I'm on call... to be there!

I like my job, however, one of the more annoying traits of it is being on an on-call roster.

For me, this essentially means that I am under house arrest - I can walk around the block, catch up on movies, wash my car or clean up a bit around the house but not do much else. I rarely get called up, but when I am called, it is usually in the middle of an emergency and I have to follow a strict set of service level assurances and pretty much ready to go. I've been called at 3am on a weekday and at 6pm on a weekend. you just never know if or when your phones going to ring, so you need to be prepared at all times. Some faults last an hour, others (like my last fault) last a week.

Earlier in the year, I had to do this every 3rd week, then due to some planned absences in the middle of the year picked up a couple of extra weeks and was doing every second week for a while. A fourth person joined the roster in October and thanks to a swap due to  my Singapore trip, have managed a nice stretch of 7 weeks without being on call, the most time I've had off the roster since joining it.

That all changes tonight. I'm back on call for another 7 days and whilst I will get some reprieve tomorrow night by way of a swap with a coworker, am expecting a rather boring week at home. There is a silver lining - the financial compensation helps but I feel the cost is justified considering how restrictive my movements are when I am on the roster.