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Original poster

About non-essential shops being open on boxing day

292 replies

NayrusWisdom7 · 26/12/2014 13:12

Just that I am sick and tired of christmas being ruined every year by having to work Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. The sales may be all well and good but someone has to give up their day to make it happen! I think if stores are to be open at all on boxing day they should be subject to sunday trading hours of 1-6 only. I'm sure fellow retail workers will agree.. Or maybe I'm just bitter?

OP posts:
MinceSpy · 26/12/2014 14:38

Unless Boxing Day fell on a Sunday many shops have chosen to trade on Boxing Day for years and years. Christmas ceased to be a religious event for the majority of people many years ago. All my working life I've had to work my fair share of bank holidays including Christmas so has DH as well as most other close family members and not one us works in retail. No one has to work in retail and no one has to shop on bank holidays and its also worth remembering that a significant number of people in the UK don't celebrate Christmas for various reasons.

SwedishEdith · 26/12/2014 14:42

I love the response that those in retail should change their job rather than those who only have limited time off to shop Confused. Afalk, most are on basic pay as well - no extra for working a bank holiday.

AwesomeSuperTasty · 26/12/2014 14:45

Lots of people only get paid for the hours that they actually work, and lots of people would lose two days' income were shops closed both Christmas and Boxing Day. Whilst I balk at the excessive consumerism of Christmas in general, I do think that it's a good thing to have shops open on Boxing Day so that those who want or need to work can do so. For instance, lots of my students work over the Christmas holidays and are glad to be able to pick up extra shifts on the 26th etc as they can't work much during term time. I am sure they are not the only ones. There are plenty of people who don't celebrate Christmas who aren't fussed about working on that day but would be pissed off at losing income if their employer chooses not to open.

Saying we should shut all shops and stay at home with family is a very normative view, which assumes we all have families, celebrate Christmas and can afford not to work.

Big retailers should have a system where people who want to work do, and those who don't can opt out without punishment or reprimand. And if they can't get enough staff, then get some temps in.

Andrewofgg · 26/12/2014 15:03

For many people shopping provides essential social contact. My first Christmas at University I arranged to spend away with friends and my DM, then widowed, did the same.

Unfortunately her plans fell through and she did not tell me in case I cancelled mine – which I would have done. Christmas was Saturday and Monday and Tuesday were Bank Holidays and in those days (1971) that meant every damned thing was closed.

And from mid-afternoon on Friday she saw nobody until Tuesday – when she found some friends to invite round. She did not tell me about it until the following Christmas by when, I am pleased to say, she was happily remarried!

meandyouohyeah · 26/12/2014 15:05

Big retailers should have a system where people who want to work do, and those who don't can opt out without punishment or reprimand. And if they can't get enough staff, then get some temps in

Thats the dream. However it will never in a million years happen.

Happy36 · 26/12/2014 15:06

AwesomeSuperTasty this: "Big retailers should have a system where people who want to work do, and those who don't can opt out without punishment or reprimand. And if they can't get enough staff, then get some temps in" is a brilliant idea. Do you think the retailers could be convinced to do this?

LilMissSunshine9 · 26/12/2014 15:07

If the shops didn't open then they lose money - money that helps pay for the cost of running the shop and employing people. Infact I would of thought it would be far more economical for big brands to close up their shops and just run them online then they could open pop-up shops every now and again to cater of the random sale days e.g. boxing day/ end of summer sale.

writtenguarantee · 26/12/2014 15:22

Get a job where you don't have to work it then. Some people have limited time off work so enjoy shopping on Boxing Day.

indeed. In a perfect world such workers would get a few days off in january when sales are slumping. Many people don't give a damn about christmas, so may like the extra work.

theeternalstudent · 26/12/2014 15:29

Pre-children I use to volunteer to work Xmas day. Didn't mind. I also worked new years day. Saved me being at home alone having some enforced fun, only it wasn't. I was lonely being away from family at that time of the year.

I changed profession after DD came along as I needed a job that would fit around childcare and that wasn't possible in my last job.

JackSkellington · 26/12/2014 15:32

Where are all these alternative jobs? After working in retail for years (thankfully no more) and often working around Christmas and on New Year's Day, I would have loved a job with time off.

I think many people forget that some people who work in retail because we have no other option.

Fluffyears · 26/12/2014 15:33

Hell no the the curfew idea from Christmas Eve to 27th please. Mil gets picked up on Christmas morning and is led off home on boxing day. I'd be in prison if she was with us for any longer!

Nightboattocairo · 26/12/2014 15:34

My 91 yr old grandmother ate at a pub yesterday with my recently bereaved aunty. So you can do one, mean - you are clearly in the wrong job, aren't you.

ilovesooty · 26/12/2014 15:40

Hope they had a lovely meal Nightboattocairo

I took my mother out to Christmas day lunch one year as my marriage had failed just before and I couldn't face eating at home remembering what the circumstances should have been.
Sometimes bereavement or relationship breakdown or loneliness make the opportunity to eat out at Christmas very welcome.

AwesomeSuperTasty · 26/12/2014 15:41

True, big retailers changing their employment practices will never happen, so people who really don't want to work Boxing Day, Christmas Eve etc, will continue to work grudgingly whilst plenty of out of work temps or people who would be happy to pick up a shift, won't.

But, IMO, this is also a labour rights issue. I think the UK, as compared to other West European countries, has appalling labour laws for eg the retail sector. Unlike Denmark, for instance, where it's the norm or retail and cleaning staff to be unionised and so have better wages and rights, and are better placed to make demands on tier employers. Also - in the Netherlands, part time workers have the same rights as full time employees, something that is very conducive to family life but which will never happen here.

Luckily our labour laws are not nearly as bad as in the US, though I sometimes fear we may be headed that way.

bananaramadramallama · 26/12/2014 15:43

The dickheads are the ones like you mean.

I used to work in pubs/restaurants years ago, and always used to volunteer for Xmas eve, day and boxing day, as well as new years eve - we got extra money for it and earned heaps in tips over those times.

These days were actually overrun with volunteers for the shift list in my experience, due to the tips.

usefully · 26/12/2014 15:57

I can see both sides.

Where I come from, shops are closed for an extended period over Christmas. It's a religious country and its regarded as important that shop workers get a break with their families too.

But then, in the UK it's great to be able to pop to the shops any time you need something.

Consumers vs workers. It's just about striking a balance.

caroldecker · 26/12/2014 16:07

You can't have temps coming in just for a few days as they wouldn't have a clue where anything was or how the system works. Comments like these really believe that minimum wage employees are fully unskilled and permanently interchangable.

SwedishEdith · 26/12/2014 16:10

Yes, at least in catering staff are paid time and half or double time plus might get tips. Doesn't seem to happen in retail ime.

bloodyteenagers · 26/12/2014 16:12

This is one of the reasons I like living in the City of London.
Shops closed on Christmas Eve.
Next, M&S, New Look, Waitrose etc are all closed. There is only the random newsagent open. A lot of these businesses will not open until Monday because a lot of these businesses do not open at weekends.. Bliss

meandyouohyeah · 26/12/2014 16:42

I'm a dickhead because I'd prefer to spend Christmas day at home enjoying the company of my family all together in the festive season, than at work? Okay......

meandyouohyeah · 26/12/2014 16:45

I'm not in the wrong job at all thanks Nightboattocairo
I enjoy my job the rest of the year but is it really a surprise to you that people would hate to work the one day a year when all your family get together and have a lovely meal and time together?

ilovesooty · 26/12/2014 16:46

You said other people without families were dickheads if they ate out on Christmas day. You accused everyone who ate out on Christmas day of choosing not to be bothered about doing their own cooking.

Get it right.

ClashCityRocker · 26/12/2014 16:48

I suppose an ideal compromise would be to ask for volunteers to work Xmas Eve/day Boxing Day and then if there weren't enough to open, they wouldn't open?

I know it's never going to happen.

Andrewofgg · 26/12/2014 16:49

usefully If only it were that simple. Workers are consumers and most consumers, especially those with a lot to spend consuming, are workers.

Set aside those lines of work which must of necessity run 24/7. Out of what is left the true distinction is between those which do and those which don't cater to the leisure of the end-user. And as for so many of us shopping is now part of what we do for pleasure, it falls on the side of the line where the wishes of people-as-consumers trump the wishes of people-as-workers.

meandyouohyeah · 26/12/2014 16:57

Yeah sooty that's still what I am saying. What's your point?

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