Gone for President's Day (2/14/19)

Brigby
Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
in MPQ General Discussion
Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that we will be out of office this upcoming Monday on 2/18 for President's Day. If any of you require in-game assistance though, please note that our Customer Support team will still be present that day and operating under normal office hours.

As always, I'll try to stop by the forums every now and then to make sure everything is alright, and to answer any messages.

Cheers,
Brigby

Comments

  • ZeiramMR
    ZeiramMR Posts: 1,357 Chairperson of the Boards
    Any chance of posting R172 notes before leaving today? I don't know if the update will be delayed due to the holiday, but typically it would go out across the platforms this Monday/Tuesday.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    As an ignorant citizen of your former colonial masters...

    So what do you guys actually do on President's Day? Go and visit the Lincoln Memorial? Or do you walk around all day saying "That President sure is swell, I'm glad we elected him!"...possibly not for some in current circumstances...

    We don't have an actual holiday for the Queen's birthday (and she has 2 which is confusing enough), we just wonder what demon she made a pack with to still be ruling the country, so this intrigues me.

    Thanksgiving is turkey and shopping and 4th of July is fireworks and barbecues, is there anything special for the day of the Prez?
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    Kojubat said:
    DAZ0273 said:
    So what do you guys actually do on President's Day?
    Mattress sales, mostly.

    (Not a euphemism.)
    Hmm. Well not the answer I was expecting, that's for sure!
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    It's national "spend your tax refund on special sales" day.  Except I haven't gotten my tax refund yet.  Honestly, people don't do anything special, but stores will promote "President's Day Sales".  Schools are closed along with government entities and banks, but almost everyone else goes to work. 
  • Kojubat
    Kojubat Posts: 142 Tile Toppler
    DAZ0273 said:
    Kojubat said:
    DAZ0273 said:
    So what do you guys actually do on President's Day?
    Mattress sales, mostly.

    (Not a euphemism.)
    Hmm. Well not the answer I was expecting, that's for sure!
    Previously, Washington's birthday was a recognized holiday that fell on his actual birthday each year, mostly as time off from work for government and bank employees and a general "that guy who led the country first was pretty neat" sort of recognition.

    As part of an effort to "standardize" some holidays on a defined day of the week attached to a weekend instead of a calendar date, Washington's birthday was moved to a specific weekday that would never fall on his actual birthday. Although not actually defined as President's Day at the Federal level (it is still called Washington's Birthday), since it was now between his and Lincoln's birthday, the general populace assumed that was the intention and grouped them together. Since it was easier to say "President's Day" than "Washington and Lincoln Birthday Bonanza", the other people who have held that office get to tag along.

    Today there isn't any sort of traditional celebration beyond a reason to have a three day weekend off work or school. Places of historical significance have special events, but the most you will see around homes are general patriotic leanings like flags and such. Retailers like to attach sales to the weekend, especially mattress companies and car dealerships. If they leverage any presidents in their advertising, it's commonly Washington and/or Lincoln, not any from recent memory.

    It is not a universal day off in the United States, however. My company does not recognize it, and the local school system observes a different day off for an unrelated regional tradition instead.
  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    Love the explanations here, but mattress sales is pretty much what it is now.. to the point that it is the cliche for the holiday. 
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
    Like most people say mattress sales, but in all seriousness very few actually even consider it a holiday.  I'll be working Monday, like most people I know.
  • Kahmon
    Kahmon Posts: 625 Critical Contributor
    Brigby said:

    As always, I'll try to stop by the forums every now and then to make sure everything is alright, and to answer any messages.
    Lacking 5* feeders. Please expedite.

    President's day is also popular for tradeshows and conventions since the extra day allows for more time and/or easier travel.

    When I was younger, we had Washington and Lincoln's birthdays as separate holidays on consecutive Mondays in February. The 2 were later consolidated in order to make Martin Luther King Jr day a holiday in January without changing the number of federal holidays in a year.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited February 2019
    DAZ0273 said:
    We don't have an actual holiday for the Queen's birthday (and she has 2 which is confusing enough), we just wonder what demon she made a pack with to still be ruling the country, so this intrigues me.
    Really?  We have a Queen's Birthday public holiday here in Australia.  And just to make things more confusing, it is on a different day of the year in each state, none of which is her actual birthday.  In Western Australia, we celebrate it on the Monday after the AFL Grand Final (Aussie rules football).
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    The Queen seems to be an accomodating woman who lets people celebrate her birthday whenever they feel is appropriate.
    Here in Sweden I mostly notice royal birthdays because they put small flags on the buses. If I don't know why it's a flag day, it's probably because of the royal family somehow.
    We don't really celebrate the King's birthday (it's Walpurgis night which is celebrated for different reasons) but the Crown Princess' birthday in July is quite a big deal. Not "federal holiday" big, but there's a televised celebration.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    jamesh said:
    DAZ0273 said:
    We don't have an actual holiday for the Queen's birthday (and she has 2 which is confusing enough), we just wonder what demon she made a pack with to still be ruling the country, so this intrigues me.
    Really?  We have a Queen's Birthday public holiday here in Australia.  And just to make things more confusing, it is on a different day of the year in each state, none of which is her actual birthday.  In Western Australia, we celebrate it on the Monday after the AFL Grand Final (Aussie rules football).
    Yup, no holiday for Queenie apart from the other year when they co-opted one of the May bank holidays for her Jubilee or something.

    Hey we still celebrate May Day although I'm fairly certain that the virgin maidens part is a bit frowned upon now. Go figure.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    Quebbster said:
    The Queen seems to be an accomodating woman who lets people celebrate her birthday whenever they feel is appropriate.
    Here in Sweden I mostly notice royal birthdays because they put small flags on the buses. If I don't know why it's a flag day, it's probably because of the royal family somehow.
    We don't really celebrate the King's birthday (it's Walpurgis night which is celebrated for different reasons) but the Crown Princess' birthday in July is quite a big deal. Not "federal holiday" big, but there's a televised celebration.
    I suspect that as she is so old nobody can actually remember her actual birthday so they just make it up.
  • Dogface
    Dogface Posts: 999 Critical Contributor
    King's Day is a national holiday over here. Used to be Queen's Day, but as we have a King now that changed. Dates are very similar and only a few days apart. The previous Queen's Day officially should have been in January, but as the weather in January is usually worse than later in the year, Queen's Day was always celebrated on the same date as the Queen before her in April.
  • Ptahhotep
    Ptahhotep Posts: 430 Mover and Shaker
    The May Day bank holiday was introduced in Britain in the 1970’s when Harold Wilson was prime minister. The existing Whitsun bank holiday was moved to the end of the month and renamed to make room at the same time. Harold wanted a day that celebrated the workers like the May Day rallies that happened in the Eastern Bloc. What he got was morris dancing and maypoles.
  • ZootSax
    ZootSax Posts: 1,819 Chairperson of the Boards
    jamesh said:
    In Western Australia, we celebrate it on the Monday after the AFL Grand Final (Aussie rules football).
    Do you get a bonus holiday if they need to replay the Grand Final after a tie? (I apologize if my terminology is all wrong, as I haven’t watched AFL in years)
  • Moon Roach
    Moon Roach Posts: 2,863 Chairperson of the Boards
    Just waiting for Brigby to get back and the obligatory "Please keep discussions to holidays to celebrate Presidents.  if you want to talk about holidays for the birthday of a monarch of a colonial power given the boot nearly 250 years ago, please start another thread".
    Which leads nicely on to this thing I read.
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/15/the-us-hidden-empire-overseas-territories-united-states-guam-puerto-rico-american-samoa
  • AlexNapalm
    AlexNapalm Posts: 122 Tile Toppler
    DAZ0273 said:
    As an ignorant citizen of your former colonial masters...

    So what do you guys actually do on President's Day? Go and visit the Lincoln Memorial? Or do you walk around all day saying "That President sure is swell, I'm glad we elected him!"...possibly not for some in current circumstances...

    We don't have an actual holiday for the Queen's birthday (and she has 2 which is confusing enough), we just wonder what demon she made a pack with to still be ruling the country, so this intrigues me.

    Thanksgiving is turkey and shopping and 4th of July is fireworks and barbecues, is there anything special for the day of the Prez?
    Yeah, mostly buy cheap mattresses and be surprised that we have a day off.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    ZootSax said:
    jamesh said:
    In Western Australia, we celebrate it on the Monday after the AFL Grand Final (Aussie rules football).
    Do you get a bonus holiday if they need to replay the Grand Final after a tie? (I apologize if my terminology is all wrong, as I haven’t watched AFL in years)
    They don't do ties for the Grand Final any more.  Instead, the game goes into overtime.

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