Delicate...

... is how I felt by the end of Friday evening.

We're currently accepting 80% pay at work on a month by month basis (agreement renewed each month). The hourly paid (unionised) production operators are doing 80% of their hours to match, but their shifts have been staggered so the plant as a whole operates the normal 100% of the time. This means that lab that I look after has to operate 100% of the time too. For January, my lab staff agreed to work the full quota of their hours (as did I and all the management-type staff) but for Feb they've decided to work their paid 80% ... but the lab still has to function 100% of the time.
Cue some very early starts for me as I cover analytical shifts in the lab.

Next week there will be 4 of these (an 06:45 start at work means awake at 05:30). The major problem will be fighting to get away at 3pm so that I can get some rest for the next early start. I'm now trying to schedule all meetings for Monday (my one normal day) otherwise they just won't get done.

I also need to get my head round how to fit in the outside-work things. All the exercise classes I usually go to start ~5-6 o'clock, in the town where I work, rather than where I live (so I'm hoping for good weather so I can do some walking in the afternoons instead). Will be nice to get things like grocery shopping done in daylight though!

This pattern will continue for at least the next 3 weeks...