I need to get this off my chest because it happens every single day after work and it drives me crazy. I work in a manufacturing plant and the schedule alone is enough to make anyone feel exhausted. We do twelve hour shifts that rotate every week between days and nights.

We have to clock in before six in the morning which means most of us are dragging ourselves out of bed long before the sun even thinks about rising. I set my alarm for five twenty five and honestly even that feels brutal some days.

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The job itself is no joke. You have to be able to stand on your feet for hours at a time. You have to lift heavy things over and over again. You climb ladders. You operate machinery. The work keeps your body moving nonstop and it wears you out in ways that stick with you long after your shift ends.

I work in packaging so I am on the production floor the entire day. By the time it hits six thirty in the evening and night shift walks in, most of us should be ready to run out the door. You would think people would be desperate to go home and rest because twelve hours on a factory floor drains your mind and your body.

But for some reason that I will never understand, almost everyone stays behind when the shift ends. Instead of heading straight to the exit, they gather in the breakroom or the lobby like they suddenly forgot how tired they are.

They sit around talking, scrolling through their phones, eating, laughing, or just hanging out like we did not all just work ourselves half dead. It is honestly wild because it is not just a few people. It is like ninety five percent of the entire shift. Only a small handful of people actually clock out right away. Most people do not even clock out until around six forty five.

Meanwhile I am the complete opposite. When it is time to leave I grab my stuff and I am out the door. I do not want to stand around. I do not want to talk. I do not want to pretend I have energy I do not have.

All I want is to get home, breathe, rest, eat something real, shower, and finally sit down without feeling like my legs will fall off. I do not understand how everyone else suddenly becomes social right after a twelve hour shift. Maybe it is their way of decompressing. Maybe it is habit. Maybe they do not feel the exhaustion the way I do.

All I know is when that shift ends I am gone. I am not hanging around for one extra minute after doing that kind of work.

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