Any advice on saying no to extra/cover shifts?
Hey, so I'm a 19 year old who's currently on a gap year. I took this gap year as a chance to relax before having to study hard for 4 years and to do a bunch of things I've always planned to, get fit, improve on allot of skills as well as learn some new ones, write a book, do lots of volunteer work and spend time with all my friends before having to say goodbye. I've been working at the biggest gas station in town for the past 7-8 months and I've kind of prioritized work over everything else in my gap year, I've said yes to almost every additional shift my boss and co-workers have asked me to do, I've never complained about anything (which is apparently unheard of at my workplace), I work hard and I rarely take any time off, granted I do only have 2 scheduled shifts a week that total up to 15 hours (with 10 and 20 minute breaks) and over the past few months I've grown kind of depressed as I constantly kept working surprise 10 hour, 9 hour and less commonly, 6 hour shifts and I usually ended up working more hours than my other co-workers did each week.
Everything has still been alright with the job but as of late I've been feeling that I need a bit of a break (just actually having the days off I expect to), but my boss keeps calling me in surprisingly frequently, especially as of late. I've been saying I can't do extra shifts for him because I've already made plans and he asks me what my plans are and usually ends up brushing them off and asking if that's really more important than making money and when my final verdict is no (although I usually succumb to the pressure and at least do part of the shift), he ends up kind of replying to me with a snarky remark, the last one was "Life must be so easy for you" - which honestly kind of stung because life has been kinda bad for me as of late, thinking of what to do in the future and always feeling sad everyday and it makes me feel like I'm not respected as an employee, especially when I had just agreed to do a bunch of cover shifts next month for him. I've already had to cancel allot of things to accommodate surprise shifts and worked my life around them so far but when I've made plans for a certain day, my boss' tone changes and I end up feeling guilty for saying no.
It feels like the answers I give to him aren't justifiable enough for him but I feel like reminding him that when I had my interview with him, I had told him that I had many plans for this year and it's been 7 months and I've barely made progress with those plans because I've always said yes to additional shifts, now I want to say no and I'd like to ask other peoples' advice on an effective way to decline additional shifts.
Thanks for your help and sorry for the long post!
Comments
There's nothing you can do that will work in all situations, except quit the job.
One thing you could try is make plans a few weeks out, and block out the time well in advance. Just say you're unavailable for work at that time, and if you can make plans that are "non-refundable," your boss might understand that concept.
Sounds like a life changing opportunity to be assertive. Sounds like you have him in a bad spot, not the other way around. He is definitely mistaking kindness for weakness. You are the goto person and have leverage. Talk about leaving due to things you spoke about and see what happens. You're being bullied in the workplace, you have rights and don't have to deal with it. You're being taken advantage of and things can change when you're ready to change them.
It seems to me that your boss is taking advantage. I could be wrong though. My advice would be to stand your ground and stand up for yourself. Next time he makes a remark like that I think you should point out how absurd that is and point out how often you do extra/cover shifts when you don't have to.
Exactly...it is good you are willing to work extra...but there is a time for you to say..."No...I do come in for you most of the time...but I do need some time off>" Do not budge from the answer...he is basically trying to guilt you into burning yourself out. So just stand firm and tell him no, you need a couple of days or more off. If he fires you...well then you know where you stood with that company...it was using you as a sucker.
Your boss is looking out for his best interest, you as an employee need to look out for yours. if you're in a position where you can turn down paid work, then it would seem he needs you more than you need him, so you can afford to be a bit more assertive and not see easily brushed aside. Life is too short to let it be monopolized by the drudgery of work. The gap year is for you, not for your boss or coworkers, so don't let them guilt you.
In a few years, you'll likely work in a salaried job, where you are expected to take on extra, unpaid work. Better to learn to say no now, else you'll end up like the chumps working 70hr weeks at 40h/wk job.