Day After Thanksgiving Enjoys Odd Status of a Quasi-Holiday

In what is supposed to be a family oriented, leisurely holiday, the truly fortunate among us are able to turn the Thanksgiving weekend into a four-day vacation.

The merely lucky return to work Friday in a sort of weird limbo, there in body if not in spirit, marking time for the eight hours--more or less--between holiday and weekend.

But you can rule out a long holiday break if you are a movie theater cashier or work at Target. For these unfortunates, the Friday after Thanksgiving is one of the most frenzied days of the year.

In what appears to be a contradictory frenzy of relaxation, shoppers mercilessly attack malls as the holiday shopping season begins, and seatless theatergoers block aisles during that matinee showing of “Flubber” on one of the year’s busiest movie-going days.

“Why are they here?” cried a harried Greg Steele, a projectionist supervisor at Camarillo’s Edwards Theatres, where by midafternoon every available show had sold out. “Why aren’t they at home enjoying their day off?”

Or better yet, why aren’t they at work?

Thanksgiving has always been an unofficial four-day weekend. But just how many people take Friday off to allow the turkey and stuffing to settle in their stomachs or instead put in a full day’s labor is unclear.

“I don’t know,” said Robert Coffey, a professor of business ethics at USC whose areas of expertise include corporate change and organizational behavior. “It’s an interesting question. I hope you find the answer.”

Number-cruncher Todd Giedt at the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast didn’t know either and had never seen any figures on the subject. He was alone in the office trying to catch up and sounded startled that the telephone had actually rung.

Indeed, for many office workers the post-Thanksgiving Friday is seen as a respite from the workweek’s usual hurly-burly.

“I haven’t taken the day after Thanksgiving off in the 10 years that I’ve been here in Ventura,” said Gary Auer, supervising agent at the county’s FBI office, where all but seven of the 19 employees had taken the opportunity to use a vacation day. “It is a day when you can get a lot of work done. There are fewer calls coming in from the public.”

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Although Friday is not a holiday for Auer and other federal workers, other levels of government get the day off.

As it was for employees at other schools and universities, Friday was an official holiday for workers at the Ventura County Community College District. From Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley to Port Hueneme and Santa Paula, city halls were closed. So too, apparently, were many state offices, where telephones went unanswered.

Still, some essential personnel had no option but to work.

“We never close, we’re here 24-7,” said Oxnard Police Cmdr. Ken Nishihara, who arrived to work Friday at 5:30 a.m. “It’s the pits, but we picked the job, so we live with it.”

The reputation that many government agencies have for closing at the merest hint of a holiday actually works to the advantage of those who do come in to the office. Deputy City Clerk Mabi Plisky was enjoying a quiet day at Ventura City Hall.

“Most of our clientele are under the impression we’re closed today because so many other governmental agencies are,” Plisky said. “We’re hoping most of them are at the malls spending money, so we can get sales-tax benefits. I would love to be doing that.”

Plisky’s attitude is not universally shared.

“I would have minded working yesterday,” said Carol Keller, a librarian at the Simi Valley branch. But “today’s fine. . . . It saves me from having to be stuck in shopping hell. I can shop another day.”

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However, some people can run shopping sorties on what is universally recognized as the year’s busiest shopping day with nary a trace of tension.

“I even got offered money to work today, but I didn’t,” mused Mike Skofstad of Thousand Oaks, an accountant who took the day off to shop with his wife and son at The Oaks mall. “This is a day for family, and everybody needs a little rest after Thanksgiving.”

Dan Murray, 50, of Ventura, also claimed to be relaxing Friday, even though he had to wait for four nieces and nephews who were watching a movie that was sold out by the time he and his wife got to the box office.

“Nothing gets done Thanksgiving week,” said the credit union publicist, as he prepared to enjoy the sun for a couple of hours outside Edwards Theatres. “For what I do, it wouldn’t hurt to take the whole of December off because there’s so little to do.”

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Staff writer Scott Hadly and correspondents Regina Hong and Coll Metcalfe contributed to this report.