When Patricia Griffin gets off work Thursday afternoon, her son and 82-year-old mother will be among about a dozen people waiting for her to celebrate Thanksgiving.
“You get used to it and just make it work during the holiday season,” she said.
Griffin, 55, has been a dispatcher with the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications for 22 years. She is one of thousands of people across the Chicago area Thursday who will juggle working on Thanksgiving and holiday celebrations with family.
“Thanksgiving is just another day here at OEMC, we manage to get through it,” said Griffin, a lifelong Chicagoan who lives in the Fuller Park neighborhood. “The only diff is there’s lighter traffic coming to and from work, in addition to it’s usually less work during the holiday season because the families are there and together for the good things, the good purposes, the joy of family in life . . . . It’s usually a slow day.”
While she’s working as a dispatcher from about 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., letting 911 callers know first responders are en route, Griffin’s 26-year-old son will be helping his grandmother cook the holiday dinner for cousins and about 10 other family members.
“Hopefully it’ll all be done by the time I get there,” she said, laughing. “I’ll do the pie and little things that’ll be left over to do.”
One of Juan Pineda’s coworkers at the Shell gas station near West 35th Street and South Ashland Avenue took the overnight shift off, meaning Padilla is working 15 hours Thursday, with an eight-hour break.
“I have bills to pay, so I don’t mind,” said 40-year-old Pineda, who has worked at the gas station for seven years and lives in west suburban Berwyn.
He said his wife and two children, ages 7 and 9, planned to go to his brother’s house with about a dozen other family members for the holiday dinner, eating food ranging from turkey and mashed potatoes to tacos and tamales.
“They feel sad because every year — every holiday — I am working,” he said. “We have to do what we have to do to survive, but they better save me some leftovers.”
Chicago Police Officer Janice Wilson’s 5-year-old daughter, Jessica, will be with Wilson’s aunt and cousins on Thanksgiving, helping prepare the holiday feast while Wilson works during the day.
“She loves cooking,” said Wilson, a 13-year veteran who works as the Englewood District business and community engagement liaison officer.
Wilson said the district is having a potluck dinner.
“Gosh, it boosts morale dramatically,” she said. “We get a chance to come into the community room and share what dish we brought, share with our coworkers and sit down at the table and eat together — just take a moment out of our daily tour of duty to enjoy a meal together.”
Wilson, who lives in the West Pullman neighborhood, added that she’s bringing string beans, white potatoes and smoked turkey meat, while one of her partners is contributing spiral ham, and another officer is preparing macaroni and cheese for the potluck.
“We all have a job to do, right? We all have to make those sacrifices, it kinda comes with the job,” she said. “Our families know what we do — that we’re out here serving and protecting the community — we have to make sure the good citizens in our district are taken care of, so (our families) understand.”
Kiki Hunter, 63, planned to sleep until noon Thanksgiving day after her overnight waitressing shift at Huck Finn Restaurant, 3414 S. Archer Ave., ended at 6 a.m.
She said her husband planned to cook the holiday dinner — Cornish hens, chitterlings, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, sweet potato pie, pecan pie and more — while she gets a “reprieve” from the kitchen. They planned to celebrate the holiday alone at their Brighton Park neighborhood home.
“I’m a trooper,” she said. “This is like any other day. I’ve been serving for so long, I don’t even know what it’s like to have holidays or weekends off.”
