Many locals expect light duty on Labor Day

It’s a day that usually marks the end of the summer season, and more importantly, it marks a day of rest for those who work tirelessly throughout the year. But for some, Labor Day is just another ‘day at the office’ – and it doesn’t seem to faze them.

Retail employees at Southland Mall like Nash Pitre, the manager of Sports Avenue expected to work.

Pitre said he treats Labor Day like business as usual, sorting through a mound of papers that swamped his desk.

“It’s Monday, which means I have a lot of paperwork,” Pitre said. “So I had to work either way.”

Some even worked multiple jobs in one day – not exactly the ‘R&R’ the day is designed to be about.

“I drove to Cocodrie already this morning for a catering job,” Danita Rodrigue, a St. Charles Street Subway employee said.

“I worked at the Cajun Meat Market and came over here and just changed my shirt to start work here, so it’s just a regular Monday.”

For Jon Pitre, employee at Pocket Change in Southland Mall, his Labor Day shift was the second-straight day he worked on a holiday. This past Sunday was his birthday, so coming in on Labor Day didn’t bother him all that much.

But even he was quick to say that if he weren’t watching over the arcade room, he’d be spending time under the covers.

“If I wasn’t working today I’d be sleeping,” he admitted, and added he expected kids to start coming to play games earlier than usual, since schools from around the area were closed because of the holiday.

“But it doesn’t bother me because it makes my hours for the week,” Pitre said.

Where some workers were busy building up their hours, others said Labor Day was pretty easy because of a lack of people on the go.

Violet Menendez, manager of the Plantation Truck and Plaza Casino, said having a shift on the holiday was still a chance to relax a little.

“I love it, it’s a good day because nobody is here,” she said in the middle of the empty store.

Other businesses in Houma agreed with Menendez and said they expected a shorter day and less business, too.

“I had nothing better to do today anyway, and I get off about 1:30, so it’s a short day and then I can go home,” Britney Parfait, a waitress at WOW Café & Wingery said, who spent the earlier part of the day laughing and joking around with her co-workers before customers filed in.

“I kind of think it’s not going to be busy today because everyone is going to be barbecuing anyway,” she said.

But Nash Pitre said things were on the up-and-up this year, and when he was able to escape his paperwork, he was able to assist the handful of customers who paraded through the store.

“There hasn’t been a lot of business today,” Nash Pitre said. “But more than expected thus far.”

But even with the decline at WOW, Racine said not all residents are celebrating Labor Day, and would eventually make it out to eat.

“People are going to be hungry, and not everybody is at events because a lot of people stay home and tend to the things they have to do because they’re off,” she said just before taking the order of her first customer at 10 a.m.

And even though employees didn’t mind working on Labor Day, it didn’t stop them from thinking about where they could have been if they had the day off.

“If I didn’t have to work, I’d be on the beach somewhere,” Pitre said, before going back to his paperwork.

Editor’s Note: Casey Gisclair contributed to this story.