We have all been there. Whatever the reason, you’re hit with that feeling of absolute dread; you have to get your shift covered tomorrow. (Or, for the more common reason, you just want to not work tomorrow.) Which is usually the case at the very last-minute before any sane person would actually cover your shift.
So, you do what you always do, whip out your phone, and start typing out that all-too-familiar text to that one person who you know is the most likely victim of falling for your sob-story you’re about to construct.
This is a story that we are all guilty of being a part of. It deserves a more, in-depth, analysis. So, without further ado, let’s get into the sad, sad stages of trying to get your shift covered.
Stage 1: The Feeling of Really Not Wanting To Work Tomorrow
Okay, let’s set the scene. It’s a Saturday night. You’re finally out with your friends, having the time of your life. At this point, it’s somewhere around 9:30 PM and you’re likely on your 4th-5th drink and you’re in that stage of intoxication where you’re more confident than that guy who always hits on girls at the gym.
The bar you’re at is starting to die down, but one of your friends has the brilliant idea to move the party over to the local dive-bar and continue the shenanigans there because they’re having a promotion where you can get 3 shots of well tequila for $3. (Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to partake in that promotion?)
So you’re like, UGH, I don’t know if I should go!
So, you do the math in your head.
“If I were to fall asleep this exact second, I would have 7 hours of sleep…not bad,” you think to yourself.
“Plus, I actually think I wouldn’t even be hungover because I’m not that drunk yet.”
So you push that calculation further.
“BUT, if I go out to this next bar, I’d probably get about 4 hours of sleep and I’m extremely confident I would take full advantage of that tequila promotion they have, so I would be tired AND hungover beyond belief”
But that doesn’t scare you because your blood is flowing with liquid confidence. “OMG!” you exclaim to your friends. “In the Uber over there, I’m going to get my shift covered.”
You haven’t been out in what feels like weeks, so you convince yourself that you deserve a night off! “I haven’t had a day off in so long, I’m letting loose tonight!”
So you tell your friends you’re in! That responsible friend of yours calls the Uber, and you all pack in after pleading with the driver to let 4 people ride in the backseat, which only fits 3.
“Tequila shots, here I come!” you yell, as you whip out your phone to begin constructing the text to “Unsuspecting-Coworker #1”
Stage 2: Coming Up with a Reason You Literally Can’t Work Tomorrow
Squinting with only one eye open, you select the contact in your phone named, “Ryan Work,” and begin typing out the text, trying to keep the drunk-typos to a minimum.
“hey, ryan! I know its late…but I have a huge favor to ask you.”
*you hit send so you can see if he’ll actually respond. Because if you ask him in the first text you send, you’ll give him a valid reason to say he fell asleep next time you see him”
Beginning to think of some reasons why you can’t work to reply to him, many ideas cross your mind.
“I could say my uncle’s hamster is in town,” like that meme you say a few months back. But nobody in their right mind would even respond to that.
“I could say a family member is in the hospital!” Which you quickly pass on, because that is horrible karma and you’re not a bad person.
“Oh, I know! I can just say I promised I would hangout with my dad a while ago and I even requested it off, but the boss didn’t listen. He planned so much stuff, and he would be sad if I bailed”
Foolproof, you think to yourself.
Excuse in-hand, you find out you’re almost to the dive-bar with the practically-free tequila, but Ryan hasn’t responded yet; it’s already 10:15 PM…closing in on only 6 hours of sleep if you fell asleep this exact second. (which, let’s be real, isn’t promising)
In a rather-unenthused tone, the Uber driver tells your group that they’re at the bar.
In a heightened-state of anxiousness, you copy that text you just sent to Ryan, and with record dexterity and speed, you blast that overly-dramatic message to the next 5 coworkers you know have a decent chance of wanting to pick up some extra hours.
Without even locking your iPhone screen, you stumble out of the Uber and let out a party-screech as you walk through the rickety-door into the dimly-lit dive bar to be hit with the, unnecessarily loud and off-tune, voice of a drunk guy belting out Journey’s, Don’t Stop Believin’ with a Bud Light in-hand.
Not even the slightest bit worried, you and your friends head straight to the bar, $3 bucks in-hand, and order yourself 3 shots of that delicious well tequila.
And so, the wait begins.
Stage 3: Back-and-Forth Exchanges with Uncooperative Coworkers
At this point, 11:13 PM, only one of your coworkers responded. She’s out of town, and you know she’s not lying to you because you actually knew that. “Why did I even text her?” You ask yourself.
But, you remember that she is a very responsible coworker of yours, and would likely have the phone numbers of the rest of your coworkers you want to text to cover your shift; so you use this open line of communication to gather contacts of the remaining, unsuspecting victims of your drunken night on the town.
“Hey, did you get tomorrow off?” your friend asks you while playing darts.
“No, Ryan read my text! But he still hasn’t responded and it’s been almost 6 minutes since he read my text…I’m literally never covering a shift for him again!”
But, to your surprise, your phone vibrates! But, it’s…your mom, asking what time you plan on being home.
Not able to focus on that in your current state, you leave her on read while you figure out who is taking your shift.
*Buzz Buzz* It’s Ryan!
“I knew he was up!” you think to yourself as you open his text.
“what favor…?” Ryan’s text unenthusiastically reads.
With a grin on your face, you type out, “Can you PRETTY PLEASE take my shift tomorrow?! I requested it off, but I still got scheduled. I’m supposed to spend the day with my dad and I really need it off :) :)”
Hopes high, you hit send and start to sprinkle some salt on your hand to take yet another shot of tequila.
You’re not able to calculate how many hours of sleep you’d get if you fell asleep right now, but you’re not even worried about that anymore. “Ryan’s totally going to be able to take my shift,” you drunkenly explain to your friend as you rally up your friends to do some karaoke.
Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time is your go-to song that you can’t wait to impress the bar with your tequila-powered vocals.
At this point, Ryan is the last coworker standing.
Three others have replied that they’re either, “already working,” or “already made plans, sorry.” And you have already sworn to yourself you’ll never take one of their shifts again because they didn’t fall for your last-minute, unreasonable request to work on a Sunday morning.
So, you’re off to stretch those vocal cords to the classic Britney, who you grew up with and know every word.
Stage 4: Contemplating Other, Not-So-Noble, Means to Get Out of Work
Oh my god, you think to yourself. It’s now almost 1:00 PM.
Sleep-Forecast: Less than 4 hours of sleep available.
“hey, sorry tp be anoying.. but can u take it ??” you triple-text Ryan. This time, your BAC levels are apparent through your blatant typos. Not to mention it’s 1 in the morning; the gig’s up, Ryan totally knows I’m out drinking.
As a last-ditch effort, you hesitantly click on your manager’s name in your contacts, and start to consult with your friends how you should tell them you can’t come into work tomorrow.
“Tell him you broke your arm!” an equally-drunk friend says.
“Seriously, just quit!” your reckless friend shouts.
“OMG, just get an Uber home and go to work! You need this job and you’ll get fired” your wise, responsible friend tells you.
Thinking back to the last, embarrassing drunk text you regretted in the morning, you decide it’s probably better to not have your boss read your text when they wake up in the morning because they are likely 100% asleep.
Defeated and out of options, you decide that there is no point in going to sleep anymore because you’re ‘not even tired’ and sleeping will make it worse.
(You know this from experience and is a decision that screams “this is the tequila talking”)
So you accept your fate; you failed at getting your shift covered.
Stage 5: Accepting Defeat, Dealing with Regret of your Actions & Dreading Tomorrow
“Well, this is it,” you think to yourself, overcome with a strong feeling of defeat and self-pity.
The atmosphere at the bar is starting to die down and your group of friends, which started at five, has now dwindled down to three, highly-intoxicated friends. Including yourself.
All you can think about is working your 8-hour shift tomorrow. Since tomorrow is Sunday and you work at a restaurant that serves brunch, you know it’s going to be extremely busy and you’re going to be hating life.
As your friends tell you they want to get an Uber home, you start to weigh your options.
Option 1: Take an Uber home and hopefully get at least 2 hours of sleep before your shift.
But then it hits you, you left your car at the first bar you started at earlier in the night. You literally can’t drive to work tomorrow.
So, it’s either waking up a family member super early to ask them to take you to work, calling an Uber, or Option 2.
Option 2 is a risky one. But at this point, you don’t care. Nothing is more important to you than your sleep.
Option 2 goes a little something like this:
- Call Uber
- Take Uber ride home
- Make a quick, probably unhealthy, meal to satisfy drunchies. (Or tell your Uber driver to drive through Jack In The Box to get some tacos, MMM)
- Inhale said tacos
- Set alarm for the time I would normally wake up for work
- Sleep….hard
- Wake up when my alarm goes off, and call my store to say I have been throwing up and can’t come into work tomorrow
- Hope that none of other people I texted tell my manager I was out drinking
- Pray I don’t get fired
Option 2 sounds great now, but let’s see how it sounds in the morning.
So, you slam back 5 tacos from Jack, and after waking your parents up, you literally free-fall into your bed.
You’re out before your head hits the pillow.
Stage 6: Time to Face the Music
You don’t know how, but you finally wake up after sleeping straight through about 7 minutes of your alarm.
You let out a massively-painful, “UGGGGGHHHHH,” as your arm slams down on your nightstand. Completely flabbergasted, you realize you weren’t even responsible enough to keep a huge glass of water next to your bed. Those tacos are really taking their toll now, as your mouth is dryer than the…idk, the dryest thing on the earth.
You get out of bed, run into a few walls, and with a rubbberneck, throw your head under the faucet as you start to pour water down your parched throat.
As you come to your senses (kind of), you realize why your alarm went off; it’s do-or-die time.
To call-in-sick? Or to be an adult and work your shift like a responsible, 22-year old should do?
As you glance at a “Daily Account Balance” notification from the Bank of America app, you slowly get up and stumble to find your clothes. You literally spent 40% of your account balance last night, you have no choice.
At this point, your Mom actually woke up because you weren’t being as quiet as you thought. Plus, she heard your alarm go off for quite a long time.
She comments on your poor appearance, but does not give any pity; she’s your Mom, she expects you to be held accountable for your actions.
“I’ll take you to work,” your Mom says with a hidden sense of enjoyment.
And so, your day begins. It’s going to be a long day. That’s forsure.
Stage 7: Finding Out About the “New Way” To Get a Shift Covered
Halfway through your shift, you finally are told that it’s your lunch break.
In a zombie-like fashion, you drag your feet to the backroom to clock out for your, much-needed, 30 minute break.
Instead of eating actual food, which you can’t bear the thought of, you head over to the smoothie joint next door. You need a detoxify juice with a ton of ginger to make you feel, even the slightest bit less nauseous.
While you’re waiting for your smoothie, you’re also texting one of your best friends who you we’re with last night.
“OMG, I seriously feel like absolute shit. I can’t believe Ryan never texted me back,” you complain to your friend.
With a rather surprising lack of sympathy, she nearly scoffs at you at the fact you weren’t able to get your shift covered.
“You’re being annoying,” you tell her.
“You wouldn’t have been able to get your shift covered that close to the actual shift.”
“Uh, yes I would be able to. I always get mine covered because my store uses Shyft. I literally can post any of my shifts and it amazes 
me that literally almost every one of them gets covered,” she replied.
“Wait, what?” you reply.
“It’s like a work app that my manager found out about. All of my coworkers are on it, and we all post our shifts there and whenever someone wants to work, they just cover one of the shifts on the feed and then my manager approves it. If you guys had it, you would probably be in bed right now, hehehe,” she boasted.
“WHY THE F did you not tell me about that last night!” I yelled via text, sipping my anti-hangover potion.
Apparently, she did tell you. You were just too many $1 tequila shots deep to have listened to her.
As your lunch break nears its end, you download Shyft, easily find your store, and you invite every one of the coworkers you texted last night to join. (Sternly letting them know, they have no choice but to join, because you’re never going through this hellish-day again)
It’s an easy job convincing your boss to start using the app, because it also makes his job way easier. If you had called in ‘sick’ today, you would have probably gotten fired because your boss would have spent hours calling the same people you did to try and get them to come in; even more last-minute than last night.
Stage 8: Putting Technology to Use
Fast forward a month or two.
The days of working that hungover are a thing of the past. Your whole store has accepted the 21st century way of getting shifts covered with open arms.
You’ve found yourself with a flexible schedule that actually works with in conjunction with your fast-paced lifestyle.
On your days off, you’ve also found yourself rather bored, so you start browsing through the shifts posted by your coworkers; seeing if one sounds like a decent shift to pick up.
You find one that actually doesn’t seem bad. You’re not doing anything important, so you pick it up; hangover-free.
Enjoying the new way of work, you sit on your lunch break and reminisce about that one, horrid day, where you had to work while deathly hungover. You smile as you think about the promising future of never having to go through that embarrassing process of texting your entire store at 1 in the morning, ever again.
You finally #GotYourShyftTogether. Congratulations!
If you’ve ever gone through this, please give it a share to your friends! If the last part about using Shyft is foreign to you, click the button below to download it!
(We obviously know what it’s like without it, and we wouldn’t wish that on our worst enemies)
Once you do download, click here to go over the Shyft Getting Started Guide from the Shyft Blog to find out all of the amazing features that the app has to offer.
Oh, and go get yourself some $1 shots of tequila.
