Is it selfish to want "free days"?

SeraphIRL

I applied for work in several retail stores on henry street over the summer. i soon got one, but during the interview i had said i was going back to college in september, and therefore couldn't work full time hours. i was offered a twenty hour contract with overtime hours during the summer which was perfect, but now that i'm back in college and have my timetable, i'm being told that work has to come before college, and any extra curricular activities must be fobbed off. i only go to college 17 hours a week and therefore can still make up my 20 contracted hours between monday to friday, but i'm being told by my boss that "my part timers work weekends" even tho there is one part timer there currently who has been exempt from this rule as he has worked there even longer than the manager.

my question is, is in too much to ask that i have my weekends free to do whatever i please, (which includes seeing my father who lives in england, studying, and playing for my college football team etc.) ?

i've had mixed opinions shared on the subject and i would like to know what the majority of ppl think on the matter.

basically, shud i have to be busy 7 days a week because of work, or am i entitled to my weekends?

thanks

Nody

SeraphIRL wrote: »

basically, shud i have to be busy 7 days a week because of work, or am i entitled to my weekends?

Resign then and find another job. You're hired because the company need you to work a set amount of hours to cover the shifts, the shifts there involve weekend work and hence if that don't suit you resign. The company is not some kind of charity organisation that gives you money out of the goodness of their heart or have to care when or where you study.

What I do find ironic personally though is the fact you study part time, work part time and complain about lack of free time. Most people in college study full time AND do a part time job to pay for it.

leeroybrown

Yes, it is too much to ask. As Nody says, resign and find a new job. If I was a retail employer and had a part-time student who expected me fit my schedule around their 17 hour week I wouldn't be too impressed.

John Mason

Well, look at it this way: -

i work a 35 hour week in a full time job

i go to college 8 hours a week

and i have a second job where i work friday night, all saturday and all day sunday

i would love a day off but i am not in a position to have one

so i personally think you are sooo lucky to be in the position you are in

Hanley

First year in college and first real part time job?? Welcome to the real world... you don't get gifts just because you think it's fair!!

SeraphIRL

maybe i didn't explain myself properly; i have had work before. i used to be a store manager but i quit to go to college and i didnt work during college last yr. i'm in college FULL time, not part time. 17 hours seems short but it's an honours bachelor degree. and it's not like i'm dictating my hours for work. i just told them i wwont work weekends because of all the other things i have chosen to get involved in (football, seeing my dad etc.).
maybe that clears some things up, i don't know. but i never thought people would be so passionate about giving up their free time. soyou're in college... so wat! how does that mean "bye bye free time"? i dont wanna "have my cake and eat it too" sort of thing, i just think everyone's entitled to their weekends. but maybe i'm wrong

Eoin

SeraphIRL wrote: »

and it's not like i'm dictating my hours for work. i just told them i wwont work weekends because of all the other things i have chosen to get involved in (football, seeing my dad etc.).

So, you are dictating your work hours then. Fair play to you for giving up full time work to go back to college, but there is inevitably going to be some compromise with your spare time.

John Mason

i demand my weekend to be free also but i still want to be paid for them

thanks yo u

leeroybrown

I think the point here is that there is nothing selfish about wanting to have free time the weekend but that doesn't mean that you have the right to expect your employer to accommodate you. You're being unreasonable and unrealistic if you think that they should reallocate work hours that much to suit your life.

spinandscribble

if that was the case, how would shops run at the weekend? most ppl i know with a job in college work weekends.

SeraphIRL

spinandscribble wrote: »

if that was the case, how would shops run at the weekend? most ppl i know with a job in college work weekends.

true, but as i said, i stated in my interview that i would need weekends off during college and they gave me the job anyway. now there's a new manager and he doesn't feel he needs to honoour the arrangement. plus i also said that there was another employee that also said he couldn't work weekends and he was accomodated by the old manager. this new guy is busting my balls. and there are planty of ppl working in the shop to cover weekends that gladly would

leeroybrown

Hard luck in that case. Most places are generally reasonably decent about honouring arrangements like that but your new manager obviously wants to be a hard ass about it. The manager doesn't seem like they'll budge so I'd still say your best bet would be to get a list of all the hours you're available for together and see if you can find another place that these will suit.

taram

Weird, I've always had the opposite problem, they didn't want me to work weekends at all as being in college I was too valuable for covering random weekday shifts, they could get the girls in leaving cert to do the weekends. Maybe try work one full weekend day so you'd have half a weekend off that you could maybe extend into friday or monday depending on which they want you to work?

pow wow

You're entitled to want your weekends off, but have to accept that this particular employer won't accommodate you. As you gave up your career to go to college you know yourself that right now college comes first, so however unfair it is about what you agreed during interview, you either put up or shut up.

If you have 17 contact hours and a 20-hour contract it sounds like a full load anyway (I was a full-time student with 9 whole contact hours a week for my BA :rolleyes:) and it's not selfish to want a couple of days to yourself. That in itself is not unreasonable but it is slightly unreasonable to expect your employer to fit everything around this requirement when they have a business to run, don't you think?

I don't know why everyone is bashing you about it though.

SeraphIRL

ellscurr wrote: »

You're entitled to want your weekends off, but have to accept that this particular employer won't accommodate you. As you gave up your career to go to college you know yourself that right now college comes first, so however unfair it is about what you agreed during interview, you either put up or shut up.

If you have 17 contact hours and a 20-hour contract it sounds like a full load anyway (I was a full-time student with 9 whole contact hours a week for my BA :rolleyes:) and it's not selfish to want a couple of days to yourself. That in itself is not unreasonable but it is slightly unreasonable to expect your employer to fit everything around this requirement when they have a business to run, don't you think?

I don't know why everyone is bashing you about it though.

that's by far the most constructive comment i've received. thanks a lot.
i reckon i'll agree to work one day over the weekend and then i'll quit when i have my debts paid and totally focus on college. maybe i'll be able to get a 5 or 10 hour shift somewhere else for a bit of pocket change.

thanks to everyone who posted

InReality

I also don't know why people are giving out to you. Your entitled to negotiate any arrangement about hours with your boss that you can !

Thats why its called a business relationship, its expected that both sides push to get the best of the arrangement that they can.

When you ask is it "selfish" , look at it this way , is it "selfish" to look for more money in a job ?

I think working hours are the same as pay, you try and get the best you can.

WindSock

Maybe try and negotiate every 2nd weekend?