Is my boss taking the piss?

[Toomuchyogurt]

Hi, I work part-time, three days a week. I’ve always been very flexible and happy with my rota however my new boss keeps giving me the worst shifts, I know someone had to do them and I’m happy to do my fair share but I’m getting all of them! I’ve approached her and been told I can ‘cope’ with it, I have gone back and said this is unacceptable and she has said it’s service requirements and blamed me for not making lots of requests! I have been given the same shift pattern for six weeks, covering all the crappy shifts and minimising my opportunity to rest and recuperate between shifts. I don’t want to explicitly say it’s discrimination (ft staff have more reasonable patterns) and cause a lot of upset, but it is, and she pretty much admitted it was.

[HoleyCoMoley]

I had this in my last job, 13 weekends in a row. What shift pattern has she put you on.

[Lonesurvivor]

Are you a union member?

[redexpat]

You need to have at least 11 hours between shifts. Otherwise its a breach of EU law.

[Toomuchyogurt]

I’m working every Monday and Friday plus another day between so I only get 2 consecutive days off, I’m always exhausted and I barely have a social life. Everyone else always gets Monday or Friday off. I’m not asking for that every week, but a fair distribution.
Yes, lonesurvivor I’m in a union

[Toomuchyogurt]

Weekends are optional, I work around one a month

[HoleyCoMoley]

Does your work involve weekend work. What shifts did you usually do before. Will you suffer pay wise if you're not working any weekends. That would be my concern.

[HoleyCoMoley]

For me I wouldn't mind having every weekend off for 6 weeks as long as I didn't lose any money. Could you work Monday, Thursday, Friday or Monday, Tuesday, Friday then you'd have 2 days off together during the week as well as weekends.

[Toomuchyogurt]

Weekends aren’t the issue, as they’re optional, it’s every Monday and Friday, given I only work 3 days (but long hours) I am exhausted as I don’t get more that 2 consecutive days off (I’m up at 5 am for work) I don’t get any long weekends unlike my colleagues.

[Racoon100]

Have you missed something out of your post? You are only working 3 days a week, with all weekends off and two days in the middle of each week off too. I’m not really sure that would count as unreasonable shifts or discrimination?

[HipHopTheHippieToTheHipHipHop]

Am I reading this right? You think your boss is taking the piss because you don’t get to have a long weekend?

Are you serious? You work 3 days per week, time to get a grip OP

[Toomuchyogurt]

No one works weekends, however it’s long hours and exhausting, full time hours are 4 days. All the ft staff at my level get long weekends to recover.

[EggysMom]

Did you take a part-time job; or did you take a full-time job originally and then ask for reduced hours as part of a flexi working request?

[SillySallySingsSongs]

Have you missed something out of your post? You are only working 3 days a week, with all weekends off and two days in the middle of each week off too. I’m not really sure that would count as unreasonable shifts or discrimination?

^ this. I can't see the issue and can't imagine a Union would either.

[Toomuchyogurt]

I started as part-time, there are lots of flexible work contracts with people on set shifts. I’ve been told I’ve got a flexible working contract (I haven’t) my boss isn’t keen on flexible working and wouldn’t want me to apply for set shifts, but has given me set shifts for weeks.

[Johnnyfinland]

Plenty of people get up at 5am for work 5 days a week and only have the weekend in between. YABVVVVVU

[ChessieFL]

So the full timers are working 4 consecutive days and then having 3 consecutive days off, and you’re working (at the most) 2 consecutive days and then having a 1 or 2 day break? I don’t see the issue either, it will be harder for the full timers to recover from working 4 consecutive days than it is from working 2 consecutive days. I do see that it’s annoying to never get Mondays or Fridays off though.

[whiskeysourpuss]

🤣🤣🤣

OP I get up at 4:30am 5 days a week... I'm never home before 6pm & most days it's more like 7-8pm. Up until last month I also worked every Saturday morning 7-12 so up at 5:30am & I only got a Sunday off.

Yet here you are complaining about ONLY getting 2 days off together

[SillySallySingsSongs]

I’m up at 5 am for work

As is my DH 5 days a week (sometimes 6)

[MynameisJune]

Jesus Christ, what do you think people who work 5 days a week and long hours do? They have the weekend and that’s it.

Seriously some people don’t know they’re born, having to work every Monday and Friday, imagine the horror!

[Flashingbeacon]

I think this is a case of grass is always greener. You look at your colleagues with long weekends and are jealous. They are looking at you and jealous if your extra day off.
I work 6 on 2 off, various shifts. I see people tearing themselves apart certain other people are getting a better deal. Best thing is just to keep your head down and get on with it. Or look for another job.

[FiestaThenSiesta]

If you’re exhausted after a full day, why are you complaining you are not scheduled for 2 days in a row? You currently have work day M, rest day Tue, work day Wed, rest day Thu, work day F, free weekend. And you’re exhausted because you only get 1 day free between working days? By that logic you are far too exhausted to work 2 days in a row and would be horribly unproductive.

Oh and I think that’s actually a great shift pattern.

[WhatWouldCoachBombayDo]

I'm with everyone else, I don't understand what's exhausting, but then again I can work 9days in a row of shift work with sometimes only 8.5hours between shift end and shift start...🤔 But I don't grumble too much because that's the job I'm in...

You get every weekend off if you chose to do so, plus another 2 days off in a calendar week...without sounding harsh, man up.

[Mistressiggi]

If she blames you for not making requests, can you start doing that now? Say you will work your current rota but would like x or y in the next block? It cannot be ok to say that part time staff have to accept worse shifts than full time. It can’t be a genuine service requirement to have you in on, say, a Monday when there are x number of full time staff off on Monday. Chat to your union - they aren’t just there for complaints but to help you decide if you’ve a reasonable request and how to put it. Ignore part time jealousy/my jobs worse than your job crap. It’s the comparison of conditions within your own job that count. The fact that some people work down the mines from 3am for 2p is neither here nor there.
If it can’t be changed, think about whether you can stay and be happy or need to look elsewhere

[Toomuchyogurt]

It’s not about the weekends/long weekends, it’s about a) getting the shitty shifts no one wants, which I’m happy to do my fair share of, but not happy to do ^^all of them. b) having a work/life balance I am up at 5 for work as I am the first one in, Most other staff start later, I’m home at 7 but can often be later. Currently I appear to be on 2-on 2-off, my days off are spent day 1 recovering, day 2 preparing to return. I appreciate this may sometimes be my rota, it’s the fact that it’s all the time, that I feel like I’m slotted in to fill the gaps no one else wants, and that my manager actually confirmed this is exactly what she does when I asked.

[MynameisJune]

But other than the fact that they are on Mondays and Fridays you haven’t said why they are the shit shifts?

And why do you need a full day to recover and then a full day to prepare to go back?

It sounds more like you need a new job.