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Antiwork

Can’t be flexible with my schedule to take my sister home? Here’s my two weeks.

I've been working at a nursing home for 3 years now, doing part-time since I was in high school. I left during my senior year but came back once I began college. I was able to get my younger sister (a minor) to work alongside me and we both work weekends, 8 hour shifts. My younger sister doesn't drive, so I'm her number one transportation, and our hours (6-2) matched up for the most part. That was until I was put on a 9-6 shift, every other weekend. This caused a huge problem within my household since my family all work nightshifts except for me and my sister. I could drop her off in the morning, but who would pick her up? We were able to maintain this problem albeit at the cost of my family's sleep. My workplace had always been very stressful but I was able to tolerate…


I've been working at a nursing home for 3 years now, doing part-time since I was in high school. I left during my senior year but came back once I began college. I was able to get my younger sister (a minor) to work alongside me and we both work weekends, 8 hour shifts.

My younger sister doesn't drive, so I'm her number one transportation, and our hours (6-2) matched up for the most part. That was until I was put on a 9-6 shift, every other weekend. This caused a huge problem within my household since my family all work nightshifts except for me and my sister. I could drop her off in the morning, but who would pick her up? We were able to maintain this problem albeit at the cost of my family's sleep.

My workplace had always been very stressful but I was able to tolerate it. I didn't like the 9-6, it was a position I wasn't properly trained for, and thankfully I remembered the previous lady who did it, so learning it wasn't too hard.

Recently, my family's schedule has been changing and they would no longer be able to pick up my younger sister. So I told them I'd talk with my manager to adjust my schedule.

When I spoke with my manager about it, she was very hesitant to outright say no. She said that she'll have to “talk to HR about it,” since changing my schedule required it. I told her that my younger sister wouldn't have a ride home at all since she doesn't drive yet and she's a MINOR, which would make things complicated. But my manager kept saying that she'll “talk to HR about it.” And I knew that it meant it wasn't going to change.

There was another factor that led into me turning in my two weeks (I might write a post about it later), but I wrote my letter up immediately. I had another job in mind that'd help me out more than my current. I dropped it off in my manager's office and not even two hours later, I get a phone call.

The person calling was a higher-up and he asked me if that I was leaving because of my schedule. He told me that he was willing to negotiate with me in order to keep me there. But I told him the truth– why would I stay at a workplace that wouldn't allow my sister to go home at a reasonable time? And I told him that I had to further my career in a different field. He tried to make me stay, work PRN or just weekends with any hours I wanted. I still said no.

I'm a bit nervous moving away from a workplace I've been so familiar with for 3 years. I didn't intend on leaving so soon, but things came up unexpectedly and how they disregarded my sister's safety worried me. Was there something better I could’ve done here?

TLDR: My workplace wouldn't budge changing my schedule so I could take my younger sister home, so I turned in my two weeks. Workplace attempted to “work things out” but to no avail.

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