i work in emergency services (EMS specifically) and we get the most insane fucking work hours at least where i am. i was on 8:00 to 20:00 monday then tuesday i am on 20:00 to 8:00 and wednesday i am on 10:00 to 00:00 then thursday i am on from 8:00 to 17:00 then off friday and unknown if i am working this weekend yet
i dont physically know how your brain is supposed to function enough to not accidentally kill someone when you are working like that.
also i have to be 30 minutes early to check off the unit because those are just the hours i am actively available for 911 calls and each day i am on a different truck with an unknown crew before me so i cant even know that everything works when i get there.
and i am sick but cant call out because i took a covid/flu test and didnt test positive and no matter how sick i am unless i am rendered physically unable to work or test positive for one of those i cant call out
That broke me in EMS. We were the fleet for the hospital ER, so I’d rotate between the two biweekly. 24 hour on-off shifts at the fire station, 12 hour AM or PM shifts at the hospital, randomly called in for administrative things and covering coworkers on my days off. In total I was working like 80-100 hour weeks and running on autopilot. Even worse, we had a hard standard of being out the door within 90 seconds of the alarm going off. I could be dead asleep after a call 23 hours into a shift and then have to be in full action mode the moment a noise occurs, sometimes doing CPR within five minutes of waking up. Both of those had such a disastrous impact on my sleep that it’s still fucked up a decade later.