In which I bitch about my current work schedule, but find some stuff to be excited about.

I had yesterday off, which made it my Saturday. I have today off too, which means it’s my Sunday even though it’s your hump day.

I hate my new work schedule, I really do. Let’s look at the monstrosity again, shall we?

Thursday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Friday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Monday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm

It’s a horrifying mix of days, nights, and weekends. Last week I worked a respectable Monday-through-Friday daytime gig; now my schedule looks like I’m nineteen and working at a 7-Eleven in Compton.

Luckily I’m scheduled to meet with my boss tomorrow about adjusting it. Since the NOC¹ is open 6am-10pm on weekdays and 8am-8pm on weekends and there are only six bodies to cover all those hours, it’s hard for anyone to get a decent schedule (but especially if you’re me and have mad experience but no seniority).

I told them at my interview that I love working swing shift but need weekends off to be a rockstar, and they said they understood. I agreed to work the Awful Schedule for a few weeks as needed, but basically no one else wants to work weekends or nights so someone has to get stuck with a shit schedule.

I’m going to make an adult compromise and ask for the weekday swing shift (1pm to 10pm, Monday through Friday). If they agree it will mean I can never gig on a Friday again, which SUCKS ASS, but at least I’d be at work at the same time every day and not have to do this sucky nights-to-days translation every single fucking week.

Seriously. Let’s transpose the Awful Schedule to daytime hours and see just how fucked up it really is:

Thursday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Friday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 8:00 pm 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm 4:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Four in the morning?! I can’t figure out how the poor guy who was working it did it for as long as he did. If I have to do this for more than a month I’ll explode. Or go postal. Or simply pull a no-call-no-show because I’m ASLEEP.

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There’s good news, though. Deep thought revealed that my schedule change might enable me to find a yoga class!

The last time I looked into yoga classes, I couldn’t go to any of them because I was always at work when they were offered; now that I work swing I have my mornings free. I dug around online and found two yoga classes on Friday mornings and emailed the studios to see if I can join. One’s actually a Hatha yoga class that starts tomorrow!

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.
The Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.

-Four Great Bodhisattva Vows [pdf]

I also found a Buddhist meditation day retreat (with an enticing “focus on gratitude” theme) that I’d very much like to go to, on November 21st. Of course I’m currently scheduled to work that Saturday, but a girl can hope.

I could really use a meditation retreat right about now, so I’m hoping they’ll let me attend even if I haven’t been to any of their group meditations or classes. It’ not like I haven’t been meditating for twenty years, even if in a different tradition.

I’d find a retreat closer to my own discipline if there was one. A quick google shows there was an ISKCON in Walla Walla once, but as it’s no longer listed on the main site I guess it’s closed. No other hits. Buddhist meditation will have to do… and if I get to go I’m sure it’ll do just fine.

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¹ Network Operations Center.

Update 11/12: Good news! My new schedule is equitable and starts next week: I work 1pm-10pm M-Th, have Friday and Saturday off, and work Sunday from 11am-8pm. Sundays after gigs will suck, but that’s what coffee’s for, yeah?