Work Schedules

[AcuraTech]

Need to vent a little bit, but also need some advice on whether I'm being out of line or just need to suck it up.

I work nights, M-Th. When I started at this place, the hours were 2pm-12am, 4 days a week, with 3 day weekends. The 3 day weekend more than made up for any negatives of working nights.

Then they decided to cut the weekday hours to 2pm-10pm, M-Th, and added a Saturday shift 8am-4pm. Working Saturday is for chumps, so we decided that working every other Saturday was fair. It was a cut in hours by only working 32 hours every other week, but whatever. Now they have decided that we MUST work EVERY Saturday.

So now I work M-Th night, and all day Saturday. This is a BIG no-no in my book. Because:

1. Working nights I have adjusted my internal clock accordingly. I go to bed late and wake up late. Trying to go to bed at 11pm Friday night just doesn't work. Working 8 hours on 3 hours of sleep is awful.

2. Without taking vacation, you never get more than 1 day in a row off.

3. There is no pay incentive for working this schedule.

4. My GF works days and is asleep by the time I get home, so I only get to see her weekends. Also, as a young guy who likes to go out and have a few pints on the weekend, that is also now gone. Can't do it Thursday, by the time I get off work everyone else is ready for bed. Can't do it Friday because I have to get up early Saturday. Don't want to do it Saturday because I'm tired from lack of sleep and working all day.

Yep, that's a lot of complaining. So what would you all do? Suck it up or move on down the road? Thoughts please.

 

[GMBoy]

That does suck. I mean, everybody needs a weekend and having only one day off in a row all the time is bad. I would be upset with those hours too. You can only accept it or quit. I bet alot of your co=workers are already looking to jump ship.

 

[crinkles]

that sucks, especially that you never get more than one day off. i would consider leaving or at least seeing if there are other places you can find employment with for better hours.

 

[Turk]

Move down the road, but only if you find something else better "first"!

Quietly look elsewhere. Interview with a confident servant's heart, but also find out the situation at the new places and then make your decision.

 

[Mr Nice]

If you complain, they will just say that the 'needs' of the business comes first.

Is this dealership short on techs ?

 

[Nyquist]

It probably wouldn't hurt to look around, but I've worked on a "floating" schedule for 3.5 years now. Usually my work week consists of 1:30 PM to 11 PM Saturday and Sunday, but I'm on call from 2 AM through 2 AM Monday. The other three days 'can' consist of Monday through Wednesday 9 AM to 6 PM. Those weekday work days can have their shifts vary from 3:30 AM to noon all the way to 1:30 PM to 11 PM and can shift to Thursday and Friday also.

I feel your pain bud. If your like me though, you have to get your start somehow. Gotta love paying those dues. . .

 

[opus1]

This definitely sucks. Even when I worked in a big-box store, when we got time off, we'd at least get every other weekend off in its entirety. In my case I'd have Monday and Friday off one week work that weekend, and then the following week but get Saturday-Sunday off.

Now their practice of having me close the store one night, which meant getting out of there between 10.15PM and 11.30PM (worst case) and then opening the next morning, which meant being there by 6AM, stunk....

 

[eljefino]

I work in television operations and have a completely bizzarre schedule. I was half responsible for its creation, a swing shift 5a-3p Sat/Sun, then 3p-1a Mon-Tue. Everyone else in my department also "suffers" with either a swing shift or weekend hours. Management is smart though and knows not to mess with us or our schedules.

Is there anything wierd going on though like a mucky muck has a kid playing soccer and therefore all the rules are changing?

There should be a pay raise for Saturdays though, or make them optional, or get some workaholic techs from another dealer to moonlight at your shop just on Saturdays.

I like your original schedule (the 4 days part as well as evenings) and bored with my TV job want to jump into mechanics... but there aren't too many places that work all evening. Grass is always greener!

could you get parts at five minutes to midnight? Or would you start the shift with everything you thought you needed?

 

[tom slick]

Why does the schedule skip Friday and have you work on Sat?

 

[daves87rs]

At least you have a job (someone had to say it)


I work crazy hours, and sometimes all 7 days. (heck, I worked 20 days in a row last month-some with 12+ hours)

 

[mpvue]

I never could understand the advantage to the business to work your employees like that. swing shift has got to be the worst.

the worst I had was a aircraft wheel rebuilder; in the summer, mandatory overtime every day (10hr days) and an 8hr sat. didn't make any sense, because now you overlapped w/ the other shifts even more, and there weren't enough work stations for everyone.

I worked 3rd shift a few times, once on '7 day coverage'- you worked 5 days a week, but not always the same 5, and you were always on 3rd shift. base salary, plus 10% for 3rd shift, PLUS 10% for the 7day bit. (yes, union shop, they aren't in business anymore, go figure).

to the OP, you should always be searching for a job. you always have to be ready for anything.

 

[John_K]

Where I work we take turns working Saturdays so we all get the weekend off sometimes. This seems humane as it's not right to not have a weekend off once in a while.

John

 

[eljefino]

Management also needs to understand there are intangibles in the work place... scheduling quirks... funny coworkers... that motivate as much as or more than the actual salary. Rock the boat and sometimes the best walk out and management's standing around like

 

[fdcg27]

You new schedule does suck.
I would be looking around, but what if you take a new position, and then face a similar change?
Also, if you otherwise like where you work, you should consider that, as someone noted above, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.
I have the luxury of a flex schedule.
I also have the headaches involved in supervising others, and filling in for them in their absences.
All things considered, while it is good to vent, you may be better off staying put and seeing what comes, than moving on.

 

[Gator]

They say the grass is greener on the other side, but you will still have to cut the grass, so alot of times changing jobs is no better unless you can find a better job-position- basically a big upgrade. But I have said many times it is better to just have a decent paying job with good hours to take advantage of time off like every evening and weekends to attend kids or family functions which is something money can't buy. This is alot easier said than done because once you get use to making good money you cant give it up for a day job which is my case. I work 12hr shifts, 1 week we work Mon, tues, fri, sat, sun, next week we work wed, thurs, this covers 14 days, the next 14 days we switch from days to nights, it is a pain cause some days you are on call and working 2 days of nights and the 2 days off trying to get your sleep rearranged is very bad on your body.

 

[HawkeyeScott]

You are getting jobbed. If I were you, I'd sit down and weigh the pros and cons of this job. (Schedule is obviously a con.) Is there something about this job that you won't be able to get at another place? Pay? Some fringe benefit? If you can get pretty much the same job - with a more liveable schedule - somewhere else, then I'd pursue it.

And when/if you give your two weeks at the current place, make sure the bosses know what made you leave. (I wonder how many millions of employees are being screwed over these days just because the job market is so poor. Things are obviously tilted to management's advantage more than they have been in a long time.)

 

[silverrat]

I work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. I also work 10-7 on Saturday and 9-5 Sunday. Tuesdays I am off. I never get more than one day in a row off unless im sick or vacation. Sometimes I even have to work a couple hours on my day off even, inventory sometimes.

 

[greenaccord02]

Look around and as soon as you see something decent get the [censored] out of there. Life is to short for that [censored].