Remembering the Time Everyone at PwC Had to Work on MLK Day As a Noble Gesture to Honor Dr. King
The following message we’re about to share with you was sent out as a firmwide email from then-Chairman Dennis Nally to everyone at PwC almost exactly 15 years ago to the day. To my knowledge it’s never been published here, because back when it went out to everyone working at PwC US in January 2008, […]
All’s Unfair on Valentine’s Day During Busy Season
Today is Valentine's Day, and there are a lot of pissed off accountants because of it. Every year busy season robs us of all of the most random American holidays: Groundhog Day, April Fools' Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Valentine's Day, to name a few1. Today, on top of the pressure to not disappoint the partner […]
You Can Thank Abraham Lincoln For Not Having to File Your Taxes Today
As everyone knows, today is usually tax day but thanks to Emancipation Day – a recognized public holiday in the District of Columbia, home of the IRS, since 2005 – we get an extra weekend to put off plugging our earnings into our 1040s.
The official holiday is April 16th but since Emancipation Day falls on a Saturday this year, the District gets Friday off. Buses run as usual but those heading to Tax Day events around DC (Federal Reserve Board protest, anyone?) can rest easy knowing the DC Parking Gestapo will not be out circling the streets for blood, er, expired meters.
Fact: slavery was legal in the U.S. from 1619 until 1865. By 1860, there were about four million slaves in the United States. On April 16, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed more than 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia. Slavery did not officially end in the United States until the end of the Civil War in 1865 when the 13th Amendment was ratified by 30 of the then 36 states. Bet you didn’t know that Mississippi only ratified the 13th amendment in 1995!
This holiday is especially near and dear to my locale, which boasts itself as the wealthiest majority African American county in the entire country. Though don’t believe everything you read in Ebony, PG is far from the luxurious country club the magazine painted it as in this 2006 article.
April 15th falls on a Sunday next year so you’ll also get an extra couple days in 2012 but Honest Abe doesn’t get credit for that, maybe Copernicus or whoever came up with the 365 + 1 every four years calendar year.
Happy Emancipation Day!
MLK Day: You’re Working, We Know
As we mentioned in the prelims, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and we’re assuming that nearly all of you are serving clients today as opposed to enjoying a day off observing the holiday as you see fit.
While it may cause some bellyaching among the newbies, the more seasoned of you have come to accept the fact that because it’s busy season, you are expected to work today.
So let this function as the sounding board for your frustration or acceptance of working today while many are not. Since we’re feeling nostalgic, we’ll hang in there with you today (as long as possible anyway).