For most people, Christmas Day is a time off of work to enjoy family, feasts and religious traditions.
But for many area workers, it?s another day on the job.
“It?s tough, but it comes with the job, unfortunately,” said Tom Mueller, a nurse in the emergency department of Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore City.
Mueller, who worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift on Christmas, said the hospital staff rotates working Christmas and New Year?s, and it was his turn to work Christmas. Most patients come in with run-of-the-mill ailments, such as trouble breathing or a dislocated shoulder, and one year a woman came in after cutting her hand while carving a turkey, he said.
Although he planned to spend the evening with his family, Mueller said it was hard leaving his 9-months pregnant wife and 19-month-old son for the day. He also won?t see much of his brother, who flew in from California.
But, as he put it, “You?ve got to do what you?ve got to do.”
Janice Banks, who works in housekeeping at Union Memorial, didn?t mind working the early shift.
“By the time I get off, they?ll be ready to come to Grandma?s house,” Banks said, referring to her 15 grandchildren.
Lt. Tyrone Jones and seven other firefighters from the Glenn Avenue station in Baltimore City spent the day at the station, where it was business as usual. One member brought in a lunch meat platter, chicken wings and cookies, Jones said.
Despite the spoils, working the holiday can be tough for some of the firefighters with young families, he said.
“They?d rather be [home], but it?s part of the job,” he said.
For Bernard Barett, a security guard in the Inner Harbor, Christmas is “just another day,” and he?d rather be working with overtime pay than spending time at home.
“I?m 50 years old; I?m over this,” he said, referring to the holiday hype.
What he couldn?t understand, he said, is why so many people were wandering around the Inner Harbor on the rainy afternoon.
“I want to know what they are doing down here,” he said. “There?s nothing open.”
