There’s No Place Like Work For The Holidays

I never got along with my family, but because I was living with my grandmother as kind of live-in help, I was at her mercy when it came to family get-togethers. None of us got along with each other, but we really had no choice in the matter, since my grandmother controlled pretty much everything, leading to a lifetime of resentment among several of us.

I worked at a convenience store at the time, and our manager was very considerate in scheduling around holidays. She had a system: you could be off on Thanksgiving OR you could be off on Christmas, but not both. Christmas was the one everyone wanted off, and it was the most stressful holiday for me, so I would volunteer to work Christmas every year. I had worked the last six by this point.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I saw the schedule for that day and looked to see where I would be. To my absolute horror, I saw that I was off both Christmas Eve AND Day.

Me: “[Manager]! There’s a mistake on the schedule! You have me off on both Eve and Day! I volunteered to work both!”

Manager: “Oh, that’s just how availability worked out. [Coworker] was going out of town, but the plans got canceled, and she needed the extra money anyway.”

Me: “Can’t I come in anyway? Do we need a dedicated cleaner?”

Manager: “No, I’ve got all the slots filled.”

I was devastated. I knew trying to swap shifts wasn’t going to work, either, because everyone who signed up to work Christmas had no other plans and no reason to need it off.

Me: “But… but I was expecting to work on Christmas! [Manager], why? What did I ever do to you?”

Manager: “Cheer up, [My Name]! Look at it like this: now you get to spend time with your family for once!”

Me: “[Manager], you don’t understand. If I don’t work on Christmas, then I have to spend time with my family!”