Hey, ironically I'm making this post whilst at work.
I'm a care worker, and a recent Psychology graduate, i love to help people so i feel selfish even making this post.
I started this job only three months ago, helping some people with learning disabilities move into a home with support staff around the clock.
When I started I was very naive and didn't check my contract, pulled in by the starry eyed promise of experience boosting my psychology career. What i didn't notice is that i had to do overnight stays, and by signing the contract i was opting into doing 48 hours or more in a week.
I'm so tired, I'm on the verge of tears (again) typing this. Some of the shifts are 30 hours themselves (I'm on one right now) but because the night time hours aren't considered within my contract, they're legal and past a certain hour are below minimum wage. And that also means i have to make up the contract hours I'm 'not doing'. I'm doing 53 hour weeks, but they're not even seen as being within my 37.5 contracted week.
The mattress i sleep on is so uncomfortable and i wake up exhausted, all i do when i get back home is sleep.
I barely see my family, the only colleagues i see are when we do handovers. Not to mention there's only four of us for 24/7 care. I'm so lonely, stressed and tired. I have anorexia and I don't eat on my shifts so I've been getting very thin.
I can't continue in the long-run, but it would look atrocious having such a short stay at a job on my resume; its given me too much experience to wave off. Should i just bite the bullet for a few more months?
Any advice is appreciated, thanks