GREENSBORO, N.C. — Labor Day is a time to rest and honor those who contribute to our country's development.
While it is a federal holiday, some businesses in Greensboro can't afford to have the day off.
Waitress Anna Mitchell power walked from the kitchen to her tables her entire shift at Oakcrest Family Restaurant, working for every dollar this Labor Day.
“Today is just unreal,” Mitchell said. “They’ve been sitting at the tables where there are dishes on there and that’s never happened around here before.”
This holiday the family restaurant was full of customers but short bussers and staffed with just three waitresses for the morning.
Mitchell said on any other day they’d be okay, but the holiday rush was overwhelming.
“Everybody else is closed around here all the other restaurants,” Mitchell said. “And it's been busy since we walked in at 7 this morning.”
While waitresses hustled to keep customers happy the cooks worked to keep up with the back-to-back orders from food delivery apps.
Over at The Green Bean downtown Greensboro, they were brewing coffee beans and churning out iced lattes.
Olivia Constantinidi made sure everyone got their Labor Day pick-me-up.
“It’s surprisingly busier than I thought,” Constantinidi said.
Staffing is not much of an issue for those working at the Green Bean thanks to loyal employees like Constantinidi.
“I didn’t ask off for the holiday so it's not too much of work to come in for a few hours,” Constantinidi said.
And when things do get hectic they have a plan in place to make sure they don’t have to cut hours or overwork staff.
“We have a lot of great employees here and we’re all willing to help out each other so if there was anyone who wasn’t able to work today we are always able to cover for each other and work it out,” Constantinidi said.
Neither business said they brought on any extra staff for the holiday.
Oakcrest said they could have used extra hands but said they are not experiencing any major shortages.