It’s the day after the big one, and you’re tired, still horrifically full from Christmas Day’s food, and maybe a wee bit hungover. However, Boxing Day can be a very busy day, as a lot of people go back to work, lots of people see the family they couldn’t see on Christmas, and big sales tend to begin. A Boxing Day which is not busy is normally the outlier.

What exactly is Boxing Day? Well, in the UK (where the notion originated), Boxing Day began as a day of charity. It was the day people would give gifts to the poor and needy, and eventually it became a bank holiday in the UK, albeit one that some employers expect people to work. I am lucky in that my employers don’t require it, so it’s an extra off over the festive season. However, it may involve several trips to the shed with bags of rubbish, and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to end up doing some shopping (though given how busy the shops are on Boxing Day, I’d prefer not to!).

In the past, I have worked Boxing Day, and I have done so in some rather busy retail situations. I can still recall the queue of people wanting to return defective laptops one Boxing Day! They happened to all be a certain brand as well, but I won’t name names here. On another occasion, I worked alone at my old bathroom job, as Boxing Day was not expected to be busy. It ended up surprising me as to how many customers came through the door, and I got a few orders that day, but it wasn’t a crazy day either.

The Boxing Day Sale (or more precisely, the Winter Sale) at my old sofa job was quite frantic, with the expectation being that this was when you would earn a lot of your money. I would say that proved true, but I don’t miss the philosophy of ‘work virtually non-stop for several days’. My current employers have a much better grasp of work/life balance. However, the opportunity to see family on Boxing Day is a rather limited affair, as we all now have families of our own, and this sends everyone scattering in different directions. It is therefore the case that Boxing Day is a recovery day for me! Well, as long as I avoid getting dragged to the shops…