In 1882 about 10,000 working men in New York City gave up a day's wages to march up Broadway and prove that labor was worth a holiday. Nobody covered their pay. They bought that day themselves.
Shoemakers. Horseshoers. Printers. Bricklayers. House painters. Cigar makers. Trades. Their banners read 8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for recreation.
It took another 56 years before Washington put a 40 hour week on the books, and even that law never capped the day. It just said you get paid past 40. Most hands out here would not take an 8 hour day if you handed it to them anyway.
Monday the lake fills up, the coolers come out, the grills fire. Meanwhile there are drilling rigs turning to the right tonight. Frac crews pumping. Wireline rigged up, workover rigs sitting on a wellhead, pumpers running routes at daylight, water haulers on washboard road at 4 in the morning. A well does not know it is Monday.
Every boat on that lake and every mile of that drive home runs on something somebody pulled out of the ground on a day the rest of the country had off.
Labor Day is the only holiday this country ever named after the people who work. The patch does not get it off.
Field Report
If you are on location this weekend, drop your basin and what you are running. The field checks in on Labor Day too.