In Long Weekend, Joan posts a memo on the bulletin board that the office will be closed on Labor Day.

Which means that’s not routine? That people didn’t know whether or not the office would be closed?

It’s sort of baffling. Does Sterling Cooper have no stated holiday policy? Do employees simply not know what their days off will be? And is Labor Day actually optional?

I checked up on this. Labor Day has been a holiday for a very long time. Business have been closed on Labor Day for over a hundred years, and workers in an office such as Sterling Cooper would certainly expect and know well in advance that Labor Day was a long weekend (hence the title).

This hovers on the edge of goof. It’s more one of those cheap TV tricks to remind the viewers of what’s going on, and put Joan in the right place at the right time. It’s the kind of “goof” that you wouldn’t notice on a lesser show, but because Mad Men rarely relies on stupid trickery, it stands out.

Or I’m too obsessed. Either way.