Just found out I'm on for Christmas again. That's three years running. Holiday rotation is supposed to rotate, that's literally the word, but somehow the same few of us without seniority keep landing on it.
My daughter is 6 and asked me if Santa knows to come early because mommy works. I said yes and then went and sat in the bathroom for a minute.
I know somebody has to be there. I'm not even saying I shouldn't work any holidays. I just don't know how to push back on this without being the person who complains about the schedule. Has anyone actually gotten their manager to fix an unfair holiday rotation, or do you just wait it out until you have seniority?
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Post replySame thing happens on my unit, except it's always the people without kids who get stuck because apparently our holidays don't count. Nobody wins with these rotations. Management just picks whoever is least likely to make a fuss.
Is there an actual written holiday policy on your unit, or is it just whatever the scheduler decides? That changes everything. If it's in writing that it rotates, you're not complaining, you're asking them to follow their own policy.
The bathroom part got me. Been there.
We moved Christmas to the 27th at our house when my son was little. Pajamas, cinnamon rolls, the whole thing. He's 11 now and still says the late Christmas is better because everyone else's presents are already boring by then. Kids remember the day you make, not the date.
Honestly, seniority is the system. I did five straight Christmases my first years and that's what earned me the holiday off now. I get that it sucks, but if every new hire pushes back, the people who already put in their time lose the one perk they waited for.
Pull your schedule history for the last three years and bring it to your manager in writing. Don't frame it as a complaint, frame it as asking how the rotation is tracked. Once there's a paper trail showing the same names on every major holiday, it gets a lot harder to brush off.