This week is the first week that I’m working full-time at my customer service job. While I’ve had full-time hours in the recent past when you add up all the hours I did for all my jobs, I never was working 8 hours a day at any particular job. Even before the pandemic when I was working full hours for my box office job, I only worked 7 hours a day and I was always done by 3 pm each day. Now, I’m working 8 hours each weekday for a single job and I’m working until 5 or 6 each evening. Obviously, working more hours is putting me in a better financial spot. But when the extra hours were offered to me originally, I was a bit hesitant. So right now is a bit of a trial period to see how I feel working so many hours.
I was able to negotiate some things with my hours so I’m only working until 6 pm one day a week (for some reason, being done at 5 seems so much better than being done at 6). And my co-workers and I are testing out how to split up responsibilities so I’m not feeling overwhelmed by doing one task for too long. Working in customer service can be a lot, but I’ve been lucky that for the most part the customers are kind and have questions that were easy to get answers for. But there are the occasional situations where it’s very stressful and I am grateful my job is mindful of how that can affect any of us.
And I do know one of their concerns was if I would feel burnt out because I was doubling how many hours a week I was working. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad since I was working until 3 since I was working my box office job. So working until 5 was only adding 2 more hours onto my day. And I have worked 40 hours a week before, so I thought it would be easy enough for me to adjust to it. Technically now, I’m working closer to 60 hours a week when you consider my other jobs, but there is overlap with my hours (all my jobs are aware of this and have approved of me doing so). I’m only a few days into working my new schedule, and I’m already noticing how things feel different for me. And I’m trying to make adjustments so I don’t feel like I need to reduce my hours in the future.
Most of the things are related to time management or comfort while working. Time management has always been a struggle for me. Fortunately, right now there isn’t a lot going on in my life outside of work and my workouts. But I do want to plan time to relax and decompress from my day. I eventually will have more happening in my life, and I need to know how to add that in when I have the chance. But if I’m always exhausted after work, then I won’t be doing much in my evenings except being lazy at home. So I need to find a way to manage my time so I’m not feeling so tired. And that might have to include things like taking more stretching breaks and other things like that so I don’t physically feel exhausted after work.
And along the lines of stretching breaks, I need to find ways to be more comfortable while working. My desk setup hasn’t changed much since I set it up when I built this desk. I have added little things like a better desk chair and a footrest (which sadly broke so I need to replace it), but I want to see what else I can do so my body isn’t hurting after working for so many hours. I do have a cushion on my chair that is supposed to help, but I think I need to either get a better cushion or a better chair. But I also might want to add something on my desk so my arms and wrists don’t hurt after working. Also right now, because it can hurt for sitting for a long time, I take breaks and bring my computer into my room, lay on my bed, and work. I know that’s not the best way to work and I’m sure I’m straining or stressing some part of my body. But sitting at my desk for so long isn’t great for me either. So I have to figure out what I can do so I don’t have other issues while working.
I know this work setup is new to me and I need to still figure out what to do. But I also feel pretty supported by my job in having flexibility if things change or I need to figure out a better situation for me. But hopefully I will get it all figured out and this will just be a blip in my work history before being settled into a new routine.
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Finally Back To A Full Work Schedule (or I Really Do Like Having A Stable Schedule)
Getting More Used To My Schedule (or My First Full Week At The New Job)
Seeing How To Make My New Schedule Work (or I Have A Better Idea Of My Free Time Now)
Making Up A Schedule (or What To Do With My New Free Time)
Fully Using My Work Time (or Having A Job Where I Feel Productive)
Full Day At The New Job (or Seeing My Old Workplace Abandoned)
