Christmas Workers as Good as Gold (Shift) in Morton Grove

The smell of brats and cooked onions fragrantly filled the firehouse kitchen at Station 4 on 6250 N. Lincoln Ave.

Lunch was minutes away, but you rarely have a firefighter tongue-tied, even with hearty nourishment at hand. This was the “gold shift,” and their upcoming schedule of 24-hour shifts had them working Christmas Day.

Some don’t mind it too much as anyone who has a career in firefighting or law enforcement knows their going to work holidays, no matter how much seniority they accrue. For many, the separation from loved ones is difficult on the most family-oriented holiday of the year.

“It stinks working holidays,” said Jim Hosfield, mindful of kids at home.

Gold shift-mates Tom Goodwin (six children) and Rudy Imbrogno (three children) deal with separation with professionalism. Mike Wagner’s family is creative. One Christmas celebration was on Saturday, Dec. 17. Another was Christmas Eve. In the end, the pains of being away from loved ones is eased by the camaraderie and brotherhood of their crew manifesting itself on the holiday.

“We live together a third of our lives,” Wagner said of the 24-hours-on, 48-hours-off fireman’s schedule. “We’re pretty tight.”

Another compensation, according to Fire Chief Tom Free, is all village firemen being paid 14 hours of straight time whether or not they work on Christmas.

Cops, firemen dominate holiday workers

Without any hospitals or movie theaters, Morton Grove’s public safety workers will be the most common types of people working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Businesses like gas stations and are always open on the holidays. Dunkin Donuts was even open the day after the Feb. 1 blizzard with residents trudging through drifts on foot to get their java fixes.

Most unusual is , 7220 Dempster, opting as a rare grocery store staying open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, while closing New Year’s Day when most retailers are operating.

”Some of our customers are not Christian,” said Produce World owner Steve Pavlopoulos. “They’re Jewish (or other religions) or have parties, have odds and ends to get like milk, bread and eggs, some last minute shopping."

Produce World will field a holiday complement of 10 to 12 workers on Christmas, about half the normal 20 to 25-strong Sunday crew.

They’ll regard the holiday as business as usual, as do firefighters and police officers like Morton Grove 12-year Mike Weitzel, who will work the overnight shifts starting late on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Some holidays are quiet as per the stereotype. Others have a number of calls in a row.

“A lot of times we're just aiding citizens, not something of a negative circumstance,” Weitzel said. “It’s a random-type thing. We have operational plans in place for excessive number of crashes (in the event of bad weather).”

Unlike firefighters, police officers at least can carve part of the day off to open gifts for their children, even if it isn’t Christmas morning. At the same time, families often come to the firehouse with food to visit their loved ones for a few hours, or between calls.

Christmas duty not permanent

In the end, assignment to Christmas duty is not permanent given the rotating schedules of both police and firefighters. Horse-trading among personnel to swap holiday duty is also common.

“That’s the nature of shift work,” Weitzel said. “You have a portion of the day off. If you’re working one Christmas, substantial chance you’ll have the next one off.”

Mixed in with inevitable tragedies, public-safety workers have some inspiring holiday stories in their memory banks.

“I was on a call on Christmas Eve where we delivered a baby in an ambulance near to midnight,” said Freel, noting the symbolism.

Knocking off duty around Christmas morning, Weitzel pictures a sight few ever see on the speedway otherwise known as Dempster Street.

“Driving home in the morning, Dempster is quite empty,” he said. And if it’s a white Christmas: “It’s a beautiful scene on Dempster when it’s unbroken snow.”

Back at Station 4, the brat lunch is finished, stories have been swapped, the plates are cleared and put away for cleaning and not a crumb is left on the lunch table. There is not much time to think about working on the upcoming holiday. The bell rings for a call – a woman reports feeling faint.

The fireman shake hands with a visitor and smile. “We gotta go,” said one. That’s their routine, hectic weekday or quiet Christmas.