To wonder how long it'll be before mcdonalds is open Xmas day.

[letsplaynice]

I in no way want this but their opening hours this year are crazy shut at 10 Xmas eve open again 8 on Boxing Day then only shut 8pm till 8am Hogmanay it makes me a bit sad

My DD is working from 4 in the morning today so online grocery shoppers can have the Christmas they want.

Your Christmas will always have an impact on someone else's life.Unless you live in a cave,catch your own food and cook it over a campfire.

Staying in a hotel and using public transport is the best Christmas you can create for yourself at the expense of other people's Christmases (ie those who haven't been given the option of working, which I suspect is most of them) - but I guess they knew that when they took on that job . I certainly wouldn't want more people to be forced to give up their Christmases so that others could have the Christmases they want, such as buying more stuff from shops and eating burgers.

It's the 21st today usual, not Christmas. Is she working on Christmas Day?

Well you would hope that the people dispatching ambulances, response vehicles etc are paid better than £4.50/ hour.

But it's only slightly better than minimum wage. An emergency ambulance dispatcher will be earning between £14,000 and £17,000.

Yes - band 2, which equates to £7.30-8.90. On enhanced rates (time plus around 88% iirc) takes it up to a "damn sight" more than £4.50 an hour.

No she's not,but she doesn't usually work Sundays either.

And actually she never works BH plenty of other staff volunteer to work BH believe it or not.

She earns more than MW, not all shops pay MW.

We

But crucially - she's off Christmas Day? Would she like to work Christmas Day? If so, that's great, but if not, and if she was being forced to because a small number of people couldn't menu plan sufficiently in advance to cover 3 meals, then I bet she wouldn't be overly happy about it.

Great. So I cash in years worth of airlines to have a Christmas where I'm at least not confined to my own house with no one to interact with to be told I'm selfish for trying to make the best of Christmas on my own. Thanks for that.
As usual said none of you with families can have the Christmas you want without someone, somewhere having to go to work on Christmas day in order to contribute to it.
And I never said I was going to eat burgers and that sneering line is getting tiresome.

Well it doesn't translate into that much extra after tax TBH.

Anyway, we all appreciated our burgers and pizzas on Christmas Day.

i love a macdonalds breakie it means holiday in our house. do xmas day mc d breakie sounds like a fsir idea. then theres the poor fuckers who have to work xmas day.

Not all shops pay MW? Really? I thought it was a legal requirement to pay MW to everyone over school leaving age?

It translates to more than the McD workers forced to work Christmas Day would get.

Again - I'm not sneering at McDs burgers, I'm referring to the title of the OP.

I meant many supermarkets pay more than MW,not less.

Well yes - but we weren't..um..flipping burgers. We would expect to be paid a little but more.

Anyway, loads of people in out city don't celebrate Xmas and are happy to work on the day. We used to try to swap shifts with Muslim colleagues ( although some Muslim colleagues liked to celebrate Xmas too )

So perhaps you'd like to sit in the dark, not do any cooking and have no sanitation facilities so that people don't have to work on Christmas day?

Oh. You need heating, light and sanitation? Perhaps all the people who work in media could have the day off. You don't need to watch TV on Christmas day do you? Or do their families not matter?

Yes, that's right - let's switch off the national grid, because no-one needs heat or light, do they? Come on, if you're going to come up with an analogy, try one that fits the thread.

Ubik - what you said about loads of people in out city don't celebrate Xmas and are happy to work on the day is absolutely key. If people are happy to work on Christmas Day, then that's fine - but what I really, really wouldn't want to see is for Christmas Day to become another working day in non-essential sectors (like McDs as per the OP...) where more and more people are forced to give up their Christmas.

And on that note I shall head off and tackle the ironing

By that token I take it you're happy to do without TV then. It's a non essential service. No need for it on Christmas day.

I'd be very surprised if Ambulance despatchers are paid between £14 - 17k. I know police ones are paid considerably more

And obviously to you, cocooned in your family unit, things like outside catering, hotels and transport just don't figure. Try sparing a thought for those who are not so fortunate. It seems you don't have the imagination though.

Check it out red glitter. Grade 2. Ambulance service rates of pay are very low.

In fact according to one Ambulance service website despatchers start at £18k rising to 24k after a year then increments to 28k. That's more what I'd have expected

Ambulance dispatchers are level 2 on agenda for change. Grades above are for clinically trained ie: specially trained.