Being a parent to little kids during the Christmas season may be a beautiful, fulfilling, and wonderful experience, but it is not without its share of absolute pandemonium. Still, just because you have a swarm of tiny children at home does not entitle you to a day off more than your childless coworkers. Everyone should be entitled to spend the holidays whatever they choose. Read the story and let us know whether the woman was right or wrong for not agreeing to work Christmas for coworkers with kids.
Source: Reddit
I’ve (23F) been employed at my work for about a year now, I got hired right after I graduated. Our holiday schedules switch each year, meaning employees are scheduled to work every other Christmas.
I worked last Christmas (the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th), meaning this year I’m scheduled to be off for Christmas. I don’t have children, but am very close with my family and so I was looking forward to not having to worry about work and spend Christmas time completely focused on them.
Our Christmas schedule has come out, and this has led to annoyed parents of small children because they have to work Christmas this year. I was approached by a few coworkers about me working their Christmas shifts ( Employees are able to do shift exchanges, meaning you can “trade” shifts) and they would work shifts of mine before Christmas.
Everyone knows that my boyfriend and I (25M) don’t have children as of yet, so I tend to be one of the people that get asked the most for shift exchanges. I declined the coworkers that asked if I would work their Christmas this year, and I could tell there was annoyance about this.
The thing is, if I agreed to work this Christmas I would almost definitely be working three Christmases in a row, because I doubt I would be able to find anyone to switch with me next year if I tried as obviously Christmas is a time where no one willingly wants to work.
I may not have kids but my family is very close, and my grandparents have medical problems so I try to enjoy every moment with them I can. I was also looking forward to not feeling exhausted during family time.
Seeing the annoyance of coworkers when I declined made me feel both bad and frustrated. I understand that everyone obviously wants to be with their kids during Christmas, but I want to be with my family too. So I’m wondering… Am I A Jerk for saying no to working Christmas if I don’t have kids?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
