How Do You Deal With Working On Holidays?

It's Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I have been on calls and turning comments since 9am this morning. This is my first time experiencing the big holidays while working in IB and, wow, this absolutely sucks.

Growing up, Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter/etc were always pretty big days for me. Always filled with family, good food, and relaxation. I could never imagine having to spend today largely isolated from my loved ones staring at Excel and Powerpoint with not an ounce of thanks or encouragement from higher-ups for the sacrifice. Is there any way to make this easier? I can't imagine doing this again on Christmas and not being absolutely depressed.

For those of you who have been in the industry for a few years: does it get easier to work on holidays over time, at the associate/VP level? Is this an uncommon occurrence that's mostly due to COVID? Is my firm/superiors exceptionally crappy for doing this?

Would love to hear some perspectives and anecdotes.

 

I can try to provide a peer's perspective. It's pretty frustrating. You can hope that the people you work for try to respect the holiday but if they don't you are out of luck. I am lucky and not really working today but the MDs I work for made a point to avoid work today for the team. I think life does get better at the VP / Associate level but there is only so much you can do until you are running the show or have the trust of that person.

COVID has definitely made it worse, when I was a first year, I wouldn't start work until like 10 am or later most days but now I have calls starting at 8 am or earlier.

I think the job is pretty unbearable if you try to hold meaning to specific days of the year. I've sort of accepted that I may not get Easter off but I will probably get a random day off where I can try to call friends / family to catch-up. This is unfortunate and I am not calling you soft for being annoyed at your situation. But there really isn't much you can do as an analyst.

 

A lot of holidays are not just “arbitrary celebrations” they are holy days for those of us that believe in God… To a Christian for example Christmas and Easter are not arbitrary they are infinitely more important that grinding on some PowerPoint or Excel. If I am demanded to work on those days I’m just not going to.

 

MD: "It will be a light week, make sure to take some much needed time for yourself!"

MD Yesterday: "Sorry team, looks like were in for a busy one. The client wants to see x,y, and z built out so we can go over it on Friday"

Fuck this job. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and now I have to spend it running bullshit scenarios that no one will read and no one actually gives a shit about. I cannot genuinely conceive the level of misery one has to have to willingly ruin someone's holiday just to get some brownie points from a client. Banking sucks. If you are thinking about doing it, don't. Three years in a row now my holiday season has been generally shitty. Can't wait to say bye to this broken industry. 

 

I owner operate my own business now and often get pitched by boutique banks in the area.

I'm not saying it's representative of all c-suite members, but generally I noticed MD's like to "over deliver" on their promises (ie. getting material to me this Friday for review even though I likely won't take more than a brief glance at it and shelve it till Sunday evening). 

 

My early years.

  • Worked Christmas Eve.  Hopped a flight out of LGA.  Arrived past midnight.  Left for airport at 1pm on Christmas Day.  Arrived LGA at 11pm.  7am meeting the next morning.
  • Booked a week skiing with family over Thanksgiving.  Never touched snow once. Literally.
  • Booked a family cruise over Christmas/New years.  Never left the office.
  • Booked another family cruise.  Wife got so pissed she dropped" my blackberry overboard between San Juan and Freeport.  

Now?  These are "war" stories.  Then?  They were absolute wastes of time that nearly caused divorces.  Do your job but remember FAMILY FIRST.

You can never get that time back.  No MD worth their salt wont let you spend Thanksgiving or Christmas Day with your family.

Namaste. D.O.U.G.
 

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Namaste. D.O.U.G.
 
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