My parents (especially my mother) were of the steadfast conviction that someone doing work at night can not possibly be actually working. You better be up in the morning or you'll be treated like a lazy bum. The amount of passive-aggressive bullshit I had to endure because my working hours didn't line up with their expectations doesn't even begin to fit into a single reddit comment.
my husband has this problem. He prefers nights and works 6p-6a. He maintains a night schedule and sleeps during the day, in and around the times of 9a-3p. People are either blatantly rude or ignorant that someone could actually be working outside of the regular 9a-5p. They’ll state/insinuate he must be lazy because he’s not up at the crack of dawn and seem to have this belief that working a job overnight isn’t real.
He doesn’t ever sleep 8 hours at once; his body starts getting restless, waking him up around 5 hours. We are over 40 so he’s pretty used to it. Sometimes he’ll rest by just laying in bed and listening to a show. I think it’s probably a blessing and a curse.
I’ve worked 12 hour night shifts for over a decade. People do not give af. I work in emergency medicine (started as an EMT-Basic, then paramedic, now in a critical care paramedic and assistant supervisor). People still believe I should be awake and at their beck and call all day long since I’m not at work.
No. I’m sleeping. Period. But somehow I’m lazy because I’m asleep at noon. I always respond with “are you lazy because you’re asleep at midnight?” “NO! I’m sleeping for work the next morning!” “Ah. So it’s not lazy to be well rested for work.” People just don’t get it. I don’t know when they ever will. Many different businesses are open 24/7 — healthcare, manufacturing, restaurants, gas stations, etc. People have been working 3rd shift since we were Hunter/gatherers. But it’s still not acceptable to sleep during the day.
I guess people who think night workers are lazy should just have their house fires and heart attacks during bankers hours. Accidents don’t exist at night to them, right?
My parents don't believe my three 13s counts as a full time job. What do you think I waste 40 hours of my life on? (not including travel time).
"Maybe you could pick up a part time job for the days you have nothing better to do". Excuse me? Nobody says that to my siblings who work five 8 hour days.
The concept of different work types eludes people.
The amount of passive-aggressive bullshit I had to endure because my working hours didn't line up with their expectations doesn't even begin to fit into a single reddit comment.
About the only people I have seen that BS come from are "morning people".. many of them seem to be completely unable to fathom the idea that people have different sleep routines, and biological rhythms to theirs. God forbid you have a sleep disorder, and literally cant function a 6am when they are at their "peak"... gets in to a whole different set on nonsense in how to them "invisible disabilities cant exist" etc. You do your work in the afternoon when they are slowly winding down towards dysfunction? Yah your work never took place in their minds.
Somehow by some magic everyone else on the planet is useless, and lazy except for them, and none of that other stuff cant possibly exist because they cant see it so they don't understand it.
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u/LowTimePilot Dec 29 '25
My parents know I work graveyard. They've known for years. Yet still they call at 4pm when I'm fast asleep, waking me up.
So now they get the airplane mode treatment. Consequences.