Job issue

OK, this may, to some, seem stupid so if you want to rip into me, have at it. I probably deserve it.

I'm still at that driving job. Been there for a little more than two years. Mostly I like it. I like the people. It's usually low-stress. I'm still looking for something that pays better and uses the skills and experience I have, but I'm not holding out much hope. A few months ago, I thought I had such a job and it looked like it was going to pay really well, but it turned out to be a scam. Luckily, I got wise to it before I lost any money.

My thing with my current job is that since early June, on Friday afternoon, I receive a text telling me I'm on the schedule for Saturday. Sometimes I've had a freelance thing that I'm doing and wasn't able to do it and I text back that I couldn't. Last week, I had a friend's funeral on Saturday.

What I've done on Saturdays when I've been there is also different from what I usually do during the week. We go up to Portland, because they're short-staffed and run cars to and from the cleaning area to the garage at the airport. It's much more fast-paced than what I usually do and I'd rather not do it.

I've told them I'm not available Saturdays and they still put me on the schedule. Today, they called me at 7. I didn't see that I missed the call after I woke up at 9, which is not a good look, I know. I already replied to the text yesterday that I couldn't do it.

I'm already working 40 hours, give or take a few, every week. How did it get so I suddenly had to work Saturdays, too? If this was the way it had to be, I wish they would have told me two months ago that I had to until further notice and maybe given me a day off during the week.

On Saturdays, I have to be there two hours earlier than during the week. I have about a 45-minute drive from home to get there. We take one of their cars up to Portland a 90-minute to 2 hour drive (We are paid for that time). Up there they have you as long as they want you. We make the drive back to Boston, clock out at 6 or 7. By the time I get home, it's 8 or 9. The overtime is great, but I'd kind of like to have a life outside work while I still can. Next Saturday I already have tickets to an event that I really want to attend, too.

Should I just suck it up and keep my Saturdays free for them or put my foot down?

 

"Putting your foot down" pretty much means you are willing to risk the entirety of your job. If that is what free time on Saturdays is worth to you, take that stance - - because it is a potential consequence. Only you can determine if you are willing to "play for those stakes"...

 

I do think you should ask about the late notice. Is it common to get your schedule just a day or two ahead of time, or the day of? Are you supposed to be on call for the weekends as part of the job?
If you find out a week out that you have to work next Saturday, then it is what it is. It's probably part of the job. But if you're finding out on the spot or 24 hours in advance then that's a little weird and ridiculous.

 

You driving over 25 mph yet?

 

What do you think?

 

Maybe 30

 

Sometimes 31.

 

I've been at the same job for a long time, so my wisdom about hunting for another one might be out of date. It might be easier to get a job if you have one already. Then again, the interview questions for my current position had questions like: "What would you say to someone who tells you they've been out of Haldol for a week?" "Would you use a tarot deck to talk to a client if that's the only way they will engage?" And my favorite: "What if someone tells you one of their other personalities wants to talk to you?" For the record, multiple personality DIDs are rare. I've been working in various iterations of mental health intervention since the mid-90s and have encountered four. Two of them were so abused by their adults that they essentially created their own parents who would love and protect them.

But I digress. Fingers crossed that you find a better match.

 

Reminds of a situation many moons ago when I was still in newspapers. This isn't verbatim, but close enough.
This is pre everyone having a cell phone. One Monday morning the ME jumps one of the photographers because he'd tried to reach her over the weekend.
"I was out of town. Was I scheduled to shoot something that I missed?"
"No, it just came up and we needed a photographer."
"It was the weekend, and I was out of town."
"We needed you, and you weren't available. If you aren't going to be available, you have to let us know."
"Well, if it's the weekend, and I'm not scheduled to work, assume I'm not available (or maybe she said out of town)."

 

What kind of job is that? Had to look up what Haldol was.
Are you a counselor?

 

Haldol are Skittles for people with HighDef pretend friends. My paycheck says I talk to moon-touched.

Right now I am also working on a creative piece based on the lore and wisdom of my work. Yes, I am staying well within HIPAA guidelines. The editor and I actually screamed at each other over Zoom in the made up language a feral child created in a case study I'd read. We needed to blow off steam.

 

Did you recently get a new supervisor? The lack of communication makes it seem like you're working at a paper again.

My first post-college gig was at a smaller daily. We had a weekend rotation, and we pretty much worked once a month (a Saturday one month, a Sunday the next). One time I decided to meet a friend for dinner on a Sunday night, about an hour away. You would've thought I upper decked my boss' desk or something.

My current job is the first time my weekends have been totally clear in my adult life. It's amazing and liberating.