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?
As someone who also does “8-5” (can’t believe we still call it that), I don’t get any life done. I get home, get dinner done and then I doom scroll until I pass out from the exhaustion.
Given my commute is longer than most, I just don’t have the time or energy to commit to other things I would otherwise be willing to get into. Drives me nuts when I see others being able to get their shit done seemingly whenever they want. With traffic being shit here, no idea how anyone can realistically get to the gym and still make themselves dinner afterwards without going past 10. It’s crazy out here.