(Ed. Note) As the editor I’m very fortunate to read the prefaces Howard writes as an introduction to his article submissions.  This week I felt compelled to share Howard’s preface with fellow 405ers.  We can all relate to Howard’s jury duty experience and his dedication to the “Good Hunting” column is displayed as he persevered through myriad computer problems. I hope you enjoy and I urge you to show Howard your appreciation via comments.

Wow! This has been an exciting week, as I was waiting to see if I would serve on a jury, I received three more responses from prospective employers asking for interviews. This was quickly becoming a few days of high drama.  Would I have to serve on a jury?  Would I have to postpone interviews as a result?  Would the interviews still be there if I had to serve? Would I lose the job opportunities that I have been waiting for?  As prospective jurors were being questioned by the lawyers, little did I know, yet another issue would be waiting to contribute to this drama. during the last few days it was becoming harder to boot up my desktop. I faithfully kept my internet security up to date and did daily malware scans, yet the problem persisted until I received a Windows/System32 error that prevented me from booting my PC up. I began thinking about what I had backed up and all the things I had done during the last several days that I did not yet have backed up.  System restore, did not work! The backup shadow copy of my system failed to restore my PC!  Would I need to spend money I hadn’t planned on for a new desktop?? 

Fortunately my writing for this week’s submission was on paper.  In fact, I had moved all of my 405 club projects from my desktop to my laptop (where I am now writing this) prior to the PC crash. There was some additional good fortune.  I was one of about 40 people in the courtroom, where 6 jurors and two alternates would be needed to hear an expedited case beginning on Monday.  As each name was called I was wondering when would I be called, and would they ask me to serve?  Finally, several hours later the lawyers had their jurors and alternates, and I was one of 5 people who did not get to the interview process.  I was then informed that my jury duty obligation for civil court has been satisfied for the next 6 years (however I could be called as early as 2011 if there is a grand jury summons). Fortunately I will not have to postpone the three upcoming interviews for next week (with two on Monday!)  Now I have turned my attention to my ailing desktop. I was about to run out and spend $140 for a three user Windows 7 licence, (figuring that a clean install would solve my problem and get rid of the acursed Windows Vista on my PC) when I came by some diagnostic tools that I had saved some time ago.  After a six hour analysis of my PC, the tests revealed a defect at location DIMM 2 (the circuit designation for where the RAM is stored).  Tomorrow I will find out if some fresh RAM will save the day.  This will help to keep my mind off the interview marathons I will face next week.

Take care. 

-Howard K. Young.
—————————————-

Soon the Christmas rush will be upon us. For those of us who are in between jobs the question of how we will manage our budget so that we can buy gifts is difficult, to say the least. This is the time that we may look to retailing jobs as a temporary solution so that we may buy some gifts for our loved ones.

This is, perhaps, the best time of year to find a retailing position. Many stores are starting their Christmas promotions now. I have even heard of some stores doing a “Black Friday” promotion each Friday until the day after Thanksgiving. If you are willing to work nights and weekends, you have a far greater chance of finding holiday employment.

At one time there was not as much extra hiring during the holidays. This was due to the fact that most stores were forced to close on Sunday. In New York, we called them the “Blue Laws.” They were put in place to insure that most retailers had Sunday to spend with their families. It seemed like a great idea when the laws were written. Today they are an anachronism. I often wondered what the catalyst was for those changes. Actually that question was answered several years ago by a professor at Hofstra University. He made it a part of his lecture and I would like to take this opportunity to re-tell that portion of the lecture (to the best of my memory).

It was a time when unemployment was below 5%. People were hastily finishing their Saturday shopping. After all, Sunday was the day you spent with your family. In order to enforce “family time” New York had a set of laws, referred to as “the Blue laws” prohibiting retailers from doing business on Sunday. After all, who would want to be out working on Sunday. At that time, almost everyone could be found at home, Church, or Temple.

I do not know who it was, perhaps an entrepreneur, or the person who invented the term “thinking out of the box.” Maybe his goal was to make a few extra dollars for himself and his staff. All I know was that this was a store owner in a shopping center (the term shopping mall had not yet become part of our language). He saw all the shoppers rushing to complete their chores before Saturday came to a close, and thought, “do we really need to close on Sunday?” He came up with an idea. He met with his staff and made an announcement. “I am going to open my store on Sunday.” I believe this will be a great opportunity for all of us to make some extra money.” Most workers were grateful for the chance, while others were skeptical. After all, what the owner was doing was against the law. Still, most of the staff thought it was a great idea, so that Sunday, in the middle of the dimly lit shopping center, one store was open, its lights appearing to be a lighthouse beacon in the middle of a dark shoreline.

I do not know the exact amount of business that store took in, however I heard that it was between $1,000 to $2,500 (quite a lot of money for the late 1960’s) before the police came and forced the owner to close down the store. Of course the owner of the store was issued a summons and had to appear in court to answer for the illegal action. When the owner appeared in court, he was chided by the judge and found guilty. The penalty levied by the judge was $25.00. “Wow”, thought the owner. If it only costs me $25.00 to open my doors on Sunday, why should I keep them closed?” The other owners in the shopping center heard about the penalty, and the following Sunday, every store in that shopping center opened their doors. Word spread like wildfire and more stores decided to open their doors. Eventually, the police could not keep up with enforcement and turned their attentions to more critical issues. Eventually the Blue Laws were repealed in New York City. Nassau County eventually followed suit, especially after shoppers complained to their Congressmen about police attempting to harass some store owners. Of course, from the law enforcement side it was not harassment, but enforcing laws that have been on the books for many years.

Technology also helped bring the Blue Laws to an end. After all, how could you enforce them when you have desktops, laptops, Blackberry devices and netbooks, all connected to the internet, where business can be conducted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year? One might even wonder why we have a recession with all these devices available to us so we can conduct our business.

As an interesting post script, I remember an internet business (which later joined with Amazon.com) that promised to ship all their orders within 24 hours and via Federal Express to guarantee arrival no later than 48 hours after ordering. To see if their claim was accurate, I had ordered a scanner from them at 11:55PM on a weekday evening. The next day, at around 4PM there was a knock on my door. It was Federal Express with my scanner. I was amazed that it took less than 24 hours to receive my order! My point is that there is an upside to the hard work put in by those people who do not have an issue working nights and weekends. Now where did I put my employment application?

I would like to thank Dr. D. who gave me the idea for this article and to all of you who are out there looking for employment, holiday or otherwise, Good Hunting!

-By Howard K. Young, Contributing Writer & Member of The 405 Club.

View all of Howard’s posts here.