About three years ago, I married an HVAC technician.
When we first started going out, I guess I never really noticed what his schedule was like because we planned our dates around his schedule.
But then when we got married and started our real lives together, the schedule started to hit me like a ton of bricks! Did you know that at some heating and cooling companies, like the one my husband works for, you have to work every weekend or every holiday? It’s super annoying, not only for me, but for my kids. I hate the way that they don’t get to see their dad on holidays. It’s really starting to drive me crazy, but I guess he doesn’t really have the ability to ask for time off until he has been at the HVAC company for at least five years. Apparently, they start letting you take off for weekends and holidays whenever you have achieved seniority or something like that. Now, the HVAC technicians who have been there for a while really have it made. They actually get to set their own schedules, for the most part. They mostly work the 8 to 4 shift and then take off on the weekends. My husband keeps saying that we just have to make it through a couple more years of this terrible schedule and then he will be able to be like the older HVAC technicians who can pretty much work whenever they want to. I can’t wait for that to happen! It’s been a rough three years of dealing with this tough HVAC schedule.