Labor Day is just a Monday for Patricia Pruitt, cashier at Mr. Roy’s Citgo on Dallas Avenue.

“It’s just another work day,” Pruitt said. “We’re here all holidays.”

Pruitt has Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays off, but since Labor Day is on a Monday, she went to work.

Although many businesses and restaurants close to celebrate the holiday, it is not a day off for every person.

Stephanie Jones, sandwich artist at Subway on Dallas Avenue, works part-time at Subway and is a student at Concordia College studying early childhood education. If she is scheduled for work, even for a holiday, she has to be there.

“I have to make money,” Jones said. “I don’t mind. It’s kind of slow today.”

She had a barbecue with her family on Saturday and will have another cook out tonight after she comes home from work.

Selma Police Lt. John Brock also celebrated the holiday over the weekend because Monday is part of his normal workweek.

“It’s just a normal, quiet day,” Brock said. “Don’t matter what holiday it is or what time of day it is, there’s always somebody here.”

Members of the police department also receive double pay for working on holidays, a benefit for the nine patrolmen and two supervisors on-duty Monday. Brock and the other officers will not receive an extra day off from work.

Selma Fire Department members work every third day, whether or not that is a holiday, said Cpt. Kevin Jones.

Firefighters can choose to have an additional 12 hours of pay added to their check or receive an extra vacation day, which must be used within 60 days of the holiday.

“Most people take the money, but I do a lot of extra stuff also, so I usually get the day off,” Jones said. “But the day has to be open. They really only let one person off per shift, it really just depends what’s going on.”

Jones plans to use his day off at the beginning of October when deer hunting season opens.

Labor Day was first celebrated in 1882 by the Central Labor Union in New York City and became a national holiday, or “workingmen’s holiday,” in 1894. It is always celebrated on the first Monday in September.