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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think eating out on Christmas Day is selfish

320 replies

Grapefruitmelon · 27/12/2021 18:23

I know that there will be people who say they appreciate the extra money and tips and not everyone celebrates Christmas and not everyone has a family to spend it with and I hear all that.

But just the same, it does force some people to come to work who’d rather not.

OP posts:
phoenixrosehere · 27/12/2021 23:04

I really think that restaurants and pubs should all shut on Christmas Day. It's galling to think that people expect so much to be open for them 24/7.

Or maybe many people don’t have anywhere to go, people to spend it with or don’t want to go visit toxic relatives.

shinynewapple21 · 27/12/2021 23:10

@fetchacloth
Could you really not see that @PumpOutTheBilge was being sarcastic ?? GrinHmmConfused

Sportslady44 · 27/12/2021 23:14

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.

Comedycook · 27/12/2021 23:16

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
We did it one year...I'm neither rich or lazy.

If I host everyone I can spend hundreds on food.

When we went out, we paid £80 each and paid for ourselves. Therefore the host is better off!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 27/12/2021 23:19

They do have a choice, they chose to work in hospitality. And to remain in the sector.
When I chose to work in hospitality I knew it involved working Christmas, valentines, Easter, new year., Saturday nights.

Many people don't have a lot of choice where they work - they need to earn money to live, so they have to take what they can get. If everybody had a completely free choice as to where they wanted to work, and could, there would surely be no NMW and/or menial jobs in the first place.

I think it's quite a privileged perspective to suggest that everybody is working in the job/sector that they deliberately actively chose, without paying any mind to the thought that they might just have had to take whatever they could.

Sportslady44 · 27/12/2021 23:24

It's definetely expensive for one meal. You can buy alot more groceries than you can get fr one meal. If your hosting loads of people they must be very rude if they don't help out. No person should have to bear the cost for lots of people.

userxx · 27/12/2021 23:34

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.

I don't fit into either of those narrow minded categories.

We eat out so everyone can enjoy the day and someone isn't stuck in the kitchen babysitting the turkey and missing out on the fun.

DaphneDeloresMoorhead · 27/12/2021 23:41

Some of you really ought to be doing some charitable work on Christmas Day. Then you can channel all your piety and selflessness

PurpleDaisies · 27/12/2021 23:45

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
It’s not necessarily expensive. My local pub was two courses for £15.
PurpleDaisies · 27/12/2021 23:50

As for lazy, you don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives that they’d prefer to go out Christmas Day. We’ve never done it but come close when we’ve both been utterly exhausted at Christmas.

toomuchlaundry · 27/12/2021 23:53

DS(16) worked both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, in hospitality. Got triple pay. He normally works Saturday and Sunday evenings, I think he was given the choice just to do one, but he thought of the £££ and offered to do both. Don't need to feel sorry for him (but can feel slightly sorry for me as I had to drive him to work, so could only have a Christmas drink when he had finished his shift!)

MrsHookey · 27/12/2021 23:53

Lots of people don't celebrate Christmas as they have other religions.

Goldbar · 27/12/2021 23:54

Where do you stand on those companies who will come into your house and cook Christmas Dinner for you, OP? Yes, you could argue it's a bit selfish to make their employees work Christmas but on the other hand it's the whole raison d'etre of their business.

Also, why is it so much more selfish to make people work Christmas than New Year's Eve? For many, New Year may be the more important celebration.

XenoBitch · 27/12/2021 23:55

YABU
A lot of people eat out on xmas day as they want to be surrounded by other people, have someone else cook them a meal, sit amongst xmas decorations in a cosy environment. They could be doing that as opposed to being in a cold and depressing flat, with no one else and just microwave food.
Many people have to work on xmas day. You know this when you get a job in that sector.

Luckyducky75 · 27/12/2021 23:57

Are you aware not everyone celebrates Christmas and for people who don't the entire country shutting down for 2 random days is a bit of a pain in the arse 😳😳

DaphneDeloresMoorhead · 28/12/2021 00:26

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
I was in between night shifts and looking after a 75yo paralysed, non-verbal mum in a wheelchair, dad abd my 11yo. DH was at work. Obviously the height of laziness not wanting to cook Christmas lunch inbetween trying to grab a few hours sleep, emptying catheters, watching Dd and trying to jolly my miserable dad into a festive mood.
DaphneDeloresMoorhead · 28/12/2021 00:27

Watching Dd open her presents...

ilovesooty · 28/12/2021 00:45

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
My meal cost no more than regular menu price.
Needmoresleep · 28/12/2021 01:36

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
Not really.

Student DS was in the States and DD was elsewhere, so just the two of us. No wish to do the whole Christmassy thing. A nice meal for two was probably a similar price to a big supermarket shop, with no washing up or turkey leftovers.

We walked to the restaurant and back. It made for a nice relaxed day.

WheelOnTheBus · 28/12/2021 01:37

@Sportslady44

People who eat out at Xmas must be very rich to pay those prices either that or very lazy.
“Very rich”

Yeah, you’d need to be absolutely rolling in it to buy Christmas dinner in a pub Hmm

“Lazy”

Yep, anyone who hasn’t had a meal painstakingly prepared from scratch, with vegetables peeled by hand and the turkey hand-reared and slaughtered, is bone idle.

ForagingForMullberries · 28/12/2021 02:14

I think you're the one who is being selfish OP, and very bigoted, racist and imperialist. Not everyone celebrates Christmas. Not just atheists, but Jehovah's Witnesses don't, and other sects of Christianity don't. Then you get into the Muslims (and England has a very, very large Muslim population), and Jewish people, so your post is quite racist and anti-semitic. Stop being so imperialistic and colonial and thinking Christmas should be a 'thing' for everyone. It isn't. Even for many denominations of Christianity, even. Your post is ignorant, racist, bigoted and deeply offensive.

ForagingForMullberries · 28/12/2021 02:16

@Grapefruitmelon

It’s one of those chicken and egg things though. If customers didn’t book the tables, restaurants wouldn’t open. And that’s why I do think it’s a bit selfish, tbh.
And Jews, Muslims etc should just do without, right? Because of your white imperialist racism.
Chloemol · 28/12/2021 02:25

@Grapefruitmelon

I did thanks. My point is, just in case it’s not clear, that you can’t just pick on one industry, and say using that industry on Christmas Day is selfish

Shedloads of other industries also work on Christmas Day, why aren’t they selfish as well?

CallMeNutribullet · 28/12/2021 02:38

I worked in hospitality for years
It comes with the job and I got double time.

ForagingForMullberries · 28/12/2021 02:41

[quote Chloemol]@Grapefruitmelon

I did thanks. My point is, just in case it’s not clear, that you can’t just pick on one industry, and say using that industry on Christmas Day is selfish

Shedloads of other industries also work on Christmas Day, why aren’t they selfish as well?[/quote]
Yes, maybe ambulance and emergency services are 'selfish' too.... Hmm