As most of you know, the rest of the team I work with are based in London: I work in Colchester. There are a few of us 'orphans' in the office, and the person whose desk is opposite mine is the only Brit working for one of our US teams. She has to work Christmas Eve, which the rest of us have off. But she gets tomorrow off for Thanksgiving. So she gets the chance to do the bulk of her Christmas shopping on a day when virtually every other Brit is working, while she has a nice, peaceful day in the office when the rest of us are frazzled from last minute preparations. I think she has the best of the deal. Any other comments on working when others aren't or the opposite?
As a freelancer, I only have one client who requires work done in a specific time slot (for which I have the choice of making myself available or not), so I can pretty much work when I want, and do other things like shopping while others are doing the 9 to 5 thing. So, for example, I did my Thanksgiving shopping yesterday right after lunch, when the supermarket was virtually empty, and I'll be working today when the 9 to 5ers are standing on the long lines grabbing last-minute stuff.
I used to work for a small business owner who was Jewish. He closed the office on all Christian holidays, but on Jewish holidays I still had to be in the off to work - while all the other employees (everyone else was Jewish) had the day off.
I've ranted in other threads that I took three vacation days this week, but called in to work after Monday for an emergency that turned out to be not so much of one. Half the company took the whole week off, but there I was! On the other hand we've always had a full week off for Christmas. The only useful thing our union (when I was in it) ever did was make that arrangement. We give up Columbus day, Vet's Day, and something else I can't recall. For that we get a full week at Xmas. The number of days off varies depending on which weekday Xmas falls on. This year, with Xmas on a Thursday, we get 1/2 day Wed followed by 10 straight days off. I think one year we got 12 days, which was the most ever. Many people I know get pissy when I tell them this.
When I was a contractor, we had a couple holidays each year that the gubbermint got off but we didn't. Those were typically our most productive days, since there weren't any pesky customers under foot, changing their minds about shit fifty times between submitting the work order and approving the final product. Even tho I was at work, it was almost as good as having a day off.
I'm occasionally asked to work on a public holiday, but that would never be Christmas Day or Good Friday. I hate working those days and I can usually find someone who needs the money and will work for me.
^I actually left one job when they wanted me to work Christmas Day when daughter was five or six... No Bloody Way. edit: working for the same group, but as a reporter not a sub, there was a Glaswegian in our office who was always happy to work Christmas as long as he could have Dec 30-Jan 2 off. Needless to say, we were always happy to accommodate him.
This is the first year I will actually have the luxury of having Christmas off. For the past 15 years I worked rotating 12 hour shifts from 7a to 7pm for two weeks then 7pm to 7am for 2 weeks. You either had the day off or you didn't according to the schedule holiday or not. Though I could get called in to work.
On Boxing Day you give unwanted gifts to the butler, the scullery maid, and the chimney sweep. On Boxing Day we make the pool guy and the guy who trims the hedges box.
I spent a month working in India once, and had 20% of my time off because of all their holidays - I think I just picked the right month to go there. My mom worked for British Airways when I was a child, I remember her being home for Boxing Day and some holiday that seemed to happen all the time called "Bank Day" hehehe.
