To be annoyed when part time job adverts say holiday and sickness cover is essential?

[NewNameForSpring]

Surely the whole point is that you can only do part time work that is why you are applying for a part time job

How are you supposed to arrange to work extra hours for someone's fortnight of holiday, or worse, someone's sudden sick leave?

I assume most people, like me, work part time to fit around children. But even those without children are likely to have other fixed arrangements when they are not working, could be anything.

It seems wierd to have a part time job but have to be available for full time hours? Am I missing something? Can you tell I'm getting fed up with looking for suitable work?

When i was a student i worked part time Fri/Sat in a supermarket, but was happy to cover extra shifts. it meant a bit more pocket money but without the commitment of needing to work those hours every week, which would mean my college work would suffer.

My DH often works extra hours, again it means extra money (useful at times like Christmas) but as it's not contacted he can pick and choose. If he feels like he's spending too much time apart from me and DD, he can refuse the extra shifts.

I have seen that in adverts but i wouldnt mind the odd week working more hours.

What i hate is when you see a job that says mon & wed 10-2. So you apply and get the job and then u find yourself being rota'd in for mon-thurs 9-5 every week without being asked or getting more holidays.

The crucial difference is whether you are then asked if you can do the extra hours (in which case you try to be flexible and do it if you can) or simply rota'd in for a random shift pattern you never signed up for. Which is down to the quality of management and willingness of colleagues to support each other. Hard to gauge before you get the job, I suppose.