But your right, maybe I'll save my time not be bothered with THR. I stopped posting here for about 10 years and didn't seem to miss out on anything important
That's fair--there are plenty of places if all you want is an echo chamber.
To also be fair, your lament can be read as "Why are not more LGS run by Scrooge and forcing their employees to work on Christmas Eve, or a similar holiday?"
Ok, could the store have put up a notice that they were closed, on the door, or on their website--but, such things are easy to forget when the Boss just said, "It's Christmas Eve, y'all take off early." Perhaps the boss noticed how many other places were closed or were going to be closed on Christmas Eve, too.
Maybe the boss was expecting a big delivery from the distributor or a warehouse, and those were canceled, and the boss felt that being open for a day with bare or barren shelves would be unlikely to generate enough sales to go unlock the door. When you are self-employed, you have to get your last quarterly tax payment into the IRS before 31 December. Which may mean the boss was tied up with the book keeper/accountant, who was also juggling a holiday schedule.
Perhaps the Boss had been there, at 0800, and put out such inventory as he had, and not seen a single customer. And decided the traffic in customers was not going to pick up any, and locked up early. Maybe the ventilation for the range conked out, or needed some down time. Maybe Boss' wife called and said "Go get [thing], before the stores close, please." Many are the things that could cause a mental slip to not put a note on the door, or the web page.
It's hard to make it on only a paycheck, but it far harder to make a payroll.
LGS remain valuable in our fractured economy. One of the last places where not only can you be hands-on with the goods, but also interact with local people.They represent a dynamic in the wholesale distribution of "our" wares--ammo, accessories, firearms, licenses, the whole kit and kaboodle.