FOR some this month offers an opportunity for work-avoidance on a scale not seen in more than a decade. For others it’s going to be full-on busy like never before.
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The three working days separating Easter and Anzac Day – between Easter Monday and Anzac Day on Friday, April 25 – are all that stand between working people and 10 uninterrupted days off.
This configuration of the calendar has not been seen since 2003.
Many businesses are encouraging staff to take time off to anticipate the decrease in demand for their services.
There will only be five more such configurations between now and 2056, so many people are taking advantage of the present one.
For some industries however the public holidays have increased workload.
Deli on Kinghorn owner Robyn Crawford started preparing for the public holidays a week ago. To her team it’s a military operation.
“Over the three days of Easter we will have two chefs, three apprentices, a barista and four on the floor,” she said.
“I am lucky I have friends who help me out because the public holidays make the wages so high. I would be lost without them because it’s just not financially viable.”
Ms Crawford said opening on public holiday weekends was only viable because she could seat large numbers of people. She did not have enough seating for the numbers to work at her Berry Street cafe Coffeelicious.
However a large seating capacity brings its own challenges.
“If we seat 90 people, customers should appreciate there might be 89 meals to be cooked ahead of theirs. Most of them don’t appreciate that,” she said.
“The staff cop a lot of flack over holidays, people can be quite rude.
“Chefs will start at 5am, they bake our bread and cakes, we have to stockpile supplies because most suppliers will shut down.
“On the public holidays we could do at least 450 coffees and that’s a lot of pressure on your barista.
“My team work their butts off over public holidays I just wish the public would give them more recognition.”