Hats off to the people who had to work on Christmas!  

when i was growing up, my dad always had to work on Christmas day (he was a chef at a jail) and i got used to it. he worked from 6 am til 2 pm so he was home for Christmas dinner anyways. so i didnt miss anything growing up. we opened up our presents on Christmas eve.

You forgot cabbies who are vital to preventing drunk driving. You also forgot personal care assistants (PCA's). These are people are often hired by disabled people directly and in most cases paid by the state. They help disabled people do everyday things like eating, dressing, and using the bathroom. As these needs happen everyday regardless of whether it's Christmas or not, one of them must work on Christmas. I am lucky because the state pays overtime on that day and the person who goes with me also gets to celebrate with my rambunctious, if somewhat annoying at times, family. They don't get left out of the celebration entirely. My family even buys them a gift, so they have something to open.

Good topic, I have worked in the customer service/call center industry my entire career. Most of the companies I worked for were 24 hour call centers, and I worked at least some hours on almost all of the last 13 years during the holidays. Special thanks to all the people you have listed here, and the support staff in call centers all over the country who answer the phones and get these people to where they need to go.

thank you, you were also filling a need on Christmas

And telephone operators too. For years I was a telephone operator. ts a 365 day a year 24 hour a day job. I worked many a holiday and some by choice and still managed to spend time with my family.

I have to agree. these people work through alot of holidays and hardly ever get to spend them with their family. I hope they do have the time to celebrate even after the holidays though.

Ya, I worked on Christmas and I didn't think about talking off. Altohugh I didn't make double time, but i still made money. There wasn't that many people out at all. It felt like a saturday, i hate those days. They go by so slow!!

My father is a retired military personnel. In holidays such as this, they don't have leaves as these are the times of the years where they are more needed by the government. But he makes sure that he will come home before the new year. I would say, hat-off Dad!.