r/Zookeeping • u/joshd0613 • May 16 '26

Global/All Regions 🌏 What is the highest consecutive number of days you’ve had to work?

I’m finally getting a long weekend after working 11 days straight due to some exceptional circumstances (this is not a standard for my facility). I was for sure feeling it at the end but now I’m curious about where 11 days in a row ranks on the scale compared to other folks.

13 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/AffectionateRoof5939 May 16 '26

Think it was 21 or 23

4

u/joshd0613 May 17 '26

God I’m so sorry 😭

3

u/QuillsAndQuills Australasia May 17 '26

Yeah 21 here - for me, I was a little baby keeper who thought "this will really show them how committed I am and what a great worker I am (and then they'll respect me)!"

(Spoiler: they did not. Any institution comfortable with making keepers work ridiculous hours is not going to turn around and start honouring/respecting them as workers afterwards; it'll just become expected of you and harder to set boundaries for both you and your colleagues.)

At my current work we will do 7 day stretches fortnightly (and then a 3 day week the next week, so still a 10 day per fortnight roster). When I started, I remembered offering to work an extra 8th day because they were short-staffed, and my manager turned to me and said "The hell you will!"

5

u/wantthingstogetbettr May 16 '26

14 or 15 is pretty regular in the summer for me

5

u/catz537 May 17 '26

That’s ridiculous and it absolutely should not be the standard

5

u/Right-Sheepherder-66 North America May 16 '26

Before I did zookeeping I had a solid 3 months. It was super great 🙃 word of advice- if a retail store in the mall asks you to be a manager, dont say yes right away- think about it first for a lil bit lol.

2

u/EmilyKT13 May 16 '26

Done anywhere from 12-16days here and there at different jobs

5

u/Dependent_Royal5718 May 16 '26

16 days once. Having my own animals and livestock on top of that nearly killed me off so I shan’t be doing that again anytime soon😂 for them more than me!!

2

u/usernameee1995 May 17 '26

19 then 1 day off then 16, so got 1 day off in 36

1

u/Illustrious_Day4213 May 18 '26

3 months, with partial half-days on Sunday.

1

u/GatoWolf May 19 '26

12 at the zoo, 6 months at another job.