I have a few jobs; none are full-time, but altogether I work six days a week, this week seven because I was asked to put in an extra day that ended up on the time clock as twelve hours and thirty minutes. Today is one of my usually scheduled shift days, and I…couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. I could not work seven days and look down the barrel at another six, call it weakness or whatever you like, but I could not do it. I called off sick.
I have a coworker who I'm very fond of. I'm going to call them Favorite Coworker. They're older, they're in their sixties, and definitely still very spry but I know they did not want to work today specifically because they had also put in a six-day week and they said over and over again that they were trying not to come in today unless they were absolutely needed. We did a lot of work together this week as we share a lot of projects. Basically we were both majorly burned out and needed a day to rest.
So I'm off because I was at my fucking limit, and my boss – who I cannot emphasize enough is COMPLETELY CAPABLE of doing our jobs, they do a lot more behind the scenes rather than on the floor now but they overall have a light workload especially since we have more staff now than we used to – called in Favorite Coworker to cover for me. Let me say again that my boss ONE HUNDRED PERCENT could have just rolled up their sleeves and covered my (relatively light!) day. Instead they called Favorite Coworker to come in and do my day.
I now feel super guilty about taking off when my much older (I'm in my 20s) colleague ended up covering for my shift. But on another level, I know that it's not because I'm lazy or anything but the fact that we BOTH deserved a day off and I did not AT ALL think that my boss would have the gall to ask Favorite Coworker to come in when they spent the whole week emphasizing how much they needed a day off…and my boss is completely capable of doing the work. Heartless.