Working Weekends

I’m not going to get into the politics of the decision of management to change our work schedule in the group home. There is so much of it that I wouldn’t know where to begin.
We haven’t had to work weekends in the last 11 years and it seemed like the one perk that made everything worthwhile. You could have a real break from the gang and come back refreshed and ready to tackle anything. I have to point out that those who choose to work in a group home setting sacrifice certain things that most people don’t think twice of, so having the weekends off was a way of keeping things in balance. And now it’s gone. I have been using my vacation on the weekends so I would be spared working the weekends. It has come to the point were I can no longer do that. So here is my first impression of what it is like to work weekends again.
The alarm went off Saturday morning. Not being a morning person my body said ‘Stop you are going insane, this is not right, it’s too early to be awake’. My mind on the other hand said basically the same thing. I tried not to be grumpy but as I was getting ready I heard the snippiness that spewed out of my mouth. It was near impossible to stop. I decided not to talk for a while because of the venom that was frothing behind my teeth. After a hearty breakfast of a half a sandwich I went to work. Our Part time person, Sarah had worked the same schedule as me and was displaying the same lack of energy so we decided to have a quiet day. Luckily some of the gang were already up and dressed, thanks to the Overnight person helping out before she left for the day. The rest of the people were assisted in their routines along the way. I can’t tell you the order of what happened because it seems very jumbled up now. I’m not a coffee drinker at all but there was one point when I noticed that my eyes were fixed on the page writing I was doing. I had zoned out. My face had that slack jawed look and at the same time Sarah walked by and announced that coffee was needed. We did a brunch and sometime around that time Sarah went out for a Timmy’s coffee, taking some of the guys out for the ride. I noticed that both Sarah and myself finished the coffee in record time. With a caffeine boost I managed to finish off the shift. I wish I could have been more upbeat, less tired and more energetic for the gang but it’s not going to happen on my weekends. I’m not sure how I will continue with this schedule. It’s not that you can slowly get used to it. So many things happen during the week that can add that extra layer work so when it comes to the weekend the work doesn’t disappear. Management wants consistency over the weekends, what they are getting instead is staff that are burning out quicker.