If tomorrow's Thursday then today must be Saturday
Tomorrow is a holiday in Switzerland: Christi Himmelfahrt, or Ascension. Legal holidays in Switzerland are often called Sundays, because the restrictive Sunday shopping rules - which boil down to everything is closed - are in effect. That's not strictly true about the Sunday shopping. There is a complicated set of rules deliniating what is allowed to be open and who is allowed to work. Bakeries are always open on Sunday, because a Sunday without fresh bread is a horror, and restaurants are open. A limited number of Apotheks - pharmacies - are allowed to be open because even on Sundays people get sick (I think there is actually a rotating schedule of which Apothek gets the Sunday emergency hours that day). Restaurants and cafes are open, though some of them will restrict their hours by opening later than usual or closing a bit early. And stores located in Hauptbahnhofs (major train stations) are allowed to be open on Sundays. So the smart grocery chains open a grocery store in the Bahnhof - the Bern train station has a large Migros and a small Coop (the two major grocery store chains in Switzerland) and an Apothek in it, so we're covered in case of an emergency but I have to tell you, you do not want to be in a train station grocery store during Sunday hours. Chaos. Madness. Crowds. Long lines. Surely an indication that a lot of Swiss people would be more than happy to shop on a Sunday, but the unions are dead-set against it.
The Sunday shopping hours drive me crazy, but I've learned to live with them and I get it. I had a friend back in DC who worked retail, and his hours were quite a restriction on his social life - if your store is open until 10 pm working until closing means you'll get out of there at 10:30 or 11:00. I understand the unions wanting to protect free time and family life. But here's the crazy part that I've never gotten used to. Because tomorrow is a Sunday, today - Wednesday, according to my calendar - is a Saturday. That means that Saturday shopping hours are in effect, meaning the stores will close at 5 pm instead of the usual 7 pm.
Tomorrow is a holiday. We can't shop. I get it. I can live with that. But today is Wednesday, people, Wednesday.
UPDATE: Ms. Mac and Melanie are entirely right in the comments: it's called Auffahrt round these parts. Christi Himmelfahrt is the (very formal) German.
Labels: Schweizermacher
8 Comments:
There used to be a rotation of Chemists in Scotland on a Sunday too. It might still be the same, except that Boots is open every day of the week (I think!)
We call tomorrow Auffahrt round these here parts. And when I told the boys about Christi Himmelfahrt, they thought it was quite hilarious!
"They must be right hicks down in Bern! they said! ;-)
Obviously they must close earlier the day before a holiday. How else are they going to get a jumpstart on the 4-day weekend?
Meanwhile it is not a holiday in the US and since so many of my husband's virtual meetings take place in the US, he will be at work until at least 7:30 pm tonight (gotta love the time zone-impacted meetings) and will be having telephone meetings tomorrow as well.
It's called 'Auffahrt' in Kanton Bern too Mrs Mac...
Don't youse go callin' us hicks!
Thanks for reminding me about the Migros closing early, i have to go and get the shopping done now!
Yes, it's called Christi Himmelfahrt in Germany. My kids get Thursday AND Friday off. Is Himmelfahrt also Father's Day in Switzerland?
Christina, there's no such thing as Fathers Day here in Switzerland. The joke goes that in Switzerland, every day is Fathers Day!
;-)
This is why the Swiss are renowned for precision timepieces. It's the only way they can keep track of a) what time it is and b) what day of the week it is.
In Pennsylvania we had "blue laws". Everything was closed on Sunday except one little variety store near our church. That was before the 70's. Once the working mothers hit the scene, full weekend hours at all stores were in swing.
Well the Swiss have started doing some father's day on the US father's day in June. I think, maybe that's just me importing it.
Thank yoou for sharing
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