Things are dead slow today.
Click the photo to see it at full size.
The national holiday — Independence Day, the 4th of July — takes place on a Saturday this year, so a good number of businesses are treating today — Friday, July 3rd, the closest weekday — as a day off. If you’re trying to contact a business from outside the US and wondering why nobody’s replying to your calls or messages today, you now know the reason why.
One reply on “Today’s a slow business day in the USA”
Try reaching anyone in Quebec between June 24th (St Jean Baptiste Day, or “Fete Nationale” if you’re of that bent) and July 1st (Canada Day). And since both of those are on Wednesdays this year, why not take off the Monday and Tuesday beforehand, or the Thursday and Friday afterward? Heck, take off the week in the middle while you’re at it.
St Jean Baptiste Day is taken a lot more seriously than Canada Day in much of Quebec. EVERYTHING shuts down on June 24th, but on Canada Day, you can find an open liquor store here. Even more things could be open if you’re outside the pragmatically federalist National Capital Region; that’s consistent with my recollection of life in Montreal.
So if you’re in Ottawa and you’re annoyed that the LCBO is closed on July 1st, head over to the SAQ in Gatineau. Just be aware that July 1st is also traditionally Moving Day in Quebec (Fete du Demenagement, look it up, it makes as much sense as anything else here), so you could be dealing with idiots with rental vans, not to mention blocked sidestreets. That’s all on top of the road and bridge closures due to this country’s annual signature drunkfest.
(Yes, Canada Day in the Ottawa-Gatineau region is pretty much a goat rodeo.)