Should all shops be closed on Boxing Day?

mumps

duchy wrote: »

I do think it's the unnessecery working that gets up people's noses . Next is the prime example of course. No one NEEDS to clothes shop on Boxing Day especially not at 5am.......waiting to spend their Christmas money for one more day won't diminish anyone's quality of life .

Some working is unavoidable, fire, police, ambulance, hospitals, fire stations, some petrol stations , care workers etc , some is helpful and is customary eg cornershops on limited hours for milk etc, some technical help for phone, TV, broadband , etc. Buying a car, furniture, clothes etc is simply commercial greed.

I do wonder how much of the insistence on Boxing Day is simply a reflection of how dysfunctional family interaction has become but forcing people to work simply makes more separation inevitable as with no public transport between early evening Christmas Eve until the 27th and needing to work the 26th makes visiting family impossible for some who have to work the 26th.

Surely we don't have to buy petrol, milk or get technical help on Boxing Day anymore than we need to go to the sales. We all managed to live without broadband and tv as much as we all managed to live without the shops all being open.

It is difficult as what one sees as essential another doesn't e.g. my aunt with dementia will probably go and have a wander round the shops but she can't follow a tv programme any more and broadband is a mystery to her. I couldn't careless if pubs and clubs are open but some lonely people will care very much.

duchy

mumps wrote: »

Surely we don't have to buy petrol, milk or get technical help on Boxing Day anymore than we need to go to the sales. We all managed to live without broadband and tv as much as we all managed to live without the shops all being open.

It is difficult as what one sees as essential another doesn't e.g. my aunt with dementia will probably go and have a wander round the shops but she can't follow a tv programme any more and broadband is a mystery to her. I couldn't careless if pubs and clubs are open but some lonely people will care very much.

I do agree with this (my employer doesn't and does pay generously for us to work tv and broadband tech support on Christmas and Boxing Day although sales are closed but it is voluntary and no one has to work it) . I'd say half the calls I get are lonely people who found a reason no matter how unessential to call just to hear a friendly voice.

mumps

duchy wrote: »

Someone mentioned earlier that they felt shops should be open to keep those without friends and family occupied .......which seemed very selfish and putting their own needs above those of everyone else........then I realised that is exactly why they had no one to spend it with.

I think the best solution would be if Christmas Day and Boxing Day were to become genuinely voluntery only for anything except genuinely essential services .

That is really unpleasant and judgemental. Take my aunt, she is a widow, her parents and siblings and cousins are dead, she has nieces and a nephew who all live over 100 miles away, she has dementia and doesn't want to be away from her home as it confuses her. She never had children,two of her closest friends died this year and another has gone into care. Her needs are as relevant as anyone elses, just as relevant as a healthy 20 year old who wants to go to the pub, or a 40 year old who wants to go to the theatre or a 50 year old who wants to shop on line.

I don't understand why retail in large stores is somehow a different case to waitresses, bar staff, retail staff in small shops and multiple other people. As I said earlier I have worked in retail, it was part of the job, my parents kept pubs it was part of the job, my husband was a policeman it was part of the job, one of my kids is a nurse it is part of the job. If you take a job that involves shifts, working bank holidays or whatever then it is part of the job, all jobs have drawbacks.

I've done rotas as part of jobs in both the police and care work, I never had to force anyone to work, there are plenty of people who would rather choose when to take leave, people of other faiths who have no interest in a Christian holiday or people who actually like working at Christmas. In my last job I didn't get paid for working Christmas day but I always went in to work, I gave people without transport lifts, checked all my staff were OK, visited the service users so the ones who didn't get to go home for Christmas had someone looking in on them who did it from choice. I still managed to go to Midnight Mass, cook Christmas dinner and spend time with family.

Person_one

duchy wrote: »

Someone mentioned earlier that they felt shops should be open to keep those without friends and family occupied .......which seemed very selfish and putting their own needs above those of everyone else........then I realised that is exactly why they had no one to spend it with.

Wow, what an incredibly cruel and ignorant thing to say.

People spending Christmas alone are more likely to be care leavers, or abuse victims, or widowed with no children or siblings, or seriously disabled, or mentally unwell. I hope you don't really think the way your comment suggests.

Bathory

Where I grew up local shops use to shut Christmas eve in the afternoon and if Christmas/Boxing Day fell over the weekend they shut for up to 4 days for the mon/tues bank holidays. We got through it by planning ahead.

At the risk of sounding old fashioned I think shops on Boxing Day should close but I doubt this will happen. It would be good if staff at least had the choice of working and be paid extra but many have no option.

I haven't worked in retail but worked once over Christmas at my first job at a riding school. It was voluntary and I did it as the horses obviously still needed feeding and checking on. The day was kept as short as possible and no rides were booked until after the holidays.

I have checked our local Aldi opening times and they are closed Christmas/Boxing Day and New Years Day.

Proxima_Centauri

mumps wrote: »

That is really unpleasant and judgemental. Take my aunt, she is a widow, her parents and siblings and cousins are dead, she has nieces and a nephew who all live over 100 miles away, she has dementia and doesn't want to be away from her home as it confuses her.

Person_one wrote: »

Wow, what an incredibly cruel and ignorant thing to say.

People spending Christmas alone are more likely to be care leavers, or abuse victims, or widowed with no children or siblings, or seriously disabled, or mentally unwell. I hope you don't really think the way your comment suggests.

Not to mention those for whom Christmas is not a big deal and are quite happy with their own company on Christmas Day!

duchy

And that's fine but whatever the reason you are alone choice or otherwise ......it's still incredibly selfish to expect retail workers and their families to pander to your wants . "I don't have anyone to spend Christmas with so I think those who do should work when there's no need to except my own self gratification " is selfish no matter how much you try to dress it up !

GlasweJen

When I worked in retail if you weren't there you didn't get paid, it was hourly pay and no one was salaried except the optometrists. At the time I couldn't afford to live on 4 days wages to take off a bank holiday and I certainly couldn't afford to live on 3 days wages to take Christmas and Boxing Day off. Tough luck for Christmas because we were shut then regardless but you bet your backside I'd be in for Boxing Day and every bank holiday that the shop was opened.

Bonus for coming in? Yeah we called that our wages.

[Deleted User]

I think a law should be passed you want boxing day off, you don't go out. (LOL)
I think going on the 29th is just about acceptable!

I'd like to think when my dear parents are gone, I will be volunteering to do with the homeless - I'm much the loner but there is no way I'd even ever want to spend Christmas on my own, no thank you.

poppycracker

dont forget those of us who work in the restaurant/hotel trade. Luckily we close on christmas eve and reopen on the 28th, but this is very very unusual. Let people cook their own christmas dinner, and let us be at home with our families, we will have had a *very* busy December and already I'm sick of the sight of turkey and christmas pudding!