I've never once worked a job where we got Columbus day off.

Every company I've worked for in NY/NJ has had the day off... except my current gig for an Italian company. Go figure.

Markets are open on Columbus Day so most finance and fintech people don't get it off. I didn't.

Huh. The Merc used to have (still has?) a "bring your kid to work" type event on Columbus Day. They even brought us into one of the pits—back when they were still regularly open for business—to do a mock derivatives trading session. I guess it had never occurred to me before that those pits were being used for real trades on the same day—or maybe the brick and mortar exchanges were open, just "online-only", on Columbus Day.

NY/NJ has a heavy Italian influence, so the day acts as more of an "Italian Heritage Day" at this point.

Not just at this point. It's been seen as at least partially an Italian heritage day for longer than it's been an official holiday.

At my job, Columbus Day is officially observed on December 24.

why not rename Columbus day into something like "we seek forgiveness" day?

how does it make sense to have November 6th as a holiday in a country where more than 50% people don't/can't vote?

Some have already renamed Columbus Day, they call it "Indigenous Peoples Day"

> how does it make sense to have November 6th as a holiday in a country where more than 50% people don't/can't vote?

The point of making it a holiday is so that people wouldn't have to work that day, to increase the percentage of people who will/can vote. I agree that <50% is too low: let's get that number up, yeah?

I meant, more than 50% include those who are ineligible to vote due to being under age,imprisonment or being an immigrant (legal and illegal).

Giving a holiday is just an easy way for people to plan an extra long weekend.

Might as well go whole-hog and call it "Repent, Sinner. Repent!" day.