I have two jobs.  I like them both.   If I work both jobs I end up with around forty hours per week of work.  But I work in jobs that need fill-ins several times a week.  If someone asks me to be a fill-in, and I am not going to be out of town and don’t have any other obligations that cannot be changed, I always accept.  Always.

One week last summer I ended up with seventy hours in one week.  It was murder.  I understand that you or someone you know does this every week and I am nothing special.  I get that.   But I only want to work at best forty hours in a week.  I have three kids who I’d like to see grow up.  I have hobbies that deserve more of my time.  But I have this fear that if I say no to an employer, they will go somewhere else and get a yes from another employee which will make me less valuable and likelier to be disposed of if employee disposal becomes necessary at some point in the future.  I know what it’s like to not have a job and need one, and I never want to experience that again.

Today was the perfect example of my personal issue of being a yes-woman.  Mondays are my Fridays, and Tuesday and Wednesdays are my weekends.  I work a nice brief shift Monday mornings.  Near the end of my shift I was asked to come back after a few hours break and do the later shift.  I said yes.  While I was on my late shift, my other job called and asked if I could work on both my days off.  I said yes to this as well.  So now I have no two day weekend for a dozen days, and this is completely my choice.  I will likely be asked to work on my next weekend and I will likely say yes to that as well.

The point of this whole ramble is that I am going to find a way to say no to people who request things of me and still end up as though I am not letting anyone down. And when I do I am going to crochet a giant blanket.  I have a large amount of yarn I have been neglecting for years.