to ask how american celebrate thanksgiving

[AuntiePickleBottom]

i work with a few people who are americian.

they have book from wednesday off, but i am wondering how do you celebrate thanksgiving

ragged - was VP of an International company with NYC headquarters.

All people at the company (from receptionist on up the 'food chain') got a basic 2 week holiday at a minimum - though long-term staff got more, as did executives.

But back to Thanksgiving - for several years I went to the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving to watch the big characters being inflated for the Macy's Day parade. They used to (maybe still do) block off the streets alongside the Natural History Museum. It was a wonderful way to get into the spirit of the holiday.

...what's so exciting about watching giant cartoon characters?
never really understood that.

An American friend of ours invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner a few years back. She'd made a real effort and imported loads of authentic foody things from the US, including green bean casserole in a can (as bad as it sounds), cheeze whiz and pumpkin pie.

She also produced a dish to eat with the turkey, which was mashed sweet potato with marshmallows in it. I thought she was joking about the marshmallows, but no, there they were. Bizarre. Traditional, apparently....

On the legal stuff, most US employees are 'at will' and most states permit this. You can be fired at any time, for any reason, and have to negotiate to have any sort of notice period.

You typically get 2 weeks of holiday. Sometimes it goes up with service, sometimes not.

Oh, and most benefits programmes require you to be full time to benefit. Here, it illegal to treat part timers less favourably. I am not aware of any US states where it is illegal (though happy to be corrected if there are some).

There are many great things about the US- their positive and go-getting attitude for one. But it is a truly dire place to be a 'vulnerable' employee, in which I would include any mum with young children, a pregnant woman or anyone with no commercial clout.

I technically am not entitled to any holiday, but have flexible working hours, so the boss lets us have time off (two weeks) on the understanding that we regularly work overtime.

They have a very different work ethic to Europe that's for sure. I know a few people at work just think we're lazy. I tried to point our we're just more efficient

Sweet potato with marshmallows is not bizarre!

There goes your proof that Thanksgiving does not translate...

Well it was certainly sweet.....

lol to the idea that all full-time jobs in the US start with 2 weeks holiday. I had an office job where we had 5 days off as holiday (not including things like Thanksgiving and Christmas) and then after working there for 5 years, we could take 10 days off per year.

Anyway, yes, I love Thanksgiving. I miss it a lot. I can re-create the meal here in the UK but not really the atmosphere.