(SERGEANT BLUFF, IA) - Not everyone celebrated this Thanksgiving at home. For many in the area, Thursday was a working holiday. Stream, a call center in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, made the workday as festive as possible for staff.

This holiday, thousands of people across America were thankful for people like Barry Munhofen. Thankful he came to work on a day so many stay home. He works on a team that handles customer service calls for a nationwide client and makes sure their products are working.

Munhofen's team leader, John Budde, says "that includes holidays as well." Munhofen's been a Stream team member for three years, and he smiles, explaining how holidays are a welcome break from the usual hustle of the office. "Average day I see around here is usually very busy, very busy, call after call. But today's very kicked back and relaxed because of the holiday," he said.

About ten percent of Stream's employees were in Thursday. Staff actually forecast how many calls will come in on a given holiday and staff accordingly. "Usually heading in to a holiday you'll get a lot of last minute callers, so we pumped up the volume the day before holiday, because a lot of people want to take care of that stuff before they get out on the road," said Budde.

In addition to double-pay, Stream offered prize drawings and giveaways throughout the day Thursday, in addition to two catered Thanksgiving meals. "We try and keep festive, we try and keep it low key," laughed Budde. It was something for which Munhofen himself was plenty thankful. He said, "when you get less people we all kind of tend together especially on a family holiday like a big family, one big giant family."

 

 

Reported by Jeremy Maskel. You can reach Jeremy at jmaskel@kmeg.com. Friend him on facebook at www.facebook.com/jmaskel, or follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/jermaskel.