This is so sad. The way they went about it is just wrong. I manage a C-store in our small town and I know that our customers "expect" us to be open all the time, every holiday and no matter what the weather is doing. The bad part is that they do not appreciate us when we are open on the holidays or when the weather is so bad that no one can get around. We will be open on Thanksgiving but as manager I asked if anyone "wanted" to work since we pay time and a half for holidays and I was lucky enough to find enough to cover all the shifts.
The only day of the year we are closed is Christmas Day. And I will hear about it for about a week before and a week after about "how selfish it was for us to close". Excuse me! We all want to spend the day with our families too. I have worked for this business for 16 years and until 6 years ago we were open on Christmas as well. Did any of these folks appreciate us for that. NO! So 6 years ago all the employees got together and we refused to work that day. The owners were not happy about that at all so we told them they were more than welcome to work that day and needless to say we have been closed ever since.
Last winter we had a blissard at Christmas time that started the day before and lasted until the day after Christmas that shut the whole area down. When the snow stopped we had over 2 feet of snow and no one was going anywhere anytime soon. We were open Christmas eve until 7 pm and closed on Christmas and on Saturday morning when we were to open again none of my employees could get to work. Since I live 2 houses away from the C-store I grabbed my big coat and my boots and fought my way thru big drifts and went over on my day off and got the store open. We were to open at 6 am but the owner said to wait til daylight so I did. I was open at 7:15 and the first person that came in chewed me out because we were not open at 6 am! I told them be happy I was there at all since it was my day off.
So after 16 years of doing this job I can tell you that the younger folks expect you to be open and that's it. They don't care if it's a holiday. I too remember when everything was closed on holidays and also on Sundays. Too bad we aren't still that way.