As an air traffic control specialist I worked shift work for many years. I had weird days off and worked different shifts on my workdays. For example, for several years I had Tuesday Wednesday days off. I would work Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday either a dayshift or an earlier evening shift, an early dayshift on Sunday, and then in early dayshift on Monday or sometimes a mid-shift on Sunday night into Monday morning. When I got a little bit of seniority I got to move to Monday Tuesday days off, and then as I got older I got Sunday Monday days off. Because I worked shift work it always bothered me when staff people with straight days with weekends off walk around laughing that it was Friday and they were about to have a nice weekend. If it was a holiday weekend they were to have a nice three day weekend while I work almost every holiday. I did get extra pay for working the holiday but I did not get very many holidays off for many years.
At one point I took a staff job so that I can have weekends off with my family of-small children I made a point to not celebrate the weekends that way. Because I understood how it grated on the nerves of the people working shifts and just starting their week on a Friday evening shift because they just came off their weekend of Wednesday Thursday days off.
Now that I'm older and much deeper into my career I'm in a position where I have straight days and weekends off. I'm still available to do things as needed at night or on weekends, but that does not happen very often.
I still make a point of not talking about "happy weekend" or "have a good weekend" and/or "thank God it's Friday" or any of those things. Because I know that so many people that work shift work either can't really bugs them when they have to work and other people are celebrating getting their time off.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy my time off. I love being at home with my wife. And being able to go and do things. It's odd now because every time I go to do things there's lots of other people doing those things also. One of the benefits of the shiftwork that I worked was being able to have my car worked on or have someone come in and repair something at the house and I didn't have to take leave to do it. I just did it on my day off.
I guess I'm trying to say that I'm sensitive to what those around me are doing and what they are working. I like to ask questions and find out if that nurse is just coming off a 3 12 hour shifts a day rotation. That's why the nurse gets four days off, because there were caring for people 12 hours in a day. Often times 12 hours in the night.
I suggest trying not to glory about a benefit people with "normal" schedules tend to take for granted and don't complain about so many other people trying to do what you're doing.
Enjoy!
