Christmas Leave 'I have kids'

[paintityellow]

Yes I know this comes up every year, but it's so bloody annoying. The Christmas leave list went around in September, with it being specified that priority for Christmas Day would be given to people who worked it last year.
Despite this we now have a couple of people really trying to pressure others to give up Christmas Day because 'I have kids'. One of these women has had the last 3 Christmas Days off, the other's kids are teenagers. One of the people they're trying to pressure wants to fly home to spend Christmas day with her parents, Another has no family in the area so also wants to travel home for Christmas. Both worked last year.
AIBU to find this attitude infuriating?

I'd have zero sympathy tbh. If they don't like it then they should find a job that doesn't involve working over xmas.

Me and the other girl in our team who didn't have kids always used to get fucked over and end up working late, proofreading and putting in the finishing touches to our team's bids close to deadlines.

The others would swan off to collect the kids and always promise to log in for a couple of hours later but they never did - well, one woman would log in for 5-10 mins right before bed and make a few minor changes to the doc just so that in the morning everybody would see her name as the last person editing the file despite the fact me and my other colleague had spent a good couple hours working on it prior to this.

Of course they all wanted their equal share of the team bonus when we won the contract.

For context, our job role specifically mentioned in the contract that we were expected to work outside of normal hours close to submission deadlines and 'in times of business need'.

I just started making excuses and leaving early and some of them got a bit snotty as if it was our duty to pick up the slack. Part of the reason I don't want kids is because I don't really want the responsibility/burden so I'll be fucked if I'm going to make sacrifices on account of other people's choices.

I'll amend that for you. Christmas is boring for boring adults. I have no children, and no family - I still enjoy it.

Children are obviously important to their parents but that doesn’t score any extra points in the workplace. Parents don’t get a priority for time off - at any time of the year.

You are calling people Scrooges for not wanting to work every Christmas and instead for wanting to celebrate a festival either in a religious or a secular manner with their family or friends whether or not they have young children?

It's like you haven't even read A Christmas Carol.

If you are going to be appalled and insulting at least use an insult that makes sense.

But did you get Christmas with dc when they was younger? I’m sure you have a nice time and enjoy it now but when they was little kids it was completely different no?

the children aren't employees, dear, therefore their existence should be irrelevant in such matters.

hope this clarifies things for you.

“Of course parents of young children should be favoured when it comes to leave arrangements.”

Well they’re not. Happily. Perhaps one of your little ones could write a magical letter to magical Santa asking for all the HR departments to grant mummy’s wishes so she no longer has to be appalled…

I'm over being nice and lovely to people who take the piss. I have an elderly mum and i will be going to see her no matter who turns on the waterworks about their special offspring. When my kids were small i worked every other year, and even then had people asking me to swap because - well who knows?

Child free social outcast here. I can promise you that the vast majority of us do very much want children to be with their parents/family on Christmas. However, that doesn’t extend to making endless sacrifices because of other people’s lifestyle choices. People choose to have children, people choose to work jobs where festive working is required. That’s on them not me.

Where does it end? They should get priority on Christmas, Easter, school holidays, other religious celebrations? When do I get to see my young nieces and nephews and spend any holiday time with them? I didn’t give birth to them so I should get to the back of the queue right?

Bowing out now as I can that the festive spirit is doomed on this thread. If anyone needs me I’ll be back in my childfree spinster box. Until someone needs me to cover their work shift that is 😉

*It isn't. This is a very myopic view. 'Christmas' is important to people for whatever reason they feel it so. You don't have a monopoly on this, and nor can you speak for the rest of the population.

Yuletide and the Winter Solstice were important to Pagans. The Christians didn't bother about that when they were persecuting them, or murdering the women they accused of witchcraft, or appropriating Pagan festivals and grafting their own middle-eastern faith onto these far older, established, British traditions.

The solstice festivals were Pagan. We were there first.

Does that give us carte blanche to dictate who these traditions were most important to, or who had original claim on them; or, for that matter, who gets first dibs on time off in December?

No. Of course it does not.*

@SerafinasGoose in my view everyone is equal and leave should be fair. But If we are saying people with kids should take precedence, well, then maybe religious people who celebrate Christmas should trump them. Why should people with kids have more of a right to Christmas off than Christians with strong religious beliefs who want to attend midnight mass and Xmas day services etc.

Of course parents of young children should be favoured when it comes to leave arrangements - for the children’s sakes. I wouldn’t expect all childfree people to understand this, but I’m appalled by how many parents on this thread are all for children being without their mums or dads on Christmas Day. Scrooges, the lot of you - and that’s putting it kindly

erm….plenty of people with children disagree with you. Tell me, OP. When your precious little ones are all grown up and can manage Xmas Day with you but have to go back to work themselves the next day, will you be volunteering to spend your day in work?

Oh here we go.

Controversial opinion but Christmas is a religious holiday. It's not necessarily about "the kids"
The clue is in the name

Depends if Brian and Sue have other family already visiting on Christmas day. We have family like Brian and Sue, and we typically visit sometime between boxing day and twelfth night so it's not all over at once for them. They find January much harder than December.

God I hope you aren’t around people in your every day life you sound like an absolute delivht

Yes, wait until that poster realises there’s a board here specifically for people without children…

In jobs were you have to work Christmas Day it should be a lottery system. If you want to work it, then fine you can offer first before hand and all the other slots filled like that.

I turned down a role before I picked my current job as I didn’t want to work Christmas Day. It was something I took into consideration when picking my job role.

Goady? Or just a bit dim? Can’t decide 🤔

Did you actually read my post - I said I had "no family".

If people don't want to work on Christmas Day then maybe they shouldn't be in a job where it is a possibility that they might have to???

Definitely. I used to work in hospitality as a student and often worked over Christmas. I hated ut then and literally planned my career with the ability to never have to do this.

Same here @Snugglemonkey I worked in the NHS for a few years pre kids and worked plenty of unsociable hours including New Years etc. I'm a single parent now and I'm very glad that I don't need to worry about it in my career. I also acknowledge that I don't have priority over my childfree colleagues in school holidays.

You can tell a poster is new when they have absolutely no idea how to quote the poster they are replying to but still think they can tell people who have been here for years that they shouldn't be here 🙄

Because 99% of the threads on here aren't about kids.....

OMG Rosieeeeeee u r hilarious, hun.

xoxo

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