Phoning in sick on Christmas Day?

[themanors]

I work as a receptionist in a hotel
I have been told as the newest member of the team I will be working Christmas Day months in advance.
It's 11am -11 pm shift and the same Christmas Eve (my birthday)
It's minimum wage and we won't get paid extra.
My dad is 87 and isn't in the best health and I'm his only family
I'm really scared that this might be his last Christmas and I'm wasting it at work for a company who doesn't care
I asked to swap and was told no
I asked if anyone else wanted to work was told no

Aibu to phone in sick?
Il just add I'm not workshy
I never ring in sick

Personally, I'd be hunt for another job. If it's minimum wage you have a good chance of finding a new position in the next 4 months.No way would I be working such a shift on Christmas Day if I were in your shoes.

My only family is my dad
He wouldn't understand why Christmas Day wasn't Christmas
I asked my colleagues if we could split the shift up 3 hours each
4 hours each
They all said no
So tbh I don't feel any guilt
If they can't be bothered to help
Why should I

One of my colleagues was finally rostered on to do Christmas last year and she made a fuss, asked to swap etc., made it very clear she didn’t want to do it. She called in sick and I got a call asking me to come in - I refused as I’d worked all of the previous ones and the manager had to go in. She got bollocked for it.

I’d try to find another job. They’ll know you’re pulling a sickie and if you’re in probation it may not end well for you.

Don’t take a job where there’s Christmas working if you won’t work Christmas, it just means someone else has to work even more Christmases to accommodate you.

Your employer won’t believe you.

We had a new colleague refused time off for Ramadan as enough people in his team already had it off. He called in sick anyway. Nobody believed him and he left soon afterwards.

@ByCupidStunt if I worked for the nhs that is different ,this is hotel reception
Who choose to open Christmas Day out of sheer greed

Don’t ruin someone else’s day by phoning in sick. Get another job and leave.

Plenty of time to find another job. I'd do that, not phone in sick. Think of the anxiety it would cause you in the lead up, knowing you're going to intentionally leave your employer in the shit on Christmas Day. It would ruin the whole celebration. If you're not happy with the hours, its in your power to change your situation.

Shift worker here and was happy to work until we lost Mum and then I completely get not wanting to leave your Dad on his own because I didn’t either!

Ive never gone sick for Christmas but if you have to do it (Have seen it numerous times in my 18yrs doing shifts) you’re best off going sick a few days before so it’s not as obvious that your just taking Christmas Day off!

The suggestion of booking your Dad into the hotel is a good one! What shift times are they expecting you to work as we never got shorter shifts but tried to let people finish a bit earlier!

Extremely unreasonable.
cheistmas day is months away- you either have to negotiate taking leave or find a new job.
someone will have to do it if you call in sick and that person may have spent months organising there day. They may have worked the last five christmases, or it’s their kids first, Christmas is special to everyone.

why don’t you ask your family to have Christmas Day on Xmas eve, or Boxing Day- the actual date doesn’t matter

Why work somewhere whose ethos does not match yours?

If you've expressed those sentiments I wouldn't be surprised if they sacked you on Boxing Day. I'd get looking for another job now.

Christnas Eve is a normal working day for most people. It would be worse if it was Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Have your own Christmas/birthday celebration together on a different day. It's what we do as we all work different shifts etc, and it's still Christmas to us.

I agree the company should ask staff to do half shifts and unfair to do both xmas eve and xmas day.
Great idea to check your Dad and you into the hotel for the night, have breakfast together and meet up on yoyr breaks.
I would personally get another job, or hand my notice in so my last day of work is 23rd December if I couldn't get a job in time. I could not phone in sick, not fair on colleagues - who will have worked Christmas previously.

your colleagues would have all worked the same xmas shifts previous to you being hired...it's your turn

I expect when the OP took this job it was more about the tax credits, etc etc that come with it.

Leave if you don't want to work anti social shifts, do not ring in sick.

that would be a really shitty thing to do. Celebrate with your dad before or after.

If you were sick you wouldn't be able to enjoy Xmas with your dad

You may as well just quit before Christmas as you won’t have a job to come back to anyway.

Not really - it will also be disappointing whoever has to cover (which I assume you wouldn't do if someone else was sick on Christmas Day and you weren't working).

I agree that they shouldn't have put you on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day though.

Just have Christmas Day on Boxing Day.

Give your notice now and explain why. Start looking for a new job. There are plenty of other jobs that won’t require you to work Christmas Day.

Get a new job amd tell them you have prebooked leave.

Make sure current job have time to find cover.

The thing is tho the whole "not fair on colleagues "
The same ones who refused to split the shift
I have no problem doing 4 hours
Or even 6 so I had time with dad
But this is me leaving him alone all day
He will have no dinner as he won't be able to do it himself
I'm looking for a new job already but no guarantees I will get one before December

Everyone on here is obsessed with employer's rights, and also playing by "the rules" - it's a very right wing website in the main. Very little compassion or interest in the well-being of employees.

Luckily you don't need a consensus of posters on here to tell you to take time off. Just do it if you consider it the right choice for you in your context.

I don't see how your employer's could prove you were lying and fire you. Depends on the terms of your contract - can you be dismissed without a good reason?

I would take this down personally - with the age of your dad etc it's a bit identifiable. Your employers might see it.