Happy Holidays!

I know what some of you are probably thinking: every day’s a holiday for at least some workers in your shop. Sorry, but that’s an issue between you and your employees.

This is not about recognized national observances such as Independence Day, either. No, the topic here is those strange, unique and in some cases just plain weird days of recognition celebrated by many in the U.S. and around the world.

Upcoming a bit later this month, for example, is Air Conditioner Appreciation Day. That’s one most of us can get behind in July, but if it’s not your cup of tea, how about National Embrace Your Geekiness Day? It’s coming up soon—July 13, to be exact. It’s promoted as a day for getting in touch with positive geeky attributes, such as love of gizmos, gadgets and all things scientific, rather than the sometimes more negative connotations of the word.

Point is, just about every day of the year is some kind of unique, strange or weird holiday. Anyone can petition his local, state or federal government representatives, or even the United Nations, in an attempt to have a day formalized as a particular celebration, and, unless the topic is politically incorrect or inexpedient, it may be adopted as a special celebration with an assigned day.

As you might imagine, this has led to recognition of some pretty strange holidays. In January, for example, there’s Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, Squirrel Appreciation Day and Penguin Awareness Day. What’s the difference between appreciation and awareness? Your guess is as good as mine, but I suppose you can be aware of something without particularly appreciating it. Such as, apparently, penguins.

February brings not only Valentine’s Day but also its evil twin, Dump Your Significant Jerk Day. In March comes Act Happy Day, while April brings Blame Someone Else Day and Pecan Day. Jumping ahead a few months, in September we have two of my personal favorites: Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th, and Ask a Stupid Question Day on the last school day of the month.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The original point of this column was to propose a holiday or holidays recognizing the efforts of finishers in improving our lives. Given the vital role of a product’s finish in a consumer’s initial buying decision and to the product’s long-term usefulness and appearance, and the value many finishers bring to the overall manufacturing process, I don’t think this is out of line at all.

Maybe the lobbying effort could be coordinated on a national level by some of the finishing industry associations, or maybe it should just be a grassroots thing. Either way, let me be the first to wish you a happy Products Finishing Day. No, it’s not official yet, but combining recognition for our industry with shameless self-promotion makes perfect sense to me.

Do you have other suggestions? Send ‘em in!