Many Workers Get No Leisure On Labor Day From Burger Flippers To Morticians, Holiday Is Just Another Day At Work

Frying up burgers Monday at Pig Out in the Park, a sweaty Mike McCartney was wishing he had Labor Day off.

“I am not having fun,” he said. “This is real work.”

The best thing about working the holiday, he said, was listening to the music in Riverfront Park as he cooked at the stand selling burgers, Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks and fries.

Labor Day often signals the last hurrah of summer, with most people taking a day off to honor working-class Americans.

But for many, the holiday turned out to be just another day at the office, and a time to cash in on those squeezing out a little more summer fun.

In Idaho, Russ Keyser was inside a noisy room operating the world’s longest gondola at the Silver Mountain ski resort.

“We rarely get a break up here on the holidays. That’s when we are busiest,” Keyser said.

Some people looking ahead to winter spent the last holiday weekend of summer checking out a sale at Loulou’s, a Spokane ski shop.

Amy Koch, a saleswoman at Loulou’s, said avid skiers have been hunting for bargains for the past month.

Business was good Monday.

“We’ve been having spurts of people,” said Koch, who worked throughout the holiday weekend. “It’s almost like a bus will drop off a group.”

Jay Taft was slaving away inside Java Java, a drive-up espresso hut on Appleway in Coeur d’Alene.

Taft said it’s actually better working a holiday than a typical Monday.

“Everyone’s in a good mood. They show up with a smile because they don’t have to go to work.”

This is the 19th consecutive Labor Day Don Rabe has worked. That’s what happens when you own your own business, he said while waiting on a customer at the Laclede Store. He gives his employees the day off and takes the holiday shifts himself.

“It’s just another day for us and it’s usually busy. People are looking for places that are open and we can’t afford to let them get away.”

Funeral home director and Bonner County Coroner Dale Coffelt was also tending to business. Death and tragedy don’t take holiday’s, he says.

“The holidays are worst case scenarios because that’s when we most often have tragedy, like car accidents. I stay pretty close to take care of those situations. It’s just part of the job.”

Thankfully, Coffelt said, it’s been a quiet weekend, a sentiment echoed by Doug Myers, assistant manager for Clyde’s Towing in Sandpoint.

“When it’s quiet that means no one is in trouble or getting hurt,” Meyers said.

At Spokane International Airport, a holiday is just another work day.

Roy Mizia, who was loading and unloading baggage onto Horizon Airlines flights Monday, didn’t mind working Labor Day - especially since he’d still be home by evening.

“I’ll have some time to watch Monday Night Football,” Mizia said.

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MEMO: Headline from Spokane edition: “Laboring Day”