I still think I can be a success someday, for some reason
The worst thing about the job I have, the fact that I work with dispatchers and schedulers who don't live anywhere near me notwithstanding, is the unpredictability and mystery of the schedule. The number of people who use the company I work for varies daily, weekly, and monthly, though it's a safe bet that, for example, Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be busier than other days. (Today, there are over 78 trips. Actually, there are exactly 78 on the schedule, but it's guaranteed some last-minute trips will be shoehorned into the schedule.)
Despite the fact I was told I would not have to work before 6 AM (or after 6 PM, but that turned out to be a bunch of crap, too), I have trip number 1, a 6:30 appointment, which is, by protocol, is a 5:30 pickup. When I asked why I was given that trip (instead of another driver who would at least receive a premium for it), the scheduler remarked that she had to go through seventeen pages of the schedule. You know, I'm sure it's a pain, making the calls that need to be made to the affiliate companies to help out and planning a schedule for a place she's never been -- especially since it seems like she can't read a map -- but we drivers have to actually drive those "seventeen pages". Consideration (or competence, I can't tell which) seems to go out the window when it's "seventeen pages", or, for that matter, eight.
Anyway, the second consequence comes in the fact that it isn't until the evening before the given day (with the exception of Monday) that I know what I'll be doing or when I have to wake up. So, it's rather annoying, as in this case, of finding out at I am expected to pick someone up at 5:30 in the morning at 6:00 the previous evening because there are "seventeen pages".
I love writing. It's one of my main means of unwinding, entertainment, and communication. However, I write best at night. Whether that's because I have fewer distractions or because my brain simply works better then, I can't say for sure, but I do know most of my best work has come when others would be getting ready for, if not in bed. Because of my medical condition, though, sleep is priority one. If I don't get it, I can become very ill. (This is what keeps me from going back to graduate school, as sleep deprivation is par for the course, but I digress.) Ironically, because of that same condition, it's nearly impossible to sleep well and harder still to sleep enough, as, if you've noted the time of this entry, you can see.
So no matter how much I want to write, I have to sleep. The weekends would seem like an ideal time, but oftentimes I find I'm catching up on the sleep that I didn't get during the week, and a heavy deviation from my normal schedule -- I easily find myself up at 2:00, 2:30 in the morning and forcing myself to go to bed when I'm going well -- would make it harder to get up when I'm scheduled to pick up a passenger at ass-thirty in the morning.
I've complained about this before, I know. It doesn't stop this from being frustrating as all hell. If you told me at the beginning of college this would be the case, I think I would have asked if I had considered just ending it all. I would answer myself honestly, and then refer to this entry's subject.
Despite the fact I was told I would not have to work before 6 AM (or after 6 PM, but that turned out to be a bunch of crap, too), I have trip number 1, a 6:30 appointment, which is, by protocol, is a 5:30 pickup. When I asked why I was given that trip (instead of another driver who would at least receive a premium for it), the scheduler remarked that she had to go through seventeen pages of the schedule. You know, I'm sure it's a pain, making the calls that need to be made to the affiliate companies to help out and planning a schedule for a place she's never been -- especially since it seems like she can't read a map -- but we drivers have to actually drive those "seventeen pages". Consideration (or competence, I can't tell which) seems to go out the window when it's "seventeen pages", or, for that matter, eight.
Anyway, the second consequence comes in the fact that it isn't until the evening before the given day (with the exception of Monday) that I know what I'll be doing or when I have to wake up. So, it's rather annoying, as in this case, of finding out at I am expected to pick someone up at 5:30 in the morning at 6:00 the previous evening because there are "seventeen pages".
I love writing. It's one of my main means of unwinding, entertainment, and communication. However, I write best at night. Whether that's because I have fewer distractions or because my brain simply works better then, I can't say for sure, but I do know most of my best work has come when others would be getting ready for, if not in bed. Because of my medical condition, though, sleep is priority one. If I don't get it, I can become very ill. (This is what keeps me from going back to graduate school, as sleep deprivation is par for the course, but I digress.) Ironically, because of that same condition, it's nearly impossible to sleep well and harder still to sleep enough, as, if you've noted the time of this entry, you can see.
So no matter how much I want to write, I have to sleep. The weekends would seem like an ideal time, but oftentimes I find I'm catching up on the sleep that I didn't get during the week, and a heavy deviation from my normal schedule -- I easily find myself up at 2:00, 2:30 in the morning and forcing myself to go to bed when I'm going well -- would make it harder to get up when I'm scheduled to pick up a passenger at ass-thirty in the morning.
I've complained about this before, I know. It doesn't stop this from being frustrating as all hell. If you told me at the beginning of college this would be the case, I think I would have asked if I had considered just ending it all. I would answer myself honestly, and then refer to this entry's subject.