My ex-husband used to work in hospitality management so we’d barely see him in December and definitely never on Christmas Eve/ Day/ Boxing Day, even with very young children. That’s the deal if you work in those industries.
How is it “ruining your Christmas”? 🙄 If you’re that bothered why don’t you give him the money he would earn over this period so he could quit and find a different job in the NY? Either because: a) you’re not THAT bothered that you’d cough up the money for him to be with you instead; or because b) he wouldn’t want to quit and actually sees this as a good opportunity, given many teens struggle to find work, and you are projecting your views onto him (did he say it has “ruined his Christmas”, or is this all about you?; or c) he is deliberately taking a job where he’ll work Christmas to escape such a drama llama mother!
I am a lone parent. I love cooking. However, I’ve just got back from a very nice Christmas lunch out with my children and we do this every year because - unfathomable as it may be to you - I don’t want to spend half of my Christmas Day in my kitchen to cook and then clear up a meal for me and my two children when I could instead relax with them, watch them open presents, play games with them, cuddle up with them by the fire. Sorry that you find that so objectionable and “lazy”. 🙄🙄 I have a full time job and two children and do everything on my own, why shouldn’t I be lazy on Christmas Day?
I tip our taxi drivers and restaurant staff generously every Christmas because I’m grateful they are prepared to give up their time on a bank holiday to facilitate our plans. However, it’s entirely their choice to do so and if they all refused to work at Christmas then there would be no taxis or restaurants open, so clearly many people are willing to do so (for vastly increased pay!) and that’s up to them, not you.
It’s very childish of you to try to project your disappointment onto others. Do you always only use a service if it is “essential”? What if it is your train driver’s birthday on the day you choose to get the train? What if it’s the doctor’s wedding anniversary on the day you have an operation? How would you know? Let alone know whether their mother was having a meltdown about it. How would anybody even know if someone’s mother is alive or lives in the same country as them or has any contact with them at all?
It’s a reasonable presumption that whomever is working Christmas is doing so out of choice - perhaps they don’t like Christmas, or they belong to a religion that doesn’t celebrate it, or money is just more important to them, or for them the career they chose to pursue means more than this inconvenience being a requirement of that career; whatever the reason. It’s none of our business as strangers using the service why someone has made that personal choice (or how their mother feels about it!) because they have made that choice for whatever personal reason otherwise by definition they would not be there working today, would they?
To then have a tantrum at those using a service because one is annoyed about one’s child’s choice of work industry is ridiculous when it’s blatantly obvious that a flexible hours hospitality job would mean a lot of long hours at Christmas and you even state this was made clear to him at the outset and he chose to accept the job anyway. Maybe have a bit less bucks fizz at breakfast time next year? 🤣