I don’t know how to (or if I should) keep working at my job

Hi! I’m just going on here looking for some advice and feedback. Basically, to summarize, I hate my job. It’s not even a bad job - it’s just working produce at a grocery store - but the hours are making me miserable and I don’t know how long I can/want to keep doing this.

For context, I’m on a leave of absence from college because my school is expensive and I wanted to work and save up before returning in the spring. I started working at this store 3 months ago, and since then I’ve saved up just barely enough money to return to school in the spring.

The job isn’t bad, but the work isn’t the problem. I think my hours are. I’m working 5 days a week, 1-9 pm. Often I’m scheduled to work 5+ days in a row, with only one day off to rest. On these days off, I’m so tired I barely get any housework done and engaging in any hobbies feels like homework at this point. I can’t hang out with friends, either, because they’re all in different states for college while I’m in my hometown. My boyfriend works full time 2 hours away, and we have the opposite schedules (he works from 6 am - 1 pm. When he clocks out, I clock in. When I get home, it’s time for him to go to bed.) He also gets weekends off, and because I work in a grocery store, I have to work at least part of the weekend. We’ve managed to see each other about every other week, but sometimes we go weeks without seeing each other and it stinks.

I just feel like I have no life outside of work. I live in a rural area, so there’s basically nothing to do when I get off of work. My boyfriend even drove up so we could have a dinner date last night, but the only places open were 21+, so I couldn’t even go in! We had to get fast food. It sucks that even when I TRY to have a life outside of work, I physically CAN’T. This has severely impacted my mental health. My friends and family have become concerned because I’m rarely happy and have become more irritable and stressed. I think I may be depressed.

But I also don’t want to burn this bridge with this store. I’d like to work here next summer to save money for next year. But I don’t know how much longer I can do this! My manager said he’d adjust my schedule to give me Sunday and Monday off, with an occasional 4 day weekend (he wouldn’t let me drop to part time), but my schedule hasn’t changed since we had this conversation around a month ago.

I don’t want to be coddled - if I’m being a baby just let me know. But I also wanna know if anyone has any advice on how to make it through this, or if I should start applying to other jobs. Any advice is appreciated, really. Thank you!

Posted Oct 11, 2025, 7:48 PM UTC

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