My regular job schedule is rotating 12 hour shifts. We work 3 or 4 days/nights in a row, either 0400 to 1600 or 1600 to 0400, and then get a few days off to flip sleep schedule to do it again on the opposite shift. The benefit to this schedule is that every 4th week, we’re scheduled 7 days off in a row. But because of vacations and callouts, it’s pretty common to have to come in on days off to cover.

We also have two times per year for about 3-8 weeks where everybody would 6 or 7 day weeks. That’s 72 or 84 hours in a week. And because we’re hourly, that’s very good money, but because the cost of living is so high in the area most of us are commuting about an hour each way. So every 12 hour day is roughly 14 hours away from home. So those times of year are really 84 or 98 hours per week away from home, and a week only has 168 hours.

The work itself is also fairly demanding. We don’t just sit at a desk. We are climbing ladders, carrying heavy shit around, shoveling, turning valves, running to respond to alarms, etc. A light day is still a day at the gym.

Despite this, there is an absurd amount of pressure to come in a significant amount more for training or you’ll never get a promotion. And a lot of my coworkers seem to be happy to do that.

Idk what they’re doing with their time outside of work, but it seems like they can’t possibly have time for anything meaningful. I don’t understand the point of chasing money that hard if you don’t give yourself any time to spend it. I keep talking myself out of spending on things I want because I know I won’t actually spend any time enjoying those things, so I’m just sitting on a useless pile of money and working at a place that’s trying to push me into trading even more of my time for even more useless money. And nobody seems to see the problem. I’m glad that my bills are paid and everything, but how the fuck is this different from being a slave that’s housed and fed?

All I do is work and sleep, and I’m expected to work even more, and I’m surrounded by people who think I’m crazy for not pulling 60+ hours every week. That sort of schedule is what somebody who hates their family does, and I happen to like my wife.