I’ve worked 2nd (afternoon), swing (evening), and 3rd (overnight) shifts for the majority of my life. I recently moved into a training position where I’m Monday through Friday, 8am to ~5:30pm (I get OT while I’m cleaning up and writing reports).
As much as the 2nd/swing/3rd shifts screw with your life in other ways, the difficulty in scheduling any kind of life services outside of working hours is maddening. Doctor’s appointment? Nope. DMV? Maybe Saturday, if you’re lucky. Chaperone your kids field trip? Hahahhah no.
I don’t want to burn sick time for a doctor’s appointment (I need to save those for when my kid is actually sick), and I sure as hell don’t want to use up a “vacation” day for it. How tf are you supposed to get anything done?
Working from home helps but its also partly why I downsized to a condo a few years ago.
I worked in a callcentre for many years and had changing shifts every two weeks. Having to come in at 6am and then getting that switched to 4pm wreaked havoc on my body and after doing this for quite a while, I just crashed and got burnout.
Recovery took me two years, where I basically just slept. It’s a system designed to squeeze the last bit of labor value out of you and I fucking hated it. Nowadays, I’m not able to physically work for more than four days, or else I’ll crash again.
I had a lot of luck, so I can now work entirely from home. No commute, Fridays are off. Sounds super cozy and amazing, but the thing is: I need that Friday for myself. A lot of times I’ll just sleep so I can have some energy on the actual weekend.
When it comes to doctor’s appointments, I just tell my boss I have one and that’s it. As it should be. We are humans, not machines.
We don’t. We just exist. And then we die. It’s monstrous.
Until recently, I had a job where I could leave whenever I wanted so long as there was nothing urgent in motion and I didn’t have anything due/overdue.
My office was closed because the CEO thinks that my office’s workload can be handled by a team in Philippines using AI translation tools.We don’t. We come home around 7 and start doing the bare minimum to keep up the household letting daycares and schools raise our kids.
We clean and cook and pay our bills then we go to sleep irritated and tired and sick of the rat race.
We have sex once or twice a month and go to fucking florida once a year. That’s it.
Scrolling down to this actually made me burst out with a laugh. Well done.
The concept of burning vacation / sick time for a doctor’s appointment is weird to me (canada). I just say “hey boss, doc appointment this day” and he says “okay”.
I feel like it depends on the company here, but I don’t think I’d stay long if they made me use my time off for that.
Same thing here in Europe. You can then get a special permit from the doctor to show your employer that you were actually at a medical appointment and not smoking weed
Ey! My GP’s notes don’t mention I wasn’t smoking weed. I’ll have to ask them to include it next time.
In United States of Shit, you can get a doctor’s note to show employers. Most times I’ll make an appointment and get the date on a doctors card and show my manager. All unpaid of course
This feels personal… I’ll have you know I can smoke weed AND go to the doctor.
DMV (or, our equivalent here) isn’t open on Saturday’s where I live. You have to go during the day 9-5 M-F, which yes, is when most people are working. Same with doctors appointments.
The companies I’ve worked at are generally very understanding, and allow you to make up time later (which is easy to do especially since it’s remote work) if you have to take an afternoon off, that kind of thing.
I work 6 to 2. If I need to take a couple hours for a medical, family issue or car appointment, then I let my boss know and he says it’s okay. I’m usually able to schedule things so that I put appointments and so on when I don’t have big meetings. So long as the work gets done it’s cool.
If I’m feeling rotten, I phone in and say I’m either too sick to work or that I’ll WFH that day.
Of course, if I have a big vacation planned then I will put in for leave. I get 25 days off a year.
25 a year sounds like a dream
It doesn’t work for anyone. People use up their vacation days.
Thats the neat part, we dont.
My job is very lax, so I can just bring in a ThinkPad, and do some coding.
I have to beg to be allowed to come in late, just to treat serious health issues. I guess the people with an actual life, are the ones that are born wealthy, or studied to do an easy-going job.
I don’t think you are meant to escape with enough hard work, it is punishment for not being a good student in childhood: You get worked like a slave, your entire life, dreams, passions, dignity, all that you are, is pushed aside, as your health is slowly chipped down, until you drop dead in your 40’s-50’s, no retirement for you.
Then you get some bs eulogy about how you were a good, hardworking man. One of the few times ever that people will even pretend to appreciate you.
I guess the people with an actual life, are the ones that are born wealthy, or studied to do an easy-going job […] it is punishment for not being a good student in childhood
Yup, this is me. Both my parents were software engineers, I grew up top 1% wealth in Canada. Went to a decent university (covered by my parents), job hopped a few times, salary kept going up and the work kept going easier.
I still grinded my ass off along the way (first job took me 700 applications, I spent nights and weekends studying for my next interviews instead of going out with friends), but I still wouldn’t be here without nepotism and family wealth that they used to support me.
While there is some guilt that other people who worked harder couldn’t get to where I am, that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste the opportunity.
im an actor and comedian outside the corporate world. I just gig in the evening. I go on dates with my wife. I go to friends birthday parties. I work out. I garden. I play with my cat.
The bad news is - if you wanna do stuff, you gotta go do stuff
PTO or asking for hour flexibility. Taking off an hour or two early/coming in late because of a dr appointment for example.
