To think if you want retail workers to get Boxing Day off...

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

... the same should apply to bar and restaurant staff, cinema staff etc.?

The last couple of years now I’ve seen campaigns on Facebook pushing for all shops to be closed on Boxing Day to give retail workers ‘A precious day off with their families’. ‘We can all cope for one day without the shops, for heaven’s sake!’, people say, as magnanimous as you like. Yet they go on to wax lyrical about how retail workers deserve to be able to go to the pub or for lunch with their families, or to the panto, like everyone else.

Who do these people think are cooking the meals, serving the drinks etc.? Taking their tickets and showing them their tickets at the theatre? Why don’t these people deserve to be graciously awarded a day off by the great British public - regardless of whether they might actually want the overtime?

AIBU to think that if you’ve ever been to the pub, restaurant, theatre, cinema etc. on Boxing Day, you’re being a massive hypocrite by supporting this kind of campaign?

@lifeonaloop what laws in the UK do you think could be used against you if you protest?

There isn’t anything stopping you making a stand against working on Boxing Day, plenty of ways of taking legal action

I used to work in a pub and didn’t mind working Boxing Day.
The pub I worked in also opens on Christmas Day too which I would have worked had they wanted me to. Some people don’t get to spend Christmas with anyone so opening on these days means that for some, they actually get to see people through Christmas.

I assumed that places like cinemas were closed on Christmas Day. I do go out to the shops but that’s because they are open (which means I am part of the problem)

I know someone who works in a shop in central London. He says it's completely pointless to open, it's difficult for staff to get there due to reduced public transport and they get hardly any customers, while being bored shitless and not getting to spend time with their family.. I cant believe every shop makes an enormous profit on boxing day.

I love the argument that says if you work in catering you should expect to work on Boxing Day but shop staff should have the day off. As it's now normal for shops to open on Boxing Day, retail workers have also signed up to work Boxing Day. .

I am confused by this thread. So what should I do then- not go out on Boxing Day for a meal so as not to demand service on this day or go out for a meal given that the waiting staff will be working anyway now and they may prefer to get tips etc?

I never saw going out on Boxing Day to establishments that were open as a moral issue, every day's a school day!

Which is exactly how the majority of hospitality workers, and probably retail workers see it.

In a nutshell, the way I've read the OP is saying it's totally contradictory to say that retail workers deserve boxing day off to spend with family, when the same people saying it will go out and use hospitality services on Boxing Day - neither are essential services and both are the same pretty much in terms of pay and conditions, so why the special concern for retail workers and not hospitality workers.

Some like me have added that it's a bit 🤔 when people comment on how 'awful' it is to have to work Christmas etc - while using the service. As it's not an essential service, it's open over Christmas to meet customer demands - and the people making the comments are part of that demand if they're in there.

As a hospitality worker I take Christmas as part of the job, but one thing I'd ask of any customer is be civil to those serving you over Christmas, it's their Christmas too and even if something has gone wrong, it's not fair to be rude and horrible (and ruin their Christmas because it stays with you) just be civil about it. I got called a fat cunt a few Christmases ago for not putting ice in someone's drink (I asked twice but he was too busy talking to his mate to acknowledge me) so I served it without. A member of staff was physically threatened last year over a food mix up. Upsets me that you're thought so lowly of that it's deemed acceptable in the first place and especially on Christmas Day.

YANBU OP. I’ve seen no explanation for why retail workers as a class should get protections in law about working Boxing Day that other workers don’t. Especially since it would make some stores less financially stable and threaten jobs.

I would do it like Germany. Everything, apart from essential emergency services, shuts at 14:00 on Christmas Eve and doesn't open again until 08:00-ish on December 27th.

What about people who'd be by themselves then, for 2.5 solid days? I've been that person, in the past. I liked working. Many of the other people working did too - some would have preferred to be at home, of course, but there's a lot of people who don't celebrate Christmas or do it on a different day.

I remember First Direct used to advertise that they were even open on Xmas Day, I always thought that was a reason not to give them my custom rather than a selling point.

I was a bit shocked earlier today when a checkout assistant in Tesco told me that because Christmas Day fell on her normal rota'd day off, she wasn't actually getting an extra day. She then added "But at least I don't have to use a day of my holiday".

that's normal for part time work. I work in a reputable company and industry. I work part time compressed hours. i get allocated a certain amount of hours for bank holidays. If I'm due to work the day of the holiday i get the hours deducted from that amount, if I'm due to be off then I don't, it means I can use the hours at other times. So, my bank holiday might be 52 hours over the year (8 x 6.5 hours), if i'm due to be working a bank holiday then i'll get 7.25 deducted. so if say 5 bank holidays are deducted and 3 fall on my day off, then I have 15.75 extra hours in my holiday pot.

DD's boyfriend works in IT. He was on-call last Christmas Day. Nobody thinks about the IT workers!

Retail workers are worked off their feet in the days leading up to Christmas, and instead of getting tips, they just get everybody's stress and abuse - cinema staff not so much!

Yep it’s normal for retail workers to have to use holiday for Christmas Day 👍 retail takes over your life so many times of year not allowed to book holiday etc it’s just a job in a shop for goodness sake but it rules your life sadly

I'm really not bothered about whether places are open or not but staff should have a choice of being able to take two days off at Christmas. I don't really go anywhere on Boxing day but do pop to the pub on Christmas day as it's a family run pub and they choose to open. DC are adults now so we needed new traditions

Agree with you. My ads x3 are working Christmas Eve, part of Christmas Day and then full on for Boxing Day. DH has just retired but often flying Boxing Day or early on 27th. I’m often on my own until I go back on the 5th January or thereabouts. Mind you I can snuggled down with a good book.
The sales used to be in January and I wish we would go back to that.

AS well as pubs, theatres, ice skating rinks. Sports centres, restaurants and places that you go to there are all the people running TV and radio stations, keeping the phones and Internet working, Making sure the banking system isn’t down, manning the help lines for all those Christmas presents people are trying to get working, etc. Retail isn’t special.

We have a friend that has worked in the same shop ( Booths ) for 20 years. They are closed for Christmas day only.
His shift this week has had him starting at 5.30am a few times these past 10 days.
They have been told work Boxing day get New year Day off or visa versa. No day off in lieu, no extra day, no shift allowance , nothing.

I am working Christmas evening/night this year and did boxing day last year, I work for an online shop.
People hammer the website after Christmas Dinner time. With the 24hr-ness of shopping online now, feels like the boat has long sailed in terms of all those working in the retail sector getting major holidays off.

I don't ever remember the sales starting in january. As long as I've been old enough to be aware shops they've always started the first working day after Christmas. Yes, boxing day most stores used to be closed but by the 27th they were in full sale mode!

@croprotationinthe13thcentury ha ha earn a fortune you do know most retail ( in my experience I'm sure some do pay extra) don't pay extra for Christmas eve or boxing day. No extra pay no time off in lieu and if Christmas day is your day then that's your day off. Oh and you can't book any holiday between November and January. It truly is shit working in retail nowadays.

@adaline I stand corrected

I think every TV hing should be shut on boxing day, but at least if you work in hospitality on NMW you get tips if you work in retail on NMW not a thing no tips.

Everything obs no every TV hing ffs.

What’s really crap is people whining they chose the job, so ...

Peoples working conditions can and should improve over time.

I don't ever remember the sales starting in january. As long as I've been old enough to be aware shops they've always started the first working day after Christmas. Yes, boxing day most stores used to be closed but by the 27th they were in full sale mode!

I definitely remember sales starting in January when I grew up in the nineties. I remember going into town on Boxing Day to watch the start of the hunt when I was about 7/8 years old and everything was closed except McDonald's and Woolworths!

I still live in a town that has half-day opening on Wednesdays and where most things close on Sundays - it's really nice to see, actually.

I think pubs should always be open!!! Seriously though staff should get double pay on Boxing Day.

AIBU to think that if you’ve ever been to the pub, restaurant, theatre, cinema etc. on Boxing Day, you’re being a massive hypocrite by supporting this kind of campaign

Yay me...not a hypocrite