Probably - but people too lazy to cook their own christmas dinner are spoiling mine

[SheinIsShite]

My youngest DS is 16 and works in a pub kitchen. Dish washing, food prep, plating starters/dessert. He is contracted to do 8 hours a week which is usually OK. Obviously this time of year is busy and because he is not at school he has more shifts.

School finished on Friday, he worked Friday evening. And Saturday, and Sunday. Did an extra shift on Monday afternoon as they were short. Yesterday was rostered 11-6 but got home at 22.50 as they were so busy and needed to prep for the 700 covers they have booked today between 12 and 4.30pm. He starts again at 10am this morning, and although they have said he'll be done by 6.30 I don't believe that so he will more than likely miss our family meal.

So all of you paying £85 a head for Christmas lunch in a very standard chain pub, thanks for that.

Totally appreciate that some people have to work and we are all grateful to the police, fire, midwives etc. But going out for your Chrtistmas lunch is not essential.

It's the pub that's chosen to open. If it didn't this would be a non issue. The bigger issue is that someone has been given a shift and then told they can't go home and have to work five hours more

Pretty sure the pub will close as soon as the last guests are out.

I think this is where the OP has a point, actually.

It's very likely that her son does not have the choice to take shifts like this, to work extra, and so on, because he would be replaced, or even just made to feel bad, if he didn't accept them. Employers have their employees over a barrel in these kinds of industries and if they aren't thoughtful of their employees well being, it can be pretty shitty.

We are now all used to almost constant access to shopping and services, but people don't seem to realise that the kinds of laws that limited open hours were seen as worker's rights legislation For example, in the downtown of the part of the city I come from, the stores had to close at 5 pm, except on Thursdays when they had later hours - this was so shop staff could go home and have an evening with their family most days, plus they had Sundays off.

I think there are good reasons to have food service available at holidays, but employers should be mindful of their employees need to have a home life as well. Plenty don't bother.

Mods are working on here today.

Well no one NEEDS Christmas lunch at all really. Do it another day if it bothers you.

I’ll let my auntie know she shouldn’t have booked a restaurant for her family’s Christmas lunch then, she should just knuckle down and get on with cooking it as she’s done for the last fifty years, never mind the year of gruelling chemo she’s just had

Weird. I was happy to work in hospitality at 16 and 17. Plenty of tips and double time pay. I did not especially want to hang out at home all day at that age!

My 16yo daughter is working at a big chain pub today. Earning over £100 for the shift. No one else would look at a 16 yo with no work experience.

She's on a zero hours contract and the variance in shift times is a little annoying as she needs a lift to work - but if they are banned would she have a job?

Her friend who works there, has her family eating there for lunch. If you can't beat em join em. We'll all be together tomorrow.

We have all been there, toiling away in our younger years learning to put aside our own wants and needs for a bit to earn our teenage frivolities and resilience ready for when life gets really real!

I would be incredibly proud of your son, for rolling his sleeves up and getting stuck into the world of work while he qualifies for his turn with more social hours. He is a credit to you. And also a blessing for those who would find it simply to painful or to lonely to spend Xmas at home.

I was especially thankful to all the hospitality staff that made last year truly special, as it was my Mother's last and we knew it. This year I would of gone out again in a shot if others agreed, as it's my first one without her.

Try and be kinder.

OP, why aren't you just proud of your son for working hard and not sitting on his backside? Assuming that he still lives at home, it's not as if Christmas Day is the only time you see him all year.
As he gets older he'll either be working, travelling, with a partner or just doing his own thing. Lives change - we all have to adapt to those changes.

I used to work for a large gym chain and in Scotland they always opened on Christmas and new year. I was on a self employed contract - which meant they didn't pay me. Your wage was made from clients paying you for PT

They did pay me for Christmas day - for 8 hours. But I didn't get it until the next month And they paid a taxi home. It would have been 20 pounds in a taxi double fare to get there and I was skint - so I walked it

I also used to work in homeless units and if you were on the sleepover shift on Christmas day you worked from 3pm Christmas eve to 3pm Christmas day

The biggest red flag for me in all of this is that the son isn't being allowed to go home at the end of his shift and not getting breaks

It's fine talking about a good work ethic - but no one wants to be in a job where they feel they can't say no or never get a shift again. Particularly when it's a zero hours shift for 8 quid an hour

I've done zero hours jobs myself and on the whole they were pretty miserable

BTW. Even wetherspoon is open today for four hours just for drinks. There's more than one restaurant in my home town open and several takeaways as well

Well, op, your DS works in a service industry. If people don't go out, no job.

Kindly get over it. My DH is a chef and worked pretty much every Christmas day while our DCs were growing up. Even as small children they managed to accept our celebration (and most of their presents) on a different day

There was never a food option near us at Christmas but I absolutely would avail of it. It's a ridiculously stressful and I've hosted every year for 18 years now, if I were to go to one next year I'd absolutely deserve or and there would be nothing lazy about it.

Many people work in retail and were working Christmas eve and get only 1 day off, if they would rather spend some hard earned cash instead of cooking then good on them. They would get 2 or more days off and possibly have the time and energy to cook if people weren't so greedy and stingy to go sale shopping over the holidays, to use your own tone OP.

Well it is relevant, especially as you’re able to have so much time off at this time of year.

You obviously both work in industries where you don’t need to work and so don’t have a clue.

Despite what I said upthread though - trally 16 yo is the age to be doing this sort of thing. Lots of energy, no young kids at home, off school for a few weeks. My middle daughter is off to her grandparents in another village for her school holidays to work as a grocery clerk - some of the older staff will be able to take some time off because she is covering their shifts. My eldest is a singer and has been working solid over Christmas apart from her day job, she was home last night at about 2 am and had to return for morning service at 9:30 am - but she will have more than doubled her income for the month which is great since she is on minimum wage.

I think first jobs can be hard, most kids are not used to really working hard. But they learn a lot about what they are really capable of.

Your son sounds like a hardworking, level-headed, resilient young man. I predict he will not be living in your back bedroom gaming all day when he is twice his current age.

Oh good grief, nominating this for the most ridiculous thread in 2025 so far and that’s saying something 🙄

Mine is working today from 11am to 7pm as hotel bar staff in his PT job. Of course I’d rather he was here but it never crossed my mind to blame the folk enjoying their Christmas dinners out, it is an odd way to look at it and misdirected.

He enjoys his job, doesn’t want to work elsewhere, hours suit him while at uni, Christmas tips are usually good….gotta take the good and bad parts.

We are making the most of it by having a quiet day today, had a big fry up and open presents before he went to work, he’s picking up an Indian takeout on his way home, then we’ll play board/card games tonight. We are shifting our Christmas Day meal to Boxing Day. No big deal.

This has made me feel really sad.

I just got in from our Christmas lunch in a local pub. My poor mum has motor neurone disease and I have a 2 year old. She can't go to other people's houses now, because they don't have accessible facilities and she can no longer walk. She doesn't have the right set up at her house for me to cook there, and even if she did the mess and chaos would upset her. Also we want to make nice memories together in these last few years we have, not be overwhelmed and stressed. This meant she could go out for a few hours, have a lovely meal and pull some crackers, and is now back in her own surroundings.

The staff were so lovely and kind - I'm so grateful and of course left them a generous top.

Please remember everyone's circumstances are different before you judge.

that's great, why don't you do christmas lunch tomorrow instead

Thank you for your feedback. 😁

I'm amazed at the number of people who suggest that the son should just leave when he shift it meant to end! All those others working hard looking at him and saying "please stay, just another hour!!"

And maybe he gets overtime for today but he wouldn't have for yesterday or the other extra hours he's worked if he's on a zero hour contract! So he's just staying because he wants to help and/or there's too much peer pressure to allow him to leave.

Is it not more reasonable to feel annoyed that the place your son works seems to be treating their young, zero hours staff very poorly?
Hopefully he will find a better job soon, or quit if it just doesn't work for him.
Otherwise, it's down to your son to choose whether to work in jobs that might require holiday work, and how to advocate for himself for time off at Christmas if that's important to him.
It has nothing to do with the customers of the pub! Blooming hell.

ETA, I have been to work today! As I have for maybe half of my adult Christmases.

YABU. I used to do this when I was his age and through uni too. My mother worked on Christmas Day too. You just have to work round it.

When I work all over the Christmas period and am not allowed to book leave, yes, I will go and have my Christmas dinner in a restaurant or pub. I will also tip generously and be pleasant and polite to the staff.
if he doesn’t want to work Christmas, he needs to not work in hospitality!?

His working conditions are shit if he was supposed to finish at half 6 and is still there at 11pm. Particularly if he's getting no breaks - there's working time directives for a reason. People are entitled to breaks by law