Grooms working xmas day?

Daisychain

Daisychain

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Following another post regarding christmas day, just wondering if any of you employ grooms and expect them to work xmas day? i worked part time on a hunting yard last year, and the girl who works there full time had to do xmas/boxing plus get horses ready for hunting that day, yes they paid her extra, and in theory she could have refused, but wouldnt have dared to, personally i wouldnt dream of asking someone, unless they offered, those days in my opinion are well gone.
 
We normally have 2 or 3 staff in on a normal day but they generally have xmas day off as my sister and I will do the yard (we're the YOs, she normally doesnt work on the yard due to back issues)
All the staff come in boxing day morning and come to the meet with us, watch hounds for a bit then get back to the yard.
 
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All the staff come in boxing day morning and come to the meet with us, watch hounds for a bit then get back to the yard.

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Really? I might actually not mind working Boxing day then!
 
I don't work Xmas day, Boxing day or New Years day as my boss does the horses those days. But I get weekends off anyway so its not any different to them. We only have 12 horses though and only 2 possibly 3 if the new one comes are in this Xmas.
 
I think grooms should work Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Hogmanay. After all, it's not like they're real people with families who count or anything. And some of them are so poor they can't afford to lose their job so will agree readily.
As long as you don't swear at them or beat them...and even let them go (briefly) to the meet...perhaps give them a COFFEE if they're really good, I'm sure they'll be grateful.
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Horses are a full time commitment,when you work with them you expect to work holidays,even xmas,they dont recognise xmas day,they just want their feed and turn out,same as any other day!!I work as a home carer now(worked as a groom for years) and it is exactly the same,if i am rota'd to work i work!Are they supposed to get themselves up washed and dressed with chronic probs??Unfortunately it is the nature of these jobs,they rely on you as they cannot do it themselves and that is the end of it!!!
 
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I think grooms should work Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Hogmanay. After all, it's not like they're real people with families who count or anything. And some of them are so poor they can't afford to lose their job so will agree readily.
As long as you don't swear at them or beat them...and even let them go (briefly) to the meet...perhaps give them a COFFEE if they're really good, I'm sure they'll be grateful.
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Good god no!!!!We have to have a doughnut,its xmas day for goodness sake!!!
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And some of them are so poor they can't afford to lose their job so will agree readily.

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That would be me
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As long as you don't swear at them or beat them...and even let them go (briefly) to the meet...perhaps give them a COFFEE if they're really good, I'm sure they'll be grateful.
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Our liveries actually supply us with cake and chocolate
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and what does the boss do? Tell us we're not working hard enough (every day) while paying min wage.
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maybe if she paid us min wage PLUS a sugar fix we might work harder?
And where was the HHOer who replied to a post a while ago (in Soapbox?) who said they got a champagne breakfast? I'd work a damn sight harder for a champagne breakfast than a sock in the teeth!
 
Please have mercy on us poor peasant grooms and let us have a half-hour lie in x-mas day! I do boss's ponies 365 days a year as if they were my own. Don't mind though cos they're well cute ponies and there's only 3 of them so its a piece of p*ss job!
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i am a freelance groom and i will be telling my clients tomorrow that i shall not be working xmas day and boxing day. It doesnt, however, mean i shall be abandoning my own horse. It just means i wont be doing 21 horses on xmas day on my own. So a well deserved 2 days off (without holiday pay) i think.
 
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Please have mercy on us poor peasant grooms and let us have a half-hour lie in x-mas day! I do boss's ponies 365 days a year as if they were my own. Don't mind though cos they're well cute ponies and there's only 3 of them so its a piece of p*ss job!
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Don't you ever get/want/need a day off??
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i am a freelance groom and i will be telling my clients tomorrow that i shall not be working xmas day and boxing day. It doesnt, however, mean i shall be abandoning my own horse. It just means i wont be doing 21 horses on xmas day on my own. So a well deserved 2 days off (without holiday pay) i think.

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No groom deserves time off. They are, by nature, incompetent as well as undeserving. That's why they should work long hours...to give them the practice to improve their shoddy work.
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As a freelance groom (who now earns more money than when I worked in a well paid office job!) I have offered to work both Xmas Day and Boxing Day (with "time off" to nip down the road to the meet). I'm charging time and a half although I've been told I should charge double time MINIMUM - but I haven't got the guts to say this to all my really nice clients! I get the impression that what I do is a million miles away from these poor, underpaid, overworked grooms in livery/competition yards etc! All my "clients" are really lovely and one actually helps me on the yard if she has nothing better to do! Daughter's helping me, and I might as well get paid well rather than sit in my house stuffing myself on Thorntons chocs and Mouton Cadet...........I'll do that later!!!!
 
I worked christmas day in a petrol station i was supervisor at. It didnt bother me, however i think those with a young family should be at home with their kids instead.

Personally i cant go a day without seeing my horsies. If my horse was on full livery then i would expect a discount for me having to do them myself.
 
I get loads of time off, easiest horse job on the planet. But I do see to the ponies morning and night every day. I do live in, my boss is 80 and doesn't always know which pony's which. Its for the best if I'm left to it!
 
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I get loads of time off, easiest horse job on the planet. But I do see to the ponies morning and night every day. I do live in, my boss is 80 and doesn't always know which pony's which. Its for the best if I'm left to it!

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really PMSL, that's so funny and cool.........still laughing x sorry but that did make me giggle a bit - don't mean to be rude!
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when i worked on the yard we did christmas morning as a bit of a social jolly!
all staff were sort of expected to turn up for a couple of hours and the nicer liveries used to take pity on us and help with all the mucking out and field haying.
the yard owners mum used to do a huge fry up for everyone at 9.30am so that once you had finished the day was your own.
i didnt mind as i had to do my own anyway so it wasnt really hardship mucking out a few more!
staff then got split into 2 with half working boxing day and half new year as a reward
 
i am also a freelance groom, and have offered to work xmas as everyone wants it?? i would rather work all day and earns loads, but am having a few days off over new year to blow it all on my family??
 
but if i didnt love my job i woulndn do it nice to get paid very well for something i love anyway how many people can say that! We get taken out for two seperate christmas meals after all us grooms who do muck out that many stables cant be accused of not being grafters. We love s**t s*******nG.But yes we are all skint because most of us suckers have our own too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
 
Lets face it grooms all owners should stay at home and. leave it up to us anyway with them faffing about in the yard trying to help we'd probably still be there trying to get finished by the following christmas .!!!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha ha
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No I have never employed grooms - I look after all the horses myself - hence I guess although I am the yard owner, I am also the full time groom.....and no I hardly ever get days off so I damn well deserve Christmas Day off.

I've been on "holiday" 3 times in 3 years - one was to fly back to England for 2 days to attend my Immigration interview, the next year I managed to go to the States for 3 days because my best friend needed me, and this year I went to this friend in the States wedding to do all the food for the big day, and I was there for 4 days. I really don't think that 9 days "holiday" over a period of 3 years is excessive.

I don't actually take Christmas Day off over here because all horses are out 24/7 so only need feeding, however for all those livery yards who have the owner as the groom and she looks after those horses day in, day out AND she has a family and wants to spend it with them on Christmas Day (as written in her liveries contracts) then I think it very selfish indeed of liveries to not honour this. *disclaimer* None of my liveries were/are like this.

I think there is a very big difference between those who have competition/large yards and those yards which are one-man-bands.
 
I worked with horses for 10 years and worked every christmas. I now have a job which involves shift work last year was working nights and still helped the yard by mucking out my horse, I think where possible I will always try and help at christmas shifts permitting
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When I was a WP at riding school we had option of Christmas eve and day or news years,TBH liked working christmas....was less to do so a fun day playing ponies
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