Two of my favorite movies are Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
As I approach my 63rd birthday, I can relate well to John Gustafson and Max Goldman, portrayed by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
The Grumpy and Grumpier movies were crusty love stories about two lonely widowers who insulted each other with language that smelled like day-old fish.
The movie’s bottom line: they hated change — despite the inevitable.
The root of my latest bouts with grumpiness?
The continued government fleecing of taxpayers.
Especially on the Federal, State, and County levels.
The latest?
Juneteenth Day.
I’ll use the county government as an example since I am employed there.
The Box Butte County Courthouse was closed Monday for, yet another holiday shoved down our throats by Uncle Sam.
Observing the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States is very much noted — but a paid day off at taxpayers’ expense?
The holidays just keep piling up. And most of them offer government workers a three-day weekend while everyone else labors away so that they can pay their taxes before they die.
Uncle Sam began paying its employees to not work on Martin Lutheran King Jr. Day in 2000; Washington’s birthday (later President’s Day) in 1968; Juneteenth in 2021; and Columbus Day in 1971. Let us not forget the biggest fleecing of them all: Nebraska’s Arbor Day, which falls on the fourth Friday of April.
In case you didn’t know, governments on the Federal, State, and County levels now receive the following paid holidays from work: New Year’s Day, Martin Lutheran King Jr Day, President’s Day, Arbor Day (state and county), Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
In 2021, that was 14 days – or one day short of three weeks of total paid time off.
How many tax dollars on the local level are spent for lack of productivity? I don’t believe I would want to share that information because it would make your head explode.
And I don’t want to be responsible for cleaning up the mess.
There are six or seven holidays that the average working Joe or Jill receive with pay: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day (usually Black Friday, unless you work retail), and Christmas Day.
A quick review:
Government doubles that amount for its employees.
At the risk of offending some, I worked on Monday, June 20. I could not in good conscience take a day’s pay for not working on another so-called holiday.
Observations of important days in American history — such as D-Day, Pearl Harbor Day, V-E Day, V-J Day, Flag Day, and many others, are great.
Forced upon me holidays when I cannot serve the people who pay my salary — not so much.
Uncle Sam is turning me into a grumpy old man.
And a year from now, I’ll probably be grumpier.