ON THE CLOCK AT CHRISTMAS
Many New Mexicans will be working this holiday
Workers in jobs that don’t stop accept that they may be celebrating holidays at a different time from most other people.
Popular culture portrays the Christmas holiday as a time for families to be together, opening gifts, eating hearty meals and generally sharing good cheer.
But someone has to keep the lights on, fight the fires, care for the sick and elderly, staff the hotels and movie theaters.
Folks like Albuquerque Fire Department Capt. Greg Aragon say it’s just part of the job. Their families accept that they’ll still get to celebrate, just not at the same time as everyone else.
“When it comes to holidays and birthdays, the first question they ask is ‘are you working that day?’ It’s just something that’s in our lifestyle,” said Aragon.
He said those who work on the holiday usually bring in potluck meal items to share and some stations even hold a gift exchange.
Some jobs, like Aragon’s, have a set schedule so they know months in advance that they’ll be working the holidays and can plan accordingly.
For others, like Bobby Sanchez, a longtime lineman for Public Service Company of New Mexico, it’s hit or miss. Sanchez can stay at home, but he has to be ready to be called out to fix a damaged transformer or make emergency repairs when a car topples a power pole.
“The kids are disappointed if I have to work on Christmas, but they understand,” Sanchez said. “What I tell them is that we’re getting power on for people who don’t have electricity so they can spend time with their families.”
He said people frequently thank them for working on the holidays, often in cold weather and dangerous conditions.
Sanchez is one half of the power equation. PNM System Operator Robert Romero usually spends the holidays monitoring the electricity load flowing through the main power line network. He’s the one who calls out the lineman if something happens and the lights go out.
“I think maybe once in my whole career I’ve had Thanksgiving and Christmas off,” Romero said. “My family, they don’t know any different.”
Romero’s schedule is such that he knows he’ll get to spend Thanksgiving 2017 with his wife and four kids but he’ll be working again on Christmas.
Hotel workers
Yancy Sturgeon, managing director at the Hotel Parq Central in downtown Albuquerque, has worked plenty of Christmases during his 26-year career in the hospitality industry.
“It’s like being in a hospital, you’re never closed. You have to be around,” Sturgeon said.
Often he was working out of state and unable to celebrate with family members. When he was closer to home, they got together either before or after the actual holiday.
“The biggest thing is just being with family,” he said.
This year, Sturgeon will be on duty on Christmas Eve when staff will put milk and cookies and a letter from Santa in each occupied guest room. He said the hotel is typically quiet over Christmas and he only needs a small staff. He puts out a list so staffers have the option to
choose which holiday they work.
“Most who work (on Christmas) are college kids and may not have family in town,” said Sturgeon.
Theater staff
While hotels may be quiet over the holidays, going to the movies is a big tradition with many families. Sandy Dodson, theater director at Premiere Cinemas in Rio Rancho, is expecting a big crowd for the latest “Star Wars” movie “Rogue One,” which hit theaters on Dec. 16.
Like Sturgeon, Dodson’s career choices have been in places like restaurants, resorts and theaters that stay open on holidays.
“My family has always accepted it because that’s our lifestyle,” Dodson said.
When her children, twins now aged 16, and a daughter, 13, were young, Dodson said she used to sneak home from work at 1 a.m. to play Santa.
“We do what we have to do to get through, but now that they’re older, it kind of makes my life a lot easier,” she said.
This year, Dodson, her husband and children will celebrate the holiday on Christmas Eve, then she and her 16-year-old son will be working together at the theater on the holiday.
Dodson actually enjoys the experience. “We get a lot of gratitude from the guests. There’s always a handful that thank us for working on the holiday, which makes you feel appreciated,” she said. “Everybody is here in a great mood and — knock on wood— everything goes without flaws. It’s a perfect day.”
Health-care folks
At Rust Medical Center, Presbyterian Healthcare Services’ hospital in Rio Rancho, registered nurse Patrice Edwards, 23, volunteered to swap shifts with another employee who was scheduled to work on the holiday so her co-worker could be home with her kids.
“I just saw on the schedule that I wasn’t working on Christmas and I don’t need to be off for the holidays because I don’t have kids,” Edwards said.
Many of her friends are in the medical world and will also be working, so she plans to get together to celebrate with them on an alternative date.
The hospital is decorated for the holiday, with decorations on the windows and trees in the hallways.
“There are a lot of patients that are in the hospital by themselves so that it’s way cool working on the holiday. We can be like family to the patients and spread the Christmas cheer,” said Edwards.
This is the first Christmas Prisilla Molinar will be working at the Brookdale Tramway Ridge senior care home. As a medication assistant, she works closely with the seniors, helping them manage their medicines and appointments. She feels they have become members of her own large extended family and she’s looking forward to baking cookies and singing carols.
“It’ll be like a regular Christmas here. It’s like a home away from home for me,” she said.
Her 4-year-old son will be with her grandmother in Albuquerque where Molinar will celebrate with her own family after work.
“Christmas is my favorite holiday, it’s the only time my grandma makes tamales,” said Molinar.