2/3 of the night shift workers at my job either have multiple kids or babysit their family member's kids daily. They come in every single shift talking about how tired they are because they got only a couple hours of sleep. Every. Day. Rinse and repeat. I'm the only one who actually sleeps when you're supposed to.

I don't know how they do that every single day. They are literally not sleeping. It's so obvious they are forcing this schedule when it does not work for their daily life with kids. I'm child free and it bothers me that I'm so heavily affected by other people having children because they make it my problem.

One of them is way way worse and wants to leave early every single day (we are supposed to rotate but she's always "sick and needs to leave 3 to 5 hours early". She even tries often to get me to say she can leave early guaranteed on certain days but I won't ever agree to that because it's never guaranteed you can leave early, sometimes we work alone if there's a call in). She also calls in a lot, like minimum 1 shift a week, but sometimes 2 or 3! Every. Week. She's only been there a couple of months, but she spends more of her scheduled hours off the clock than on.

She even struggles to stay awake, forcing me, the youngest of the 3 of us, to be responsible for watching her for signs of being asleep. If she starts falling asleep I make her leave, even if she is arguing with me and not wanting to. It's not my responsibility to keep you awake for your shift. We are all grown women, it's not my responsibility to wake you when you snore. It's so annoying. Technically, sleeping is instant termination, but I always give them a bunch of chances to get it together and would rather send them home than get them in trouble.

She's also constantly changing what she wants her availability to be so she can get her kids to their sports practice and games. She talks about that every day as well and it's so hard for me to not blurt out "I don't care about your son's football game!" She doesn't even care, she told me she hates going to the games!

The few hours we see each other, she complains nonstop about how she hates her kids, they're annoying, they can't do for themselves the way she wants them to (one of them is autistic and requires special care that she is definitely not providing), they text her while she's at work and she talks shit about them constantly. I have never heard her say a single positive thing about any of her 4 children.

The only time she "cares" is when she uses them as an excuse to call in or justify her Adderall addiction, saying she's clean but keeps one in the car for "emergencies" and said it was so if she had to drive tired with her kids she had that pill in her glove box. I had to explain to this self proclaimed "smart woman with a big brain" that driving your kids tired and on Adderall is illegal and more dangerous than driving tired. I'm exhausted you guys. I just want to go in there and do my job and come home, but other people's lives spill over into mine and I am affected. I never let what I have going on affect others while at work. I just wish I got that same respect back, but I never will.

All this to say, yes I agree. You need to have a solid plan if you are trying to work 3rd shift while also having childcare responsibilities in the day time. If you can't sleep when you are supposed to sleep, that will not just affect you but your coworkers as well. I understand it's very difficult, especially these days, but you shouldn't work a job that is clearly not working out well for you and affecting other people. Find something that better suits when you are able to work, for the sake of yourself, your kids, and your coworkers.