Whether this Friday is a regular day of work or part of an extended four-day holiday, the day after the Fourth of July is worth noting. Some have labeled July 5 Workaholics Day, “a day dedicated to people who spend all their time working and tend to ignore other pursuits in life.” But you don’t have to be a workaholic to be hard at work on the 5th; while some employers declared it a floating holiday and many workers used their PTO or vacation time, it is business as usual for the rest of us.

With a late harvest, area farmers and the businesses they depend on this time of year certainly aren’t enjoying extra days off.

The joys or curses of mid-week holidays have been discussed for years — at least since the creation of Monday holidays and three-day weekends. A mid-week holiday is fine if you just want to chill out. There’s the potential for a short, random adventure or a day dedicated to projects at home. The difficulty for those who hold down the fort where they work is that many of those projects still have to be done but cannot be completed because a certain business is closed or a key contact has taken most of the week off.

Last year, when Independence Day fell on a Wednesday, Inc.com reported many employees would ask for a five-day weekend. That actually a week, isn't it? In an Employers Group survey of 79 California employers, 71 percent of the respondents said they planned to honor vacation requests if the employee had earned the time off and if staffing needs were met. Still, nine out of 10 employers said they would only grant Wednesday, July 4, as a day off with pay. The report also claimed that the business community would have much less to worry about in 2019; Juan Garcia, director of research services at Employers Group, said, “I guarantee that 70 percent of employers are going to shut down on that Friday!”

That survey certainly didn’t deal with those who are self-employed and it didn’t mention employees such as first responders and emergency room workers who can’t all take the day off, even on the Fourth of July. The Great Bend Tribune office will be open Friday — after being closed on Thursday — and some employees will be here both days. For those who are here, we expect the office will be quiet and our time will be productive — unless we need to get hold of someone who has the day off.