Wifey got herself a new job...or, B's venture into the depressing world of math

Not only a new job, but a good job.
Not only a good job, but a good, sciencey(tm) job.
Not only a good, sciencey(tm) job, but a sciencey(tm) job with a real paycheck.
I could go on, but my readers, all 3 of you, undoubtedly catch my drift.

Now it's my turn.
-It's not that I don't like what I'm doing right now, I actually do...some of the time.
-It's not that I don't like my coworkers...some of them don't come across as deranged circus performers (is there any other kind?) every time they speak.
-It's the commute and the long shifts. TDCJ loves to boast that being a CO (Correctional Officer) is a great job because you get good(decent) pay for working only half the year. Their logic is that 4 days on, 4 days off is working 1 out of 2 days/year, ergo working half the year.
Well...that's certainly true taken at face value.

Let let's break it down a little more, shall we?

Each shift worked as a CO is a 12 hour shift.
You work 4 shifts, then have 4 days off.

By contrast, in most other jobs you work an 8 hour shift.
You work 5 shifts, then have 2 days off.

Now, one 12 hour shift is equal to one and a half 8 hour shifts, so for every 2 days worked as a CO you are effectively putting in 3 days of "normal" work.
Savvy?

Now, on with our show.

For an 8hrs/day, 5days/week job that's 260 work days/year, ignoring holidays...or 2,080 work hours/year.

Now for the CO job I'll round the days/year down to 364, just to be nice.
For the 12hrs/day, 4days on/4days off job thats 182 work days/year, ignoring holidays (which TDCJ does for obvious reasons)...or 2,184 work hours/year.

So that's an extra two and a half weeks of work/year as a CO and we haven't even touch on holidays. Right away we see that "you're only working half the year" line is not so accurate. Or as Buffy would say, "Your logic does not resemble our Earth logic".

Honestly, the holiday, sick and vacation accrual likely comes out to about the same. TDCJ employees often work holidays, but they accrue holiday time so we'll call that one more or less even, especially considering there is no set rule for other (8 hour day/5 day week) jobs.

Oh, and I forgot one more thing!

I spend 4 hours (this includes 30 minute shift turnout) commuting EVERY DAY!

A quick breakdown for those of you (namely me) whom are a little math-challenged.
4 hours X 4 work days = an additional 16 hours per work cycle.
OR
16 hours/day, 182 work days/year...that's 2,912 hours/year going to, at, or leaving from work.

Bestplaces.net states the average daily commute in San Antonio takes 26 minutes one way.
I'll round up to 30 minutes, or 1 hour/day.
1 hour X 5 work days = an additional 5 hours per work cycle.
OR
9 hours/day, 260 work days/year...that's 2,340 hours/year going to, at, or leaving work.
Vs.
2,912 hours/year going to, at, or leaving from work.
So we've got those extra 104 hours of work per year as a CO, plus an additional 468 hours (that's 2912 minus 2340, minus 104) commuting per year. I could break those 468 hours down by shift, day, or week, but it would just be depressing.

Instead, I'm going to go apply for some jobs!

B.