, whereas Thanksgiving was double time. At $8/hr wages that's not worth it to me either day. But I really value time spent with family.
Hey, in Rome and other Italian cities, almost nothing is open on Sundays. I think you can use the airport, that's considered necessary. But almost no restaurants or shops. Most museums, many embassies, some gas stations. It's kind of odd if you're trying to go about your day. I don't see why we couldn't do the same for holidays here.
Also, I worked fast food for YEARS in my early 20s and you absolutely do not get an option for working holidays/black friday. You work those days or you don't have a job. And you didn't get holiday pay unless you were a salaried manager. I definitely know people who volunteered to work bc the money was necessary for their family, but I think it's bullshit ~requiring~ people to work on holidays.
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Edit to add tag: @sheepshepherdess
I've also worked every Black Friday for the past 18 years, so I'm definitely not a Black Friday shopper. Most stores run sales that are just as good right before Thanksgiving now anyway, so why fight the crowds?
I do really enjoy Thanksgiving, though. I'm not always able to see my family during Christmas because of crazy work schedules or winter weather, so we make it a point to always get together for Thanksgiving. And I'm lucky enough to work for a retailer who's put their foot down on not being open on Thanksgiving day!
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Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
I actively try not to use gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., on a holiday or during a storm because I believe people should be home, not staying dangerously late for my convenience. I’ve also closed early and sent my employees home at the beginning of storms because even if they could stay, they needed to take care of their own house/sidewalk/family more than work needed to get done.
also, I love stove top stuffing, with celery and sausage, the more sausage the better. It is everyone’s seconds and thirds. My mom never ever makes enough for it to last past Friday lunch, and then we’re stuck with massive amounts of turkey and cold gravy.
Subsidizing a stingy employer through public programs should be more frowned on than it is. Companies are abusing the existing program and are allowed to underpay/withhold benefits from their labor at the taxpayers’ expense.
Also I am 100% with @sheepshepherdess about Thanksgiving food being delicious. Would eat several times a month, turkey is so underrated.
On the service sector working holidays: I definitely wasn’t given any choice about it or overtime/holiday pay when I worked in bakeries and restaurants. Bakeries are also insane during holidays, so it definitely sucked. One time we got a $10 coupon to an ice cream shop for working all Thanksgiving week and making so so much product.
I don't really like chili.
@gollygeeitsamy I literally made a pot of chili Tuesday night and this is what I put in it:
ground beef, chopped onion, a diced tomato, a can of dark red kidney beans, a can of light red kidney beans, two cans of rotel (diced tomato and green chili's), minced garlic, and chili seasoning.
Top it with cheddar cheese, sour cream and chopped scallions
yummmm
DD born: 3/31/19
We put lots of everything in our chili including corn, celery, kidney beans, mushrooms....
H: 36
L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay
BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
@gollygeeitsamy beans go in chili!
Dh eats it once a week though.
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Though I enjoy seeing other people post photos of their kids on Facebook, I would never. I want my children to have control over their own internet presence, especially photos or images that might embarrass them as adults.