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Have you ever tried working from home while also watching over a young child? Trust me. It’s not easy. In fact, it can be very, very frustrating. As kids get older it gets easier, but when we’re talking about babies, toddlers or preschoolers, the interruptions are almost endless.

In this story, one couple is in a somewhat frustrating situation. This takes place during the lockdown days of the pandemic when a lot of people started working from home, and schools were shut down.

The wife works from home while watching the couple’s preschool aged son. Meanwhile, the husband works long hours as a nurse at a hospital.

The problem surrounds the husband deciding to pickup an overtime shift.

Let’s read all about it.

AITA for doing overtime.

I am a senior nurse in a hospital reacting to the Covid pandemic.

My wife is currently working from home in a job considered non-essential (finance related)

Schools are shut so our 4.5year old is home schooled except this week is half term so he does not need to do school work.

H (son) is not good at amusing himself and likes someone around all the time (because he’s five that seems normal to me).

He’s been busy at work.

So I have just completed 2 night shifts. It’s been pretty hellish as our ward as we have a lot of the social cases awaiting care packages or nursing home placements.

As their needs are higher than our usual patients we need higher staffing levels in order to meet those needs and maintain safety and dignity for our patients.

So I get home knackered after a tough night having worked an extra hour while extra people were found to make our staffing safe.

He took over with their son for awhile.

W (wife) wants to ring her family.

It’s an important conversation so she asks me to distract H.

Cue an hour of daddy time so I go to bed around 10.

W mentions a work zoom at 1300 but says she can listen in and H can have some tablet time.

He had the option of working overtime.

I set alarm for 14:00. I end up getting up slightly before and she goes to the spare room to work.

Shout out on the work site that due to sickness they need cover for night shift.

I wait an hour to see if anyone else responds, I check with W, explain I can survive on the sleep I’ve had so ask if I can cover.

W says yes so I confirm shift.

But his wife didn’t really want him to work overtime.

Then the comments start “Obviously your work is more important but now I will have to reschedule meetings tomorrow morning”

“I can’t always be expected to change my life around your work” etc etc.

To put it in context I have done no overtime or sudden shift change in last 2 months precisely because of this type of comment and the knowledge that she does not cope well with H on her own.

He’s pretty frustrated.

I find this frustrating as I know the ward is short when I could be helping out which would give us some extra money for holidays, travel etc when we are allowed to again.

I said I can be up earlier tomorrow as long as I hit the hay as soon as I get home and I’m not due back at work for another 4 days.

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I really don’t think IATA for doing overtime during a pandemic when everyone is making sacrifices.

He may not understand how hard it is to work from home while parenting a young child. That is probably why is wife is upset about the overtime shift. At least when he goes to work he’s just working and not having to parent while working.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person thanks him for his hard work.

This would frustrate me too. It’s like she said “yes” but meant “no.”

They are both dealing with a lot right now.

This person has a theory.

She may just be venting. It could be that she understands that he needs to work and is okay with him working but is also venting out loud about how much more difficult her life is going to be because he’s working overtime.

They are both dealing with a lot right now. Neither one of them exactly has it easy, but a little understanding can go a long way. Maybe he could offer to bring home dinner or something to help make her life easier when he is home.

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Author

Jayne Elliott

Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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