First off...yes I love being a nurse...but I hate having to work the major holidays
This year I have been assigned X-mas Eve...which would be okay if there were only the 14 and 12yo, but the 4yo will not be able to wait until I get home X-mas Morning...he is up @ 5am...I work 1hr away and my shift doesn't end until 7am..I would much rather work Thanksgiving, X-mas day night, New Years Eve, whatever, but I hate X-mas eve
Call me a cry baby....but does anyone else love their job, but really despise this aspect of it??
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I will be with you....working Both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 7p-7a myself. At least I get to be home Christmas Day with my dh and kids. That is all that matters to me.
Well, I spent years working the weekends and holidays. My husband and children were always disappointed. Now that my kids are grown and I finally have an 8-4 job, no one cares to get together. I guess I made the holidays meaningless by working like that.
Also, I am always surprised when people feel they deserved more holidays off because they have kids....just a pet peeve. Single people celebrate Christmas too. Not saying you are saying this, just an attitude i have noticed a lot.
Thanks for saying this. My husband and I are a family, too. I found during my shift work years, I was always expected and pressured to do all the holidays. Ever year, because of turn over, it was another mom looking for someone to bail her holidays out. It is one of the reasons I left hospital nursing. Those of us without kids deserve an occasional holiday off, too.
one place i worked wanted people to volunteer to work xmas, not be forced. so they made up a nice sign and then gave extra money. like say you were an aide and would make $84. with time and half, they'd make a sign: need aides to work xmas, make $100.00!!! it sounds like a kinda petty difference, now, but it totally worked and a bunch of people volunteered to come in. maybe some places could split the shift, like if you normally worked a twelve you could work a six, that kind of thing. one place i worked at had us do half shifts instead, but then the rule was, every single employee had to work a half shift that day. it worked okay.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Well, I spent years working the weekends and holidays. My husband and children were always disappointed. Now that my kids are grown and I finally have an 8-4 job, no one cares to get together. I guess I made the holidays meaningless by working like that.
Maybe you could have celebrated on other days in alternative ways? (I have had to do this more than once, being a military wife and nurse). How many families whose loved ones are in Iraq will have to do this? (and do all the time due to their commitments).
Just because people work on holidays should not make them meaningless to those who hold Christmas (or other religious holidays) in their hearts. I am sorry this happened. It's just sad that by your working on the exact date of a holiday, it ruined all future chance of holiday cheer, fellowship and spirit for your family. I think a resilient, observant and cohesive family can ride these things out, if they are careful to keep Christmas in their hearts and spirits, as it's intended. :)
I agree with the others that said that most people do not like or want to work holidays. I have chosen a lifestyle that does not include having children and am extremely happy, but I have numerous family obligations around the holiday that are very important to me and my DHB. I want my holidays off just as much as my coworker that has chosen a lifestyle that happens to involve kids. I have to admit, I do get a bit, no I get really, hurt when nurses where I work always ask me to work the undesirable shifts or the holidays because I don't have kids. Occasionally, I will pick up the extra holiday or weekend for them, but when I do say no, they get their panties in a knot. I feel like they are implying that the are entitled to time off because they have a kid and I don't count because I have chosen not to have a child. Motherhood is a choice and with that choice comes many rewards, but unfortunately it also involves sacrifices.
I HAVE children and I agree with all of you about everyone deserving equal holidays off. The world doesn't revolve around me and my children for goodness sake!
one place i worked wanted people to volunteer to work xmas, not be forced. so they made up a nice sign and then gave extra money. like say you were an aide and would make $84. with time and half, they'd make a sign: need aides to work xmas, make $100.00!!! it sounds like a kinda petty difference, now, but it totally worked and a bunch of people volunteered to come in. maybe some places could split the shift, like if you normally worked a twelve you could work a six, that kind of thing. one place i worked at had us do half shifts instead, but then the rule was, every single employee had to work a half shift that day. it worked okay.
Just dandy unless you have family out of town that you want to visit. Just as bad are the places that make you work part of every holiday - eve of this one, night of the next one, eve of the next...etc. Great - screw up every holiday - don't let people go back home to see their families on a holiday EVER.
In 10 years of nursing, I have worked sooooo many holidays!!! I am PRN now, and I am off! It is a good feeling. This year, anyway. I will take advantage of it, because I am probablly going back FT soon!
Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.
Where I work they also put out a list and you sign up for the holidays and shift you want to work. HOWEVER, my facility does not pay time and a half or double time for holidays.....just straight pay, which for the life of me I don't understand. I'm not sure if I'm working any holidays this year though, because I never work Thanksgiving because of the way my daughters visitation works with her dad. I usually will work Christmas day and New Years day, but this year they are very close to my due date, so I don't even think I'll be working then. Of course, with incentive pay, I don't feel too bad about that.
i totally empathize with people that have children, and xmas is one of those holidays that parents would not want to give up, so for the last couple of years i have worked for the mothers that have small kids. i don't have kids yet but i know it is a downside to nursing. try not to view it so negatively. whether you spend the holiday the day before or the day after, what really matters is that you do have a family to spend it with and that alone is something to be thankful for.
I just want to tell you what a great reply I think that was. It was very refreshing. Sometimes I get very upset when I hear others say, "So and So doesn't have kids he/she should work so I can spend the holiday with my kids" and I think how lucky that we are that we do have children and someone to spend the holidays with. Perhaps, we should count our blessings and consider that people have friends and familes also and would just as much enjoy spending the holidays with their loved ones even if they do not have children or their children are grown. If you are able to work the holidays so that another may be off that is great and wonderful and all in the spirit of 'giving', what Christmas is all about in the first place. And if you are the receiver, please take the time to appreciate it and offer something in return ie. to work another holiday, weekend etc for the other person or perhaps just to be thoughtful and maybe bring them a Christmas dinner to work. We're all in this together. God Bless and Happy holidays.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
I will be with you....working Both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 7p-7a myself. At least I get to be home Christmas Day with my dh and kids. That is all that matters to me.