To think we shouldn't have to work the day before Christmas Eve?

It isn't the working on the day before Christmas Eve that would bother me, because that's quite reasonable. But expecting you to travel 6 hrs in your own time at your own expense, is not. If it were me, my car would be out of action and unable to get me there.

What’s black eye Friday all about? Is this bathroom sales lingo?

I assume this is what we call (or at least in Yorkshire call) Mad Friday, aka the Friday before Christmas when everyone 'breaks up' if you're still of school age (ah, the 80s/90s in a rural area where underage drinking and going to the pub was just the norm) or otherwise sort of finishes for Christmas (except being rural of course many are farmers so don't actually ever 'finish for Christmas') and everyone goes out for a big piss up.

The date is irrelevant as numerous people have pointed out it's a normal working day.
But a six hour round trip? What about childcare? Caring responsibilities? Even the dog? You can't just add those hours on for no more pay or time off....assuming you are hourly paid and not salaried

'Nice'? No. The company has a moral obligation here even if they don't have a legal one.

Doesn't sound like much of a treat to me, a long expensive journey to hear some corporate spiel and a few stodgy sausage rolls afterwards.

If their saying you can take it unpaid I'd do that

I don't see the issue with this at all, 23rd is a normal working day so don't see why you would get it off unless you take annual leave. To be honest 24th is a normal working day too for most - at my firm the approach is to feel free to log off / go home from midday/lunchtime IF your work permits (we're client facing so the client does come first however) unless of course you've booked the day off as annual leave.

If the shop closure was coming out of annual leave anyway - are you worse off.

I'd say I'm not up for 6 hours driving that close to Christmas with weather and busy roads and take it as annual leave. Not attending the event may count against you but what does that mean for you and is it worth doing the 6 hour drive to prevent or will it soon be forgotten.

Even trains that close to Christmas can be dicey - they're planning work over the Christmas period which I think included that date - so timetable changes and disruption and when I used to travel back home for Christmas in my 20s the trains were packed - not sure if that's still the case but IL plan to travel on trains that day - so likely won't be only ones.

So is the 24th.

It's still annoying having to work it though. Are you having to work the 24th @blinddoorshyt ?

you said they have allocated your leave for these dates? So have you actually got leave booked on the 23rd?

How horrible a term then

Unless you have to have a car for work; they can’t make you use your own transport.
I would say (hoping you haven’t already complained publicly because it will make it harder) that your car is not available that day (family member needs it, whatever) so although you are of course happy to travel for sausage rolls, bingo and the boss to say how great he is, you will require assistance / travel expenses to get there.
Or, if that isn’t possible, you are happy to join ‘remotely’ and eat your own sausage rolls at home.

I'd definitely not be paying out of my own money to get there and back.

I'd be saying now that I can't drive to Manchester and back - im not sure I'd even give a reason other than 'I'm afraid I'm unable to drive to Manchester' does your job require you to even have a car? It would also raise questions around car insurance - you'd possibly need to add business insurance to your policy.

If they want you to be there they will need to book rail travel for you.

I'd be outraged to be told I have to travel 6 hours for work at my own expense, I've no idea why everone seems to think it's fine.
I'd be fine with it if my normal hours are 9-5 and I could get a train/bus (paid by work) at 9am and arrive back around 5 ish but otherwise nope, I'd prefer to take it unpaid.

Different industries. Public service, specially those in health, can't compare to private businesses. Public service needs to maintain skeleton staff and Xmas holidays need to be booked in advance without assurance you'll get them.

Frankly, I often think reading posts on MN that it's not wonder the UK is in such a mess. Employee rights are being eroded after years of gains on sweat and tears, because people don't care and it's a race to the bottom where employers can do as they please, and have most people applauding them if they think they are worse off against another worker.

Fucking unbelievable.

I don't think there is anything wrong with you having to take annual leave if you don't want to work on the 23rd, but it is also unreasonable expecting people to do a 6 hour round trip on any day of the year.

I think this would have been reasonable (if annoying - a journey of that length just for some corporate puff and faff so the company can look like it cares about its staff?) if they'd given you more notice, not chopped and changed with the plans, and were paying your travelling expenses. As it is, though, I think they're being pretty unreasonable. Their implied threats are quite nasty and suggest the company doesn't really value its staff. I worked in retail at one time and this is all in line with my experiences, sounds typical of the industry tbh.

It's a pain but you have all of Christmas off. Plenty of people are working Xmas eve and day so your very lucky to have such a good chunk of time off. Just do your best to enjoy it and maybe for next year suggest that they have their bizarre team building day at the start of December with travel expenses included!

I work in admin in the nhs. No breaking up for us. If want days off over Xmas that are not bank holidays then you book them as annual leave but you probably won't get the same time off next year as the days need to be shared. No leaving early Xmas eve or new years day and no gifts/money from management ever. Unless you work with some nice management who buy you something out of their own pocket.

Some trades close for the whole two weeks. Usually building trades. They do literally ‘break up’ and have the same as the schools off. Not just close between Christmas & New Year.

Unless you were specifically told 23rd is a holiday, it isn't. Same with the 24th.
It sounds that your employer wants to give you a bit of a pre-Christmas treat in Manchester.

The event itself sounds weird, but having to work on the 23rd in itself is perfectly fine. It’s a normal working day. Most retail staff will be working Christmas Eve.

The day before Christmas Eve is not a special day you should expect off. You need to suck that up.

Your legitimate complaint is that travel expenses are not being paid plus that you’re not getting toil.

Staff on minimum wage shouldn’t be sucking up travel costs. The train cost is going to be a really high proportion of the OP’s daily wage. When you’re more senior it’s the sort of thing you have to suck up but not if you’re doing a shift in retail.

This definitely a ridiculous request of them Op.
For the people who aren’t understanding the outrage, the Op is being asked to travel over 6 hours (let’s face it, Christmas and winter traffic) to attend a team building day, training or a Christmas party? I’m not sure what the owner is classing it as but he’s doing a dodgy regardless, without being compensated for travel.
For a shop assistant this wouldn’t be in their contract or be expected.
Op if you can please speak to a union rep. What they are doing is illegal, they must compensate you for travel as it’s classed as excessive and outside of your normal work hours. Also the threat if you don’t attend is incredibly inappropriate and they should be put on notice for that.