NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- So what is a working gal supposed to do on Labor Day? Well, work silly.
Just ask Marion Free, dining room manager at Ruthy's restaurant.
"It's just like every other day," said Free, one of two waitresses serving the customers at the bustling restaurant on West Canal Street. "I'm just not going fishing like everyone else."
Free, 55, a grandmother of six who recently returned from visiting the little ones in North Carolina isn't complaining, though.
"I'm happy to have a job," she said. "Gas is up. People on fixed incomes aren't coming in to eat as much or ordering less. I don't run to Orlando every week now."
Ruthy's was packed for late breakfast and early lunch, but the place started to thin out just after 1 p.m., less than an hour to closing time.
Paul Griffin was pleased to discover Ruthy's was open, adding Labor Day doesn't mean as much these days with seemingly everything open.
"It used to be a day off for everybody," the 80-year-old New Smyrna Beach resident explained. "Everything is open now -- even the gas stations."
Not quite everything. Banks, post offices, government offices and schools were closed. And many businesses throughout Southeast Volusia are closed today.
Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September. Congree made Labor Day a federal holiday shortly after the May Day riots of 1894, a series of violent demonstrations in Cleveland, Ohio, by workers who were upset with rising unemployment. The term Labor Day actually originated 12 years earlier in 1882 by the Central Labor Union of New York City as a day off for working citizens.
Nowadays, the holiday is seen by many as the symbolic end of summer as winesed by today's activities. The beach was packed and lifeguards were working. So were police and firefighters.
This was no day at the beach for Griffin who simply enjoyed a club sandwich served by by Free with a smile.
After all, in this soured economy people like Free are doing their share to keep American enterprise going on this Labor Day.
"You can only stretch the money so far, but I do OK for a working girl," Free said with a laugh, adding, "I just don't get my nails done every two weeks. Now it's every three or four weeks. Trust me. That's sacrificing."