It's Saturday. I'm at work.I work Saturdays - Saturday is my permanent shift and I gotta say I am used to working them now, it also helps that I don't have any other family routines to conflict with the concept of the weekend. I used to think that one day was pretty much like the other. The sun rises, you do stuff, the sun sets. Turns out though the cultural attitudes and expectations that are associated with certain days (Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday), still linger quite strongly, even if your schedule is no longer based upon the routines that give these days their flavour.
So now my Saturday is like my.... Tuesday. Kind of. Friday is Monday. Monday is Friday. Does that make sense? Probably not. Either way, working in an institution that is open every day is a little weird (and I'm also talking Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years, even if it just for chute clearing). The entire year just morphs into a pattern of weeks. My cycle is two days on, one day off, one day on, three days off. Rinse and repeat. There is no discernible beginning or end; just one continuous cycle of being on and off.
If you are not used to working odd hours, of if you have never been in that retail or hospitality sphere were no day is sacred, it can take a bit of adjustment. There is the inevitable sense of longing when a whole bunch of friends are planning to do something on a Friday night. Wanna go out for a few drinks? Well, yes it is Friday, but do I really want to go out for a few drinks on what actually feels like a Monday? No? Now you understand my problem. And it's not just the social side of life that suffers - any mildly interesting work or professional development event also seems to fall on a Saturday, and I often look longingly at a potential chance to network and maybe meet a few newbie Librarians knowing I can't attend. I'm also a mediocre musician, but I love watching actual musicians perform. When do these musicians perform? On a Friday night, or on a Saturday, when I am knackered from the Saturday shift and inevitably fall asleep on the couch at 9pm.
As a newbie, I get it. The undesirable shifts will always be the first on offer, and I know the Saturday shift and I will likely be buddies for quite some time. I can't really complain though. Saturday is a good time to figure out what the hell I am doing - it's sink or swim, or perhaps dog paddle with my head just above the water. It's busy, lots of people want a lot of different stuff, and if I can handle a weekend desk shift during school holidays, shit, I can handle anything.
So, newbies, are you prepared? Are you prepared to readjust your idea of what the working week is? Are you prepared to be a bit socially stunted and to feel like you're completely out of phase with the rest of your mates? Are you also prepared to invest in a good Netflix subscription, or else make sure you take a goodly pile of books home after work for company? If the answer is YES, welcome to Librarianship!
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