ThoughtfulChaos

Earlier today there was an announcement in my office requesting employees not to come to office tomorrow. I found the announcement very odd because this was the first time ever I was hearing something like this. My office is always open. You can come in any time any day of the week. I often work odd hours and I often work on holidays. In fact I had some things on my to-do list that I wanted to sort out tomorrow and had planned to come to office for a few hours at least.

After talking to a few friends I realised that the 'request' was not a request at all. The office is going to actually remain closed tomorrow and even if I want to work I cannot. Some of my friends even told me that it is against the law for offices to allow employees to work on national holidays. Also party activists from certain political parties might cause damage to office property if they found out that employees were working inside. My first reaction was - WTF!.

Why? Why? Why? Why should somebody else dictate when I should work and when I should not? If it was a decision taken by my office management it would have been OK because they have a right to take decisions in matters like these. But having a law to enforce it? Isn't this stretching patriotism a bit too far? OK forget about being patriotic I think it is downright stupid and ridiculous. Whether you work on a holiday or not is in no way a measure of how much you love your country. Does making sure that I do not work on a national holiday make me a better citizen?

On the contrary I argue that since I work on a national holiday I aid in the country's progress... well that statement is also a bit of a stretch but I hope you get my point. I wonder how businesses and offices that need to work 365x24x7 (BPOs, support staff etc.) deal with this issue. Do they take special permission or are they already exempted from this?

I like working on holidays (if I do not have other/better plans with family or friends). I find the office environment more peaceful that it usually is. I sometimes work on holidays to get a head start on some work and sometimes to wrap up pending work. My company has declared it to be a holiday and in no way am I being pressurised by anybody to work. It is of my own free will that I want to come. An irony, considering that on a 'National Holiday' I have less freedom to work as compared to any average day of the year.

So it looks like I will have to stay home and do something else. All the while fretting that I could have been at office doing some work.