We're working Christmas Day - the zookeeper, the charity worker, and the gas man
Three people spending their Christmas day working speak about the importance of their work in helping other people. Picture: iStock.
When the lions, tigers and orangutans of Dublin Zoo wake and stretch themselves this coming Christmas morning, it will feel like any other day. They will need to be fed and watered and their enclosures will need to be cleaned.
While the rest of us are either ripping through the proceeds of Santa’s nocturnal labours or, with any luck, getting a bit of a lie on, zookeeper, Darragh Farrell, will be lobbing great chunks of meat to hungry cats.
“This will be my tenth Christmas working in the Zoo,” says the 31-year-old. “We have a roster system. We have one set day off during the week and every second weekend. So if Christmas falls on your day, you’re working it.
"In reality, what we do as a team is sit down about a month before Christmas and work out who can do what shift between the morning and afternoon shifts. Myself and my partner Jenny have no children yet so I’m quite happy to do the morning shift so that people with children can get up and spend time seeing what Santa Claus left their kids and enjoy Christmas morning. We have a great team so it’s usually a rapid process.”
Darragh started working at Dublin Zoo when he was just 19 years old. Having turned down the chance to study Forensic Science, the Dubliner went on to do a PLC in Animal Care.
“During college I needed money so I got work experience working at the front gate of the zoo selling tickets and I gradually worked my way into different roles,” he explains. “I went on to do an Advanced Diploma in the UK in Zoo and Aquarium Management and it’s all developed from there.”
Darragh is now one of the dozens of keepers at Dublin Zoo that keep the show on the road. His specific role is to look after what he calls “the far side” of the complex where the primates and carnivores live.
"It’s a fair few animals to look after so it keeps us busy,” he says.
And when you’re working with animals like these, there is no room for error
These are what we call category ones; animals that would pose a risk to human life. Your lions and your tigers, although they are big cats, you wouldn’t last very long in there with those guys if you’re not careful.” With that in mind, Darragh will not be going for those festive scoops in the local on Christmas Eve. Not that he’s too bothered.
“Everyone is in high spirits here on Christmas Day,” he says.
“We’re all in the job we love so we know what we have signed up for. Besides, it’s not a long day. We have to wait until it’s bright because if it’s still dark it’s dangerous and you don’t want to upset the animals' sleep patterns. We head out to the grounds before 7.45 am and we get stuck in.
"We’re usually out for about 10.30, latest 11 am.”
“It’s Christmas for us but it’s just a normal day for the animals and they still need to be fed, get fresh water, fresh bedding and have their faeces picked up,” he says.
“I enjoy getting in early. It means I can go back and enjoy the rest of the day with my family and my partner's family.
"We have our dinner quite early on Christmas Day. So when I’m finished I’ll go home to Jenny, we’ll exchange presents and then we will go visiting before we sit down to dinner. It’s lovely.”
Dealing with gaseous exchange of another sort is Bord Gáis engineer, Derek Davis. Derek has worked with the energy provider for over ten years. In that time he has had various roles and is now Head of Field Development.
“I work with the wider team overseeing the service engineers out on the field and their day-to-day operations,” he says. “We look after the allocation of work, quality assurance, health and safety and the apprenticeships programmes. We have a good team here of about seventy to eighty who work on the day-to-day operations.”
On a regular day, Derek’s team can receive anywhere between one hundred and fifty to three hundred calls. On December 25th, those numbers drop off a cliff.
“Last year, we got maybe half a dozen calls,” recalls Derek. “I was in for about 8.30 am and gone by lunchtime. So it’s a short shift and most people leave us alone. It’s funny, over the Christmas period I’d say the 27th is always the busiest.
"People seem to be able to handle the problem until then. Of course, if there is a problem the service is available and we’re here to help. Normally you’re just screening the calls.
If you can help a customer over the phone instead of someone having to go out, that’s great. But there are occasions when somebody is required to go out to a customer.
On Christmas Day four years ago that customer was an elderly lady in distress.
“She had an issue with her heating and when we went through it with her over the phone, it turned out she had a water leak that was causing the problem,” recalls Derek.
“Thankfully, it was something that I was able to deal with. She wasn’t far away from me, so I called out to her. She was quite anxious and wasn’t sure she’d get someone on Christmas Day. But we identified the problem very quickly and within half an hour we had it fixed and the heat was back up and running. So it was a simple fix.
"For me, it was an hour out of my day but it made somebody else’s. The relief from her point of view was huge so she could go ahead and enjoy Christmas.
"And you come away feeling great.” Of course, Christmas can be a lonely and painful time of the year for many. Thoughts of loved ones no longer here, loneliness and mental health issues can all be compounded by the seemingly boundless joy around us.
Pieta, the suicide and self-harm prevention charity, operates its crisis helpline 24/7 and stresses that their qualified therapists and councillors are available for people who need to talk, even on Christmas Day.
“I’ll be working Christmas Day as cover for our social channel comments,” says Pieta’s Matthew Oakes.
“We have to be prepared to direct people to the crisis support line and respond to queries for help. I’m lucky in that I’ll be over at my parents’ in England for Christmas.
"So I will be opening presents with my kids and we’ll have breakfast but I then need to find a quiet space, just to review comments and respond to anyone who needs to be directed to our qualified therapists on the helplines.”
Matthew will then carry on with his day but the phone and laptop are never too far away. And he fully expects those helplines to be busy. Pieta’s Christmas Day plan is set up to receive an anticipated two hundred calls or more.
“It’s Christmas so people might have travelled somewhere away from family and friends or are just away from their normal surroundings. It could be someone who is thinking about suicide. It could be someone who lost someone to suicide and is reminded of them on the day.
"We deal with about fifteen hundred people in December across all the services and we just need to make sure there is always someone there.”
If you're struggling this Christmas, it’s okay to ask for help. Pieta’s Crisis Helpline is available 24/7, even on Christmas day, with our team of qualified therapists and councillors offering round-the-clock support if you are thinking of self-harming, suicide, or have lost someone to suicide. Call 1800 247 247, or text ‘HELP’ to 51444.
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