AIBU to think this about working bank hols etc?

[OldandJaded]

Is it unreasonable to expect that if you work in certain industries you expect to work bank holidays (easter, Christmas included) nice days, late nights/early mornings and basically the times when most other people don't work?
I don't think it is, if you work in the hospitality trade then surely it's common sense that when the majority of working folk are off, is going to be your busiest time? Therefore the increase in business needs an increase in staff? I'm astounded by the number of people who come into hospitality that say they didn't expect to have to work Christmas/New year/Easter etc and feel it's unfair.
I've also worked in health care and have heard similar complaints - people don't stop being old/ill/sick because it's a public holiday!
I do agree it sucks that some places don't offer a little extra for working these holidays, but I wouldn't expect it because it's the type of job I'm in and comes with the territory. Most places I've worked give maybe time and a half or a small cash bonus if you work Christmas day, but the other days are business as usual.
Of course the shifts need to be shared out fairly and any religious need respected.
Working shifts, late nights, weekends and holidays does have it's advantages - I get to shop in relative peace, I don't have to travel in the rush hour, if I want to go out for a meal, to a theme park, a pub etc it's usually much quieter because other ppl are at work when I'm not!
Just don't understand those who come into an industry that relies on when other people don't work and therefore want to enjoy themselves and spend money, and then complain about it!
Rant over!

Employers should pay extra for Bank Holidays, out of hours, or unsociable hours. People aren't slaves.

YANBU and I agree about essential services, but I think we have gone too far in having everything open all the time. I like Sundays in France or Ireland when it is a much quieter day - even though I am not religious.

Yanbu. Extra pay ended for most decades ago.

It's just another day really. I think shops should be open normally on Sundays to but i posted about that here and got burnt.

We didn't get extra pay for Sundays or bank hols in retail a decade ago. They were allowed to get away with it because we had a bonus scheme that was impossible to hit. I'm old fashioned and won't shop on Sundays or bank hols now.

I work in one of these industries. It does bother me if I can't get time off around Christmas but any other time I'm not too bothered, I accepted that it would be the case going into this kind of work. I would prefer to get paid extra for bank holiday, etc though but virtually nowhere offers that anymore.

YABU, people are allowed to dislike aspects of their job. I work in a 24/7 industry and have done my fair share of BH, Christmas, nights and weekends. I love my job, doesn't mean I have to love working holidays and I'll moan about it if I want.

I've worked in hospitality and now in healthcare. I'm lucky i get paid extra for bank holidays but they don't get shared out equally, I've worked every single bank holiday and every Christmas for 7 years until i went on maternity last year.
I don't think it's completely unreasonable to be allowed to have a little moan when you're at work when the rest of the world appears to be enjoying time with friends and family.

YANBU OP. When DP worked in retail, none of the students they recruited to work PT on weekends and BHs when the shop was busiest wanted to work on those days even though it was clear that was when they would be required to work .

YANBU, and nowadays retail is part of hospitality.

When you say Of course the shifts need to be shared out fairly and any religious need respected you are right then wrong,. Religious needs do not have to be respected if that means someone else taking more of the Sundays which it usually does. If you don't want to work on Sunday for religious reasons you must choose your career accordingly, not expect those of other religions or none to cover for you.

Andrewofgg -
Yes I see your point there, I hadn't thought of it in that respect, rather from the point of view that if you would like to attend say midnight mass for religious reasons, then this could be factored in to a rota, and that rota could still be fair.
Thanks for the other replies - take the point you're allowed to moan about aspects of your job! But I do think that it is part of it and you know that coming into the industry. But it is just my opinion

I also think a lot of people go into hospitality or retail because they need a job, not because it fills their hearts with gladness. I don't imagine that knowing you have to work those 'unsociable' hours or days makes it any less shitty to do so.

I do think they should be paid more than 'normal' hours.

i agree you know the hours/days when u start

my husband has to work alot of sundays and xmas but he does get double time for BH's

I sort of get it for restaurants and hospitality stuff; things that facilitate families being together and having a good time and the (vomit inducing phrase coming up) 'making memories' type businesses. Shops though! There's no need for shops to be open on Boxing Day and Easter Sunday and the like; rampant capitalism is an absolute cunt and I feel so sorry for employees who have to work these holidays. I genuinely judge their employers who insist on opening over these holidays.

Oh yeah and I think people who work in hospitality should absolutely be paid double time over bank hols.

I work in a museum and we have events over bank holiday weekends. - usually all three days. What's frustrating for me is it is the fact that it is every BH and I get so fed up with friends making plans that I can never be part of (it was worse when I was in my 20s). I don't get extra pay, just TOIL, but it would be a lot easier if it wasn't all hands on deck each bank holiday. Not every museum is open on BHs, and some staff take turns, but all he ones I have worked at do.

It's only a small downside - I enjoy the occasional long weekend when everyone else is working and the events are usually fun - but sometimes it would be really nice to be able to join in the plans.

From some of the threads I've seen recently, "unsociable hours" seems to stretch to the whole school holidays now!

Draylon - totally agree that if that's what you took on that's what you should expect - if extra pay for unsociable hours and BH etc was part of the deal then you should work those hours and get the pay you've been promised.
I personally don't have an issue with others getting enhanced pay where I don't, in my opinion most enhanced pay is offered to qualified professionals and therefore reflects the study put in to their career, as does annual pay etc.
That's not to say I think a waitress is worth less than a HCA but to me it stands to reason that the more work and training and better qualified you are, the better your pay/contract/deal.

I'm an HCA, and frankly, the NHS would collapse if they took away enhanced rates of pay for unsocial hours. They're trying really hard, but they sometimes forget that many of us are not, with respect, waitresses or cleaners, we're degree qualified professionals, rather harder to replace

I actually think the NHS is in for an even greater skills shortage than it has now. There's nothing on the cards in the next few years for a re-evaluation of agenda for change pay rates and once the minimum wage hits £9 an hour in 2020 you'll have largely unskilled (but very valuable) workers earning only a few quid less than degree educated professionally regulated staff. The lower bands also get a higher % unsociable pay than 5+ add all that together and you're looking for at lower level staff outearning qualified staff. I for one wouldn't come into nursing on those terms.

But that's a whole different thread.

I work Bank Holidays but I get time and a half so don't mind. I wouldn't work if I didn't. I would prefer not to work but the hours fit round my family needs. I do think those who've never done it aren't really entitled to tell us to stop moaning.

Yanbu. We don't get paid extra for Sunday, but we do get paid double for public holidays. The staff who are given the public holidays are the ones who have stepped up and covered shifts and done extra etc not the ones who whinge about their shifts then expect double pay!

Oh and dh gets public holidays off so it works well as no childcare costs!

And it isn't limited to the lower band of pay before anyone asks. Every supervisor gets a shift and they are the most expensive! And long eight hour shifts too!

It's not just hospitatily. Medicine, pharmacy, investment banking, IT, all require bank holiday working. As long as you get the time back in lieu then there isn't a problem.