Skip to main content
Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Looking after ourselves

NicK
Contributor

New job. Bad shift.

It always surprises me how a bad shift can ruin  my mood for the week. 

I recently started a new job and my first shift was amazing! I now work at a very popular coffee shop and I love it when its busy. It means I dont waste time standing around looking for something to do. 

Yesterday I had a terrible shift. The usual store managers weren't in and I had to report to the supervisor for that day. She was all lovely and nice my first shift, but yesterday was different. 

Maybe she was nicer because the managers were around the first shift and weren't yesterday. I dont know. All I know is that she was like an overbearing mother just hovering over me telling me what to do and how to do things. I only found it annoying because she was trying to correct me for things I was already doing right. I hate the feeling like you're being watched constantly and being judged. I get it. She's just doing her job. I just wish she was just hovering over me for all 5hours and telling me to do things I was already going to do. 

That one terrible shift was enough to make me miss the terrible management at my old job. 

Yesterdays shift finished at 11am. I got home and didnt do anything the rest of the day. I just lay there  rewatching watching shows on Netflix and stan took a nap at 3pm, woke up for dinner then back to sleep again. 

I have uni today. I got all dressed up, packed my.laptop and books, got in the car and just started to cry. 

Maybe I'm just overdue for a mini breakdown, but I just sat there trying to convince myself to go. So here I am typing this all up now. Hoping that by letting this all out I will feel the weight lifted and get my butt to uni today. 

Part of me is already disappointed. I can just feel my partners disappointment when he gets home and I'm still here. 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: New job. Bad shift.

Hi @NicK

 

I hear you. I know where you are at. Employment environment is very important for anyone with mental illness issues. As I've found out over a 40 year working life, there are some basic fundamental rules you should adopt into your life to AVOID these issues. I'll list them first-

 

  • Avoid shift work mainly night shift. We need sleep and stability
  • Seek out, plan future employment where little contact with others is common.
  • Don't select customer service as your career path or a complaints receiver
  • Your "mini breakdown is likely a cycle that is triggered by an upsetting event be it your supervisor, abuse from a customer or similar...unexpected bill?
  • Accept that other people are your enemy. They aren't all bad, its the interaction they have with you that you can find challenging.
  • It's OK to cry and have a bad day.
  • Don't ever expect to make friends from your workplace, its a cut throat world there.
  • Supervisors often have a need to feel in control...it doesn't mean you actually do anything wrong.

Now to put all those life experiences in a story let me explain.

 

Of the 90 jobs and 15 careers I had in my manic/depressed/bipolar2 working life I started out in the ADF and had to abide by rules any soldier had to. That meant any bad days I struggled with. I clashed more with others for what appeared no reason. Once I left the ADF I worked at a pizza shop dealing with customers....complaining about under cooked, overcooked, not enough anchovies. Lasted 3 weeks. I worked in a jail, emotionally challenging, nasty fellow guards and violence.

 

Shift work in security. Then diagnosed in 2003. I began to realise I needed space in a job. I ended up in my own business as a private investigator. This resulted in my skills being utilised 100%, excitement, travel and most importantly I worked alone.

 

Of those other jobs there was only one manager that I can say was a good manager...why? Because as a prison officer I was taught in an intense classroom how to treat prisoners. If we didn't talk to them with some dignity we could end up injured or worse. For example. If I yelled at a prisoner in front of 20 men and later was found to be wrong in my judgement, I would a/ apologise to him in front of the same company of prisoners and b/ make sure I pulled him aside next time for discipline. Such values my managers didn't have in all those jobs. Basically they were incompetent or were promoted for time served without training to supervise.

 

So you need to develop an attitude that is indeed judgemental and keep it to yourself, always thinking about the long term plan to advance your employment with your goals. Let them have their fun and most importantly grow and attitude of "water off a duck back". I was and am extremely sensitive. I worked in security with a colleague. When our boss berated me I'd nearly cry. When our boss berated my colleague he'd smile. No one knew what my colleague was thinking behind his mask. Once our boss left I asked him how he tolerated that mans dominance..."I just let him have his fun, bosses need to feel like they are in control".

 

I hope that helps

WK

 

 

Re: New job. Bad shift.

Hi @NicK I'm sorry to hear what a difficult couple of days you had. Thanks for sharing your experience. You are certainly not alone in finding that something seemingly small can change your mood and frame of mind. It's great that you are able to recognise things that trigger you – such as feeling watched over/judged. I can understand that feeling of frustration at not doing anything, but I think we sometimes need those afternoons of TV and napping. As @Whiteknight has said, it's ok to have a bad day. And starting a new job is tiring – maybe that afternoon off was well-earned...? How have things been going since your post? Did it help to get it all out? I hope things are going better this week 🙂
Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

For urgent assistance