For those who have to work Thanksgiving

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  • CoCoBean14
    CoCoBean14 Posts: 107 Member
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    I got lucky this year to avoid working on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am working New Year's Eve though. I'm a police dispatcher, so I'm making my boyfriend come hang out with me so we can ring in the New Year together!! Hopefully I won't be working a call right then!
  • crystalflame
    crystalflame Posts: 1,049 Member
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    I'll add my thanks to the pilots, flight crew, TSA, and airport staff that are making it possible for me to get to my destination this year - they're often overlooked, but they never get breaks either. I'm grateful.

    Happy Thanksgiving!
  • CoCoBean14
    CoCoBean14 Posts: 107 Member
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    My husband is a Police Officer and works tomorrow, so I will arrange our meal so he can eat with us after his shift (he is lucky this year and works 6am-6pm so it works). Usually we are not able to travel for the holidays due to his schedule so we stay home and invite others who are stuck working and can't travel home either over to our house for meals. I've also cooked up extra and sent plates up to the police department for the people on my husband's shift(dispatchers too!). Sometimes people will donate and/or cook a meal and bring it to the department for the people working. It's no fun working, but they are needed and depended upon.

    Yay for dispatcher love!
  • AngelofMusic13
    AngelofMusic13 Posts: 105 Member
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    I'm working tomorrow- but only four hours (10-2), then 11 hours Black Friday- ugh. I will probably be working Christmas too (going for the 6am-10 shift though). I'm grateful not to be working all day and holiday pay :)
  • NoMoreFlubbering
    NoMoreFlubbering Posts: 95 Member
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    I feel really bad for the people having to work retail on black friday :/ That looks like a gong-show waiting to happen.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    My husband is a Police Officer and works tomorrow, so I will arrange our meal so he can eat with us after his shift (he is lucky this year and works 6am-6pm so it works). Usually we are not able to travel for the holidays due to his schedule so we stay home and invite others who are stuck working and can't travel home either over to our house for meals. I've also cooked up extra and sent plates up to the police department for the people on my husband's shift(dispatchers too!). Sometimes people will donate and/or cook a meal and bring it to the department for the people working. It's no fun working, but they are needed and depended upon.

    Love this! Your charity is hopefully appreciated by all those that get to join you.

    All respects and safety for your husband during the season.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    I work in law enforcement, but on the administrative side of things, so I get tomorrow off.

    My husband, who is a police officer will be working 5p to 5am tonight and tomorrow night. We just try to adjust and fit in a little bit of family time. I'm used to it after 6 years. He's blessed to have a profession that he loves and to be able to help others on holidays.

    Thanks to all the critical service workers who will be out tomorrow and to all the hospitality people as well! As for the retail workers - I feel for ya! Your employers are forgetting the meaning of the holidays and I hope our culture shifts at some point soon.
  • MrsJJUt
    MrsJJUt Posts: 36 Member
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    Most people have to work holidays at some job in their life, some more than others. That's what retail and hospitality entail. Consider it part of a growing up process and then get some skills to get out of the lowest paying jobs and into holidays off.

    In that, I do feel that our society has gone too far with how much retail is open. Sunday hours or less, or not open at all on holidays was great - it made us value time at home, with family, finding something to do for fun instead of spending money.

    Its not just the lowest paying jobs that work holidays. My husband is a nurse and is working. I'm an emergency dispatcher and have worked many holidays. There are a lot of firemen and paramedics and nurses and doctors that will be working too!
  • MandaLee8908
    MandaLee8908 Posts: 1,353 Member
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    My husband is a Police Officer and works tomorrow, so I will arrange our meal so he can eat with us after his shift (he is lucky this year and works 6am-6pm so it works). Usually we are not able to travel for the holidays due to his schedule so we stay home and invite others who are stuck working and can't travel home either over to our house for meals. I've also cooked up extra and sent plates up to the police department for the people on my husband's shift(dispatchers too!). Sometimes people will donate and/or cook a meal and bring it to the department for the people working. It's no fun working, but they are needed and depended upon.

    God bless you for your efforts. I'm in health care, but I am also a volunteer firefighter and EMT, so working holidays is a necessity for me. I chose to be in this profession, so I try not to complain, but it does suck having to work. I wish there were more people like you who knew and appreciated what the police, fire, and EMS personnel sacrifice to serve others. I'll be praying for a safe shift for your husband. Happy Thanksgiving :smile:
  • michelejoann
    michelejoann Posts: 295 Member
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    at first I was scheduled off on Thanksgiving .. but then they changed it ..
    now I am working 2:30pm - 11:30 pm Thursday then go back Friday 5am - 2pm
    I am a cashier at walmart .. so I have no choice

    That is awful. So you get a 5.5 hour break in between? Also, factor in time driving to and from work. If you live 20 minutes away, that's 40 minutes right there, so now you're down to 4 hours and 50 minutes. And you'll be exhausted from your shift, so you'll want to sleep, but then you have to give yourself time to eat a little, fall asleep/wake up, shower, get dressed...well...that's no time.

    Wow, WalMart, you've really pulled a quick one here.

    :noway:
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    at first I was scheduled off on Thanksgiving .. but then they changed it ..
    now I am working 2:30pm - 11:30 pm Thursday then go back Friday 5am - 2pm
    I am a cashier at walmart .. so I have no choice

    That is awful. So you get a 5.5 hour break in between? Also, factor in time driving to and from work. If you live 20 minutes away, that's 40 minutes right there, so now you're down to 4 hours and 50 minutes. And you'll be exhausted from your shift, so you'll want to sleep, but then you have to give yourself time to eat a little, fall asleep/wake up, shower, get dressed...well...that's no time.

    Wow, WalMart, you've really pulled a quick one here.

    :noway:

    It really is sad people don't realize that the cashiers are run ragged. They get all the brunt of all the b!tchy people because the store sold out of whatever hot toy.
  • JohnMessmer
    JohnMessmer Posts: 536
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    Well up until 5 years ago I have worked in the hospitality industry (hotels) for the vast majority of my life and they are open 365 days a year 24 hours a day. Not only did I typically have to work every holiday but generally had to pull double shifts. Having to work on a holiday is a bit depressing, but it beats the heck out of being unemployed. Really, do you have to wait for a Holiday to tell your Family and Friends that you love them? or to spend time with them? Most jobs give you a day or two off every single week, take one of those days and spend it celebrating your family and friends and when that holiday comes around it won't seem nearly as important; why do once a year what you can do once a week?

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Ah very much a realist. While I understand where you're coming from, I think that the memories made of an entire extended family all gathering at my Grandmothers house a few times a year are the greatest. While she did have a big dinner every Sunday, only some of the family could attend some of the time. This I think is the biggest difference between every week and big holidays.

    I think the entire family gathering for the holidays is damn near a thing of the past. Either people can't afford to go to where the bulk of the family is, or they already are there all living under one roof. Tough economics and rising inflation has simply eliminated a lot of the things that we may have taken for granted as kids. I have seen post after post about people having to go to two or three Thanksgiving meals for "his" family or "her" family, it use to be one dinner for all of "our" family. Even divorced parents would put aside their personal difference to enjoy the solidarity of a family gathering. That simply does not seem to be the case anymore, and it saddens me a bit.
  • mgmlap
    mgmlap Posts: 1,377 Member
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    I am lucky and unlucky...We really have no family around us outside of my 2 cousins...oh and a brother in law we dont see much cause of his wife...eww.

    anywho...I agree..we always have family dinners..and always see each other. my oldest (16 yr old) is actually giving up her Thanksgiving to feed the homeless...it will be her first without us..but its all good.

    I love spending time with family..but its not the only time we gather...

    I have worked my share of holidays and early mornings..but Its not the be all end all...as adults we must give up a few to enjoy those holidays we do get to spend with family...
  • Nekhet
    Nekhet Posts: 380
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    I'll be working but I chose it because not much going on that day and Turkey dinner will be later and I am done by 3pm...so, Holiday pay...yay!!!
  • Cindym82
    Cindym82 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I work in healthcare and my SO works as a police officer.....so he will be working a double today, plus tomorrow night and a double on christmas. Holidays off are like a vacation in our family
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I'm working Thanksgiving.

    and Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    I'll be working but I chose it because not much going on that day and Turkey dinner will be later and I am done by 3pm...so, Holiday pay...yay!!!

    Extra pay is always nice! If it were offered at my job, I may be more agreeable to working.
  • shiraLA
    shiraLA Posts: 272 Member
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    I have worked in a restaurant in a casino for years so I have to work every holiday except for Christmas because I have seniority. I really believe that it doesn't matter what "day" the holiday comes on as long as you get to spend some time during the holiday season with the ones you love. Right now, I feel blessed just to have a job and be able to buy things for my kids this year. Most people can't even say that.
  • SweetCheekszx0
    SweetCheekszx0 Posts: 478 Member
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    Walmart workers have to work this thanksgiving.., my professor in politics thinks its inhumane I'd have to agree they should at least allow the employers to go home and eat or figure out a system were everyone gets to go home n eat for 1-2 hrs.. If they wanna be open so bad why doesn't the district manager stay or the higher up demanding they stay smh
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Consider it part of a growing up process and then get some skills to get out of the lowest paying jobs and into holidays off.

    Not all of us are uneducated/unskilled people...we work in a field that needs our skills to provide crucial services to the public.

    God I hope not - I'd hate the think the Doctors at the hospitals, pilots flying the airplanes, Firemen fighting fires, etc,.. etc. who are working on the holidays are completely uneducated. Some people obviously have years of education and still have jobs that require holiday work.

    I used to work for the airline. Worst Christmas Eve ever - sitting in a jetway waiting for a flight on the cell phone w/my child both of us crying. It can be tough working the holidays. I work for the gov't now - holidays off - one of the best perks of the job.

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