See here for background: http://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/one-year-on.html.
One
of the things I don’t miss about being a Hospital Porter is having to work
through Christmas. There was no special roster for the Christmas and New Year
period; if you’re shift was down for that day, you worked it, end of. I worked
on Christmas Day numerous occasions. Getting an early shift wasn’t so bad
because you finished at 2 PM and could go home. But if you had a late shift you
had to start at 2 PM and if it were a night shift 10 PM. This meant you had the
prospect of your work looming over you all day and you couldn’t drink much
alcohol. Once you arrived at work though it wasn’t too bad. There was a
different atmosphere in the hospital than usual. Some of the staff would be
wearing tinsel, holly and even Santa hats. Christmas songs would be played over
loudspeakers and nurses would pass you the odd mince pie on wards you passed
through. Both the patients and staff generally would be in a happy, Christmassy
mood and you’d feel humbled about your own problems when you consider the patients who were forced to live in
hospital over Christmas. And then your Senior would hand you a voucher for a
free meal at the staff cafeteria, including turkey with stuffing, cranberry
sauce and of course Christmas pudding for afterwards; only brandy butter was
off limits because of the ban on drinking at work. Depending on which chef was
on, you might also have a few extra mince pies flung in your direction too.
When I was a Theatre Porter we even had a heated trolley of food brought down
from the kitchen to the department. There would be jokes, laughter and crackers
pulled and sometimes it felt sad to go home. We also had a carol choir at my
hospital, organized by a lady who worked in the linen store, which I joined. A
few days before Christmas we would spend an evening travelling all over the
hospital singing in every ward. The patients and nurses would smile at us, some
would even join in. We always had Christmas cards from management and some
years they’d even organize a special dinners where they’d act as waiters and serve
us; very often one or two of them would come in on Christmas Day to say hello
and wish us Season’s Greetings. These are my memories of Christmas at the
hospital.
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