I was hired as a full time EMT in June of this year. I finished my training by the end of July, so I’ve been officially working for only about 3 months. We work 4 12-hr shifts a week, and occasionally we get mandated to a 5th shift a week. We’re paid hourly, and everything over 40hrs is time and a half, the mandated shifts are double time. I thought I knew what I was signing up for when I applied for this job, I knew the long hours, the hard calls, the nights of being run ragged, and I thought I could do this… but it’s only 3 months in, and I haven’t slept well in weeks. My schedule is 2days on, one day off, 2days on, 2 days off. Those second days in the groupings I’m so exhausted I can’t even eat, I get home from work, I have to clean up, change, feed the cat, fix food cuz I always come home hungry, meal prep for the next day while that food is microwaving, shower, and sleep… and with all that, I’m only getting 6hrs or less of sleep between work days. When I have my 2 days off in a row I end up sleeping nearly the entire day away cuz I’m so exhausted, gotta do laundry, grocery shop, and try to squeeze in any appointments needed. I live alone, I’ve always liked living alone, but I can’t keep this work schedule up without help. I haven’t touched the vacuum since I was hired in June, I haven’t cleaned the floors or the bathrooms, I’m running out of dishes cuz I can’t keep up with everything I have to wash on time, then the sink piles so high I can’t even wash things cuz it’s overflowing. I’m quite literally drowning and I’m starting dreading coming to work. I used to like showing up in the beginning, I used to be excited for this job, but now I can’t do it at this pace anymore.
I talked with someone today about possibly going part time cuz I can’t keep up with the full time schedule, and they said per the union contract, I have to work 1 full year at the position I was hired for before I could change. So I have to work full time for 1 year before I can ask to work part time.
When I was hired, there were 8 of us in orientation together. Now, 3 months later, 3 of us remain. Everyone else quit and one person got fired. They need people. Quite literally there are 10 open shifts right now tonight, so they need literally 10 more people working now just to fill the trucks that they’re supposed to have.
I want to work here, I don’t want to quit, but I also don’t want to jump off a bridge. I want to have motivation to wake up in the morning again and I know things would be better for me if I just worked fewer hours, but apparently I’m not allowed to do that per union rules. Idk what to do. Y’all can say quit but this is the highest paid job available that I’m qualified for in my area, I specifically went to school last year for this job. I don’t want to quit, I just want to be part time. Has anyone else heard of a union forcing you to stay for a year before you can drop your hours? I don’t want to be fired for “having a bad attitude” or anything but I just can’t keep doing this for another 9 months.
Tl;dr: I feel like I’m drowning and I’m as overwhelmed as this post is long and my union won’t let me drop to part time. Dunno what to do.