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.

Not cheap. 85 quid for a Christmas dinner

Do you know I almost booked one of these busy chains for my Christmas dinner this year. My own DH had been away at sea for 3 months and only got home two days before Xmas. I worked from 8am until 9pm on Xmas Eve caring for sick children, I had my first whole Christmas Day off in 8 years, and I was back in work today 7am - 7pm and tomorrow too.

so, it’s not a case of being lazy. Christmas dinner was just DH and I this year and I didn’t want to waste our one day off together in the kitchen prepping and cooking.

we were very lucky our best friends invited us over.

buthad we had gone out to eat, it would have been essential to save me from burn out….

Why don’t you book a table at his place of work? Then you get to see him whilst you eat your dinner.

Just to add a different perspective: my son works a similar kind of job but for a company who can only offer limited shifts, he’s lucky if he gets two or three a week. He’d have loved the opportunity to take on the kind of hours (and earn the kind of money) that your son will be earning but it just isn’t an option! And frankly he’s grateful to have any kind of job at all. It is so so hard for young people to find any kind of work atm. Barely anything for young people where we are. Far more desperate hopefuls wanting jobs than there are jobs available. I’d say your son is one of the lucky ones OP. Even if it messed up your Christmas plans a bit. I’d have happily accepted a disrupted Christmas for my DS to get a bit more work!

Also, as others have said, it is totally and utterly ridiculous to berate people for daring to use and pay for a service that is willingly offered. Most things we spend money on for our leisure time are utterly non essential if you think about it: none of us need haircuts or sporting activities or meals out or our nails done or spa days or takeaway coffees or new clothes or cocktail parties or any of that kind of stuff. So in theory we’re all lazy, entitled, greedy shits. But we do these things because we enjoy them.. And in using these services, as long as we’re decent paying customers, we’re keeping businesses going.

My gran died of a massive stroke a week before Christmas 15 years ago. Her funeral was the 23rd of December. I don't know how we got through Christmas that year but we did.

Shifting your Christmas dinner to Boxing day wouldn't have been a huge biggie surely.

I also worked in a homeless unit for five years and if you worked Christmas day you cooked a meal for the young folks who had no family.

Sometimes you need to count your blessings

As I said previously my family get a takeaway on Christmas day and my brother was telling me the person in front of him in the queue spent 160 quid

The selfish people as you call them are keeping your son in a job

Agreed. Stupid and ridiculous and idiotic.
Nobody least of all mumsnetters are spoiling your Christmas dinner.
None of us are forcing your son to work in Christmas day.
Put your bottom lip away OP

Agree. Absolutely daft!

Not the point of the thread but please tell me your username is a worzel gummidge reference?!

As much as I loved Worzel and Aunt Sal, it’s sadly not. It’s a Return to Oz reference 😊

OK few points - the choice of the word "lazy" has obviously wound some people up. Agree that the responses on the thread about shopping on Boxing Day are very different but this is often the way things go on MN, people love being contrary, disagreeing and telling people they are being unreasonable. Such is life, and as the teen who was the subject of this thread would say - it's not that deep.

He had a very lucrative shift on Thursday and got away by 6.45. He did say he would prefer not to be working but the money was good.

I think a lot of people are forgetting what it's like to be 16 and in your first ever job with people twice your age, and older. Saying no or refusing to work, or just leaving when your shift is up is not an option. Just as walking out of a lesson at school or saying no to a teacher is not an option. There is a huge amount of pressure put on them and guilt-tripping which might be easy to identify and resist when you are 26 or 46, not when you are 16. He worked again yesterday, is doing a few hours today, but after that is off until 2nd January so can have a proper break.

It was his choice to get a job and we supported him in that. He wants to save for something specific. He had no burning desire to work in hospitality but had to take what is available locally given that he is 16, doesn't drive, and public transport is not great. This pub has a high turnover of kitchen staff. Wonder why. They are often aware that he is not getting the breaks he's legally entitled to or is kept later than he should be. As someone else pointed out, this is because there are often just 2 people in the kitchen and customers are not going to wait 30 minutes for their desserts because DS is in the staffroom. He is paid for working through breaks but still - not good. Now that he has 6 months' experience under his belt his plan is to look for something more predictable for 2026.

And my user name has nothing to do with Worzel Gummidge or Wicked. It's simply a statement that Shein - the shitty Chinese fast fashion slave-merchant company - is shite. Because it is.

People are citing good reasons for pubs offering this service! It stops people being lonely, it can also probably be cheaper than the extortionately priced cost of buying the materials to make a Christmas dinner! A supermarket own brand trifle cost £15 where I live this year! I dead to think what the total cost would be to lay on a meal for the family including grandparents, aunts and uncles etc! At least at the pub the cost gets split! And above all else it creates jobs and keeps the pubs in business because they are struggling!

I imagine that your son is earning a much higher rate for working these hours on those days and good for him. At the same time he is probably having quite a good time with his colleagues and some of the customers. I don’t understand what it would teach him to let everyone else down. I think your post is bizarre.

Leaving this thread now but..

it can also probably be cheaper than the extortionately priced cost of buying the materials to make a Christmas dinner

£82 a head for Christmas dinner without drinks. For a family of 4, that's probably £350 once you've factored in buying drinks too. There is NO WAY that it is cheaper than making your own. Or even buying it all in wee trays, ready prepared, stick straight in the oven. It;s an indulgence and a treat.

Indulgences and treats are absolutely fine.

YABU. Your child is 16, you should be financing him yourself and not allowing him to work shifts which break the labour laws for adults, never mind children (to whom stricter laws apply). Phone his manager and complain - I’ve done it myself.
I’d recommend also reporting the pub to higher management and your local council.
If he loses his job so be it - he’s a child, not the family breadwinner.

So bloody what? why can't people have an indulgence or a treat at Christmas?

Your son going on a an expensive holiday is an unnecessary frivolous indulgence and a treat- if he was truly kind he'd donate it to charity surely?

….but this is often the way things go on MN, people love being contrary, disagreeing and telling people they are being unreasonable.

It usually happens to people who make posts like yours, where you’re sweepingly rude about some people (aka the “lazy” ones who go out for lunch on Christmas Day, a service they are fully entitled to make use of). Make a post like that, and don’t be surprised by the responses. Of course you’re going to wind people up.

Oh no.... please not more of the hysterical forced labour ranting... oh wait, your son wasn't physically forced to work but choosing to save up for an expensive break (good for him btw)!! People that perhaps put a couple of pounds in a tin every week to save up to eat their meals outside of their house for probably a lots of reasons are spending their well earned money as they wish too.

Well, exactly.

Dad & I had a lovely lunch at his favourite restaurant. No justification needed.

The thing is, even if they're not disabled or recently bereaved, it's their choice to spend their money as they wish. For bigger families with limited space at home, it's often the only way they can get everyone together for Christmas dinner so has nothing to do with being lazy. My own family did this a few years back, for this reason. But even if it is because people 'can't be bothered' to cook, so what?

Your son was told back in August that he'd likely be working much of Christmas - a fact he'd apparently made peace with. If the restaurant owners and managers badly managed the situation and resulted in your son doing so much overtime, then I'd be raising it with them, not blaming those whp choose to eat out at Christmas.

By the way, your son has an incredible work ethic. You must be very proud.

Merry Christmas, and I hope you'll manage to spend some quality family time together over the festive period.

That people are entitled to if they so wish.... A treat.....a Xmas treat....
It's not down to you to dictate.

And for some people, SheinIsASaviour

Thanks for replying 😊 now I think about it I think it’s Jackie Pudding 😀

Just leaving when your shift is up is not an option? Yes it is. Just because someone is doing a zero hours job doesn't mean someone needs to be exploited

If its Toby Carvery in my area it's 60 pounds for Christmas dinner. I'm not sure why people who go out to eat are getting criticised when it's the chain setting the prices

Good learning experience for him then, isn't it.