happy friday

At some unidentified moment over the past few years, ‘Happy Holidays’ finally lost its long battle against ‘Merry Christmas’. The latter was put to the sword by the growing sentiment that if you don’t know exactly what others celebrate, the right thing to do is to acknowledge that they celebrate, or perhaps not. Now, for some reason this logic hasn’t been extended to New Year – I’ll ask my Chinese friends how they feel about it – but it's only a matter of time before 'Happy New Year' becomes the next fight in The War Against Breaking Habits.

Still, not all fields are impending battlegrounds. I’m still routinely wished ‘Happy Friday’ by my bright-eyed and bushy-tailed colleagues, just like my first week of work ten years ago. I never admitted that I don't celebrate this holiday. What backward, repressed faith demands its believers show up to do nothing at corporate headquarters to cap off every week? I admit that the sacred hour and a half Friday lunch does seems like fun but I guess I just don't understand it.

Being a nonbeliever has big advantages; I seem to get a lot more done on Fridays than most of my colleagues. Think about it, since they aren’t doing anything, they can’t come up with ways to interrupt me. Still, I do occasionally feel a little uncomfortable with all this ‘Happy Friday’ stuff; maybe today I’ll ask that they say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead to acknowledge my holy days, Saturday and Sunday, and create a more inclusive environment.

Personally, I don't mind error-strewn greetings at the end of the year. I know less about others thanks to my ‘Happy Holidays’ bubble and I wonder if the PC blanket smothers one more opportunity to relate across differences. When it applies to everyone, it describes no one. I’d be delighted if folks wished me a Happy Hanukah – I would respond by wishing them a Merry Christmas, and resolve to remember the appropriate greeting for next time. Or maybe not, given what happens every Friday, but at least I would have learned something about the people in my life.