To preempt bitter eid holidays, sweet shops demand extension of working hours

AMMAN — Workers in the confectionary sector are demanding that sweets shops be allowed to open on the first day of Eid Al Fitr and to have their working hours extended before and after it.

The government previously announced that the first day of Eid Al Fitr, the feast marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, will witness total lockdown as has been the case for Fridays of previous weeks, a move that Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh said was implemented to prevent the occurrence of traditional eid activities such as visiting relatives.

A worker in a popular sweets shop who preferred to remain anonymous told The Jordan Times over the phone that the shop, and the sector in general, has experienced “heavy losses” during the past few weeks.

The 25-year-old worker said that “initially, the lack of sales was obviously due to the lockdown and closure of all sectors, but even now that sweets shops are allowed to operate, business is nowhere near as usual.”

The public’s fear about ordering from restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic, limited operational hours and a 7pm curfew were all identified as reasons behind declining sales, according to Saeed Far, a worker at another sweets shop.

“Those who trust that our shop is sterilised and the workers are corona-free do not order food because people break their fast at around 7:30pm and we stop delivering at 7pm, which means that any kind of sweet they order, such as knafeh or kollaj, will be cold by the time they get to it,” added Far.

The occasion of Ramadan and the curfew are the reasons that stakeholders in the confectionery sector have been demanding that their working hours be extended until 10pm, a request that has been on their agenda since the resumption of work in the sector.

“I think that since people will be ordering much less quantities now that relative visits have been banned during eid, the shops should at least operate during the first day and have their hours extended to try and save some of the sales of this festive season,” concluded Far.