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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU Christmas and retail

298 replies

ItsaTenfromDen · 21/11/2016 13:35

I work in retail, yes this is my choice at the moment, would dearly love another job, but so far this is proving hard to find.

AIBU to be annoyed by someones desire to go shopping on Boxing Day? I will be up at 4.30 and opening at 6am. What can anyone possibly need at 6am on Boxing Day? We don't sell medicine or food!

I appreciate that Doctors and Nurses and other professions have to work, but I see that as a necessary park of their job. People need medical attention every day.

Even if I didn't work in retail I would never think of going shopping on Boxing Day, I've seen enough of the shops in the run up to Christmas.

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 21/11/2016 14:48

I don't think shop staff get much choice about whether to work on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It will be very much 'all hands on deck'. Management aren't going to be approving many if any days off on those days.

I think a lot of people go out shopping on Boxing Day because they don't want to miss the best of the bargains. If the shops were closed until December 27th, people would just have to wait until then, which is fine.

We all generally have a finite amount of money, so it's not like people are going to spend less, because the shops are closed an extra day - it could make shops more profitable - same sales for less wages?

Lottie4 · 21/11/2016 14:51

I've never expected the shops to be open Boxing Day and never used them. My Mum's on her own and doesn't go back into town until around 28th/29th December and she copes.

I'm about to work my second year in retail - hours fit in with family and I like our products. Luckily I only do two shifts - I'm so lucky to be avoiding Xmas Eve (they cash up and leave at 7pm) and Boxing Day (7am start to read cash and shop ready). Having said this, I'll be working New Years Day for the second year in a row, this year starting at 8am. Last year it was really quiet and to my mind hardly worth opening.

gillybeanz · 21/11/2016 14:53

I never realised this, i thought you'd be able to choose.
I know some people go at stupid o'clock but whenever I've asked retail staff they usually say it quietens down after the initial rush, then it's steady, then nobody about.
surely, they could stagger the shifts so everyone comes in for just a couple of hours.

AChristmasCactus · 21/11/2016 14:54

I never realised this, i thought you'd be able to choose.

In retail, waitressing etc. you get no choice as to what shifts you work. I have worked on zero hours contracts, been dragged in for a few hours and then sent away once it quietens down. You have essentially no control over your life or income. It's shit.

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 14:54

People want to shop on boxing day ultimately

People want to shop the sales
Shops need the sales to keep them afloat
If all of the sales were on on the 27th nobody would want to shop on the 26th, but now that other retail outlets are open on the 26th no retailers want to miss out on their quota of the sales ££ by holding theirs a day later.

That's it really. Hopefully it'll become considered "Bad form" to open boxing day so some stores will start doing 27th for the good PR of letting their staff off on 26th, and then HOPEFULLY sales shoppers will support those shops instead of the 26th ones.. but having seen/worked the sales, I don't think your typical sales shopper has a soul, so probably not.

P.s. they're not lonely: they don't want to exchange a civil word with their fellow shoppers or staff. I've served many a solo diner in hospitality on Christmas, they are lonely and love to talk to their service staff!

MarsBarsAreShrinking · 21/11/2016 14:55

I feel very sorry for most retail workers at the best of times, but even more so after reading some of the posts on this thread.

Personally I don't think there's any need for the shops to be open on Boxing Day; what the hell can be so urgent that people can't wait one more day?

I'll be working all over Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day but I know I'm lucky in that I work from home and am just on call.

PurpleDaisies · 21/11/2016 14:57

What for? Genuine question. What can you possibly so desperately need?

Time away from family! If you're back to work soon after Christmas it's an opportunity to do some sale shopping because the shops are open. It's not a question of needing anything really.

I'd prefer the shops chose not to open but I don't think people who choose to take advantage of a service that's available to them are doing anything wrong.

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 14:57

I never realised this, i thought you'd be able to choose

Not even a little bit!
e.g. when I worked christmas eve I was given an early, my colleague was given a late/close, colleague's disabled mother was alone a long journey, my family were down the road. I offered to switch shifts with her so she could catch the last coach to be with her mother for christmas.
NOT A CHANCE! Everyone must work what they're given, she was told to work it or quit, even though I had offered to switch and we did exactly the same job.

PNGirl · 21/11/2016 14:58

Lol at being able to just say you don't fancy working Boxing Day. Plus, retail staff are paid hourly. Why would they taxi or drive to work (often no public transport of course) for the sake of a 2 hour shift at about £15? Or even £25 at time and a half?

I say this as someone who used to have to be at work for a 7am opening on a retail park when I was a student, but it's not about need. This year a lot of people will have been in the house since Friday 23rd so by Monday 26th will be either a) sick to death of sitting in the house with family which may or may not include bored stir-crazy children or b) have not seen a soul for several days and just want a coffee and a wander round the shops while it's Christmassy.

None of this warrants opening before 9am though!

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 14:58

but I don't think people who choose to take advantage of a service that's available to them are doing anything wrong

have you ever witnessed how boxing day sale shoppers behave, I would say there's a lot wrong with it actually

gillybeanz · 21/11/2016 14:59

It's opened my eyes, i can tell you.
I can see why staff are asked to go in, but it's the conditions that are appalling.
do they ask for volunteers first, some may really want to work boxing Day.
They should offer at least double time.
I was going to look for a job in retail after xmas as currently work in a call centre, having xmas eve, day, and boxing day off.
I'll stay where I am Grin

PNGirl · 21/11/2016 15:00

And yes, on a normal year where Christmas isn't a weekend I'm back at work the day after Boxing Day so it's the only day I would get (not that I will be shopping myself).

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:02

do they ask for volunteers first, some may really want to work boxing Day

ha ha. no.
see my post of 14:57:34

ohdearme1958 · 21/11/2016 15:03

When I was a little girl, Im 58 now, Christmas Day lasted one day. People left work on Christmas Eve and were back again on Boxing Day. It was extra special of Christas Day was on a weekend day.

PurpleDaisies · 21/11/2016 15:04

have you ever witnessed how boxing day sale shoppers behave, I would say there's a lot wrong with it actually

I've worked Boxing Day in retail and more recently gone shopping on Boxing Day. Clearly the people who go out and behave badly are wrong to do so. That's going to happen on the first day of the sale whenever it is-it's not down to it being on Boxing Day.

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:05

When I was a kid, bank holidays meant emergency/essential workers only, everyone else went for a walk if they wanted to get out of the house!

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:08

Clearly the people who go out and behave badly are wrong to do so. That's going to happen on the first day of the sale whenever it is-it's not down to it being on Boxing Day.

It's much easier to brush off on an ordinary work day than it is on a holiday when you've left your family to go to work at an ungodly hour!

It's the combination of extra rude customers, not much extra pay & shit/miserable conditions when you work the holidays that really get to you.

I don't mind a rude customer on an average tuesday. I really do mind being a verbal punch bag when I've had to miss a family holiday to be there.

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 15:15

Plenty of shop staff can be pretty horrible too not just shoppers!

ThoraGruntwhistle · 21/11/2016 15:22

I remember a few years ago being very irritated to find that all the supermarkets and shops were shut on Easter Sunday which seemed pathetic to me considering this really isn't a Christian country anymore. However, I'm more inclined nowadays to sympathise with the retail staff and think the shops should be shut at least a few times a year to give them a break without having to worry about 5am sales which nobody really needs.

AChristmasCactus · 21/11/2016 15:32

Plenty of shop staff can be pretty horrible too not just shoppers! Confused I can safely say that I've never encountered a horrible shop worker.

OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 21/11/2016 15:34

Oh please Shopper - if shop staff are rude then a customer can complain and gets listened to. When I worked in retail I got physically pushed over by a customer one year and landed really painfully. My manager didn't give a damn, wouldn't even put me on tills never mind let me go home early, and I ended up working another 5 hours doing heavy lifting with what turned out to be a sprained wrist.

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:35

these days all that "bank holiday" means for most people is the ball-ache of finding holiday childcare. Used to be a breather for most people when families were all(most) off and could get together. I don't care if it's in the name of Christianity or not, it was nice, and there's only a few of them a year, I really hope we get them back.

I remember as a kid the local nature walks used to be busy on bank holidays with lots of families out for walks together, haven't a clue if that's still the case?

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 15:36

if shop staff are rude then a customer can complain and gets listened to

Not true, my complaints never got listened to. Shop staff got away with horrible behaviour

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:38

p.s. When I worked in retail we were watched on CCTV to make sure we smiled at least X times a minute, and listened to to make sure we were regurgitating the scripts.

I guess we could have been rude (or anything that showed us to be real humans) but you'ld have to be about to quit anyway to do that..

TinselTwins · 21/11/2016 15:38

Besides which, being nasty to someone who is a captive audience absolutely trumps being rude to someone who can walk away in terms of cruelness