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?
Somehow you just do. Parents have been doing it for quite a long time. Try farming - 7 days a week from 5am til Whenever, and somehow you still get life done. Part of it is adjusting your expectations when they turn out not to work…
Damn. Did they take that teams call in the middle of the day because the middle manager deemed it important while farming? Sarcasm aside, farming implies self employed right? So they worked for their money, and scheduled things when they needed to, not when the boss lets them.