Completely shafted over in the christmas rota

[Mysticcatmum]

I work in a call centre

Everyone has to work 2 out of the 3 bank holidays, I put in my preferred date of Xmas off

I have been scheduled to work Xmas day, new years eve and day

I then have the parents of toddlers asking me to cover their Christmas eve shifts as I am 'childless'. I have found out that the same people do infact have off Xmas day

Apologies, more of a rant but AIBU to be sick of the mentality of 'christmas is for kids'?! Despite me adoring the holiday

Working over Christmas is hard but you have got the number of BH's off you were promised.
You don't have to agree to swap with colleagues, just say no.

You've not been "shafted", I imagine that everyone requested Christmas Day as their day off.

TBH, I have grown up children now and I think I'd be prepared to work Christmas Day in place of someone with small children. I think parents asking for Christmas Eve as well as already having Christmas Day off is taking the piss though.

Probably her colleagues' assumption that her Christmas plans don't matter because she doesn't have children?

Agree her actual schedule is fine.

Do you know how the Christmas day shift was assigned? Because I'd assume everyone put that as their preferred BH off, so there must have been a system to make it a fair allocation. Assuming you have it confirmed the selection was done randomly and not based on what they know about people's home lives, then you haven't been shafted.

You say it's 2 out of 3 bank holidays so that's what you're working so you haven't been shafted and I assume all of the parents are working those shifts too.

Is it because someone asked you to do their Christmas Eve (assuming they would do you New Year's Eve)
I hate it when people use the ' I have children' excuse.
But I'm a nurse and I know it's a 24/7 cover type job and my shift work suits our family the rest of the year. So I work Christmas Day every other year. So last year I was Christmas Day and Eve and New Year's Eve.
This year I'm Boxing Day and New Year's Day!

@Alltheunreadbooks Your comment doesn’t sound snobby - it is snobby! Do we all have to have high flying careers?! OP wasn’t asking for your judgement on the type of work she does. Call centres are hard work and so many of our essential services rely on them. What a crass remark.

voted yabu only because people are allowed to ask and want to spend xmass with kids, no harm in asking

Not technically
There are 3 you are working 2
There's no technically about it.
Your OP says you're expected to do 2 / 3
You are doing 2/ 3
If others are not that's what you need to raise

If everyone has to work 2/3 of the bank holidays then the only issue is your colleagues feeling their personal family situation (having children) gives them the right to assume you must be happy to work their Christmas Eve shift.

It's fine for anyone to ask anyone, but there should be no assumption, no pressure and no making you feel guilty.

You need to stand up for yourself and say "No, I have plans that day". No explanation needed.

I find it annoying that only the bank holidays are considered so New Years eve and Christmas eve are considered normal working days - so you can be working them as well as the Bank Holidays.

They are not normal working days - working lates/nights on those days mean you miss a significant part of both Christmas and New years.

Guess who got both those shifts and a Bank holiday despite only working very part time?

Are you in Scotland? That really stinks. Does it work out over the years though?

I think YABU as you are working 2/3 bank holidays, same as everyone else. You haven’t been shafted.

I know it’s controversial but I don’t agree with all the backlash against parents asking for Xmas off and getting granted it more often than non-parents. When I was younger and didn’t have kids, I worked Christmas eve/Christmas day shifts at the hospital happily. There was a sense of camaraderie - the service had to keep running!

And of course it’s more important for the parents to be at home with their young children than for me to have a day off to watch TV and eat food with my parents and adult siblings. Adults without children can easily celebrate with family another day. It makes no difference. Whereas young children would find that very upsetting and not understand it.

Parents are only parents of young children for 10-15yrs of their working life. They work Christmas before their kids are born, and in my experience they will go back to working Christmas once their kids are late teens and have left home. It’s such a short window of time to give them grace. I find the “I’m childless but I’m just as important, I love Christmas” adults very selfish, immature and tiresome.

But I’m aware that’s very controversial!!

It evens out over the years though.
If Xmas day falls on the w/e then the next working day is assigned a BH.

Last year it worked out really well for regular Mon-Fri workers. Something like 3 days annual leave gave you 2 full weeks or something.

This year isn't so great.

Make it clear to your boss that if they don’t give you Xmas Day off for the next two years you will leave. You have power specifically because you are childless - you’re probably plugging the gaps the others create with childcare responsibilities etc. Don’t ignore that.

Yes, this. If they're going by the 'rules' that 'Christmas is for kids', then surely it follows that 'New Year is for adults'?!

Many young children won't know the actual date though

Used to work Christmas Day often and we’d have our family Christmas Day on Christmas Eve, we all loved it. I prefer it, actually. Now in a job that closed over Christmas.

Just say no to those asking you to work their Christmas Eves. Say you have plans.

They get one bank holiday off a year (and OP has this this year) - why should she get two Christmas days off in a row? Unless she comes back to the thread to say she's worked Christmas Day for the last few years of course.

Sounds fair enough. The parents asking you to do the shift.. are they offering to swap for New years? That might work well ? Otherwise just say no.

Why should she demand Xmas Day off for the next 2 years? No-one is guaranteed Xmas Day off! Why should she get special treatment?

Everyone is doing 2 out of 3 Bank Holidays, including her.
No-one gets to demand Xmas Day off, this year or any other.

It's part and parcel of accepting a job in a 24/7 service that you have to do your fair share of the BHs at Christmas - which she is. Her fair share. No more than anyone else.

Once again, she has not been shafted. She is working the same number of bank holidays as everyone else.

I very much think the boss will say "OK then". If OP has very transferrable skills then she can just leave. Threatening to leave rarely works in the threateners favour. IF you have a job lined up it can act as a bargaining chip for better working conditions.

re plugging the gap, I am finding as I work in a small group where most of us have older or no children, we are supporting each other at the other end - unwell parents. I myself was granted a great deal of flexibility during a family member's last weeks of life, and will be again next week as we convene for the funeral and have various tasks. In turn I will be able to pick up when a colleague goes through a bereavement.

It's not just people with children who appreciate accommodations, but anyone with caring responsibilities.

It rarely works that way though. Once a lot of people get it into their heads that working over Christmas is for other people and not them, they frequently don't ever want to give it up.

They 'need' Christmas off because:

They have little kids;

Their kids are older now, but still can't be expected to be on their own;

Their kids are much older now, so there are only a precious few family Christmases left;

Their kids are at uni, so Christmas is one of the few times when they're home and they get to be together with the family;

They now have grandchildren, so they have to spend Christmas with them;

They have elderly relatives, so this could well be their last Christmas...

etc. etc.

It is shit and I can see why you are upset. What time do you finish on Christmas Day? The way I would mentally position this is that although working Christmas Day - you have Boxing Day off, so once you finish you can celebrate Christmas with the knowledge you have the following day off to have a lie in and relax. Your day is just starting later.

Christmas Day is typically (in most work places) lighter - so it won't be as busy (Boxing Day I would have though much busier in most industries).

As for swapping as others have said - only if they swap for one of the other prized days.

It is a bit odd if anybody is surprised that Christmas Day is the most popular day for everybody to want to be off.

Not that the other days aren't nice too, of course, but it reminds me a bit of the old "Cake or death?" sketch from the days of 'old' Eddie Izzard!

So I have to cover their Christmas for 10-15 years? Bollocks to that
I had parents and family who wanted to see me
My parents worked every Christmas when I was a child, we just moved the date