Undestanding people who work the "Graveyard" shift . . .

It drives me nuts that people who work a "normal" schedule (i.e. dayshift) tend to forget that you don't, and have no problem calling you anytime during the day because they "know" you will be home (yeah, I'm home - I'm sleeping).

I just don't get this. My own family is guilty of this from time to time - and not when it's an emergency.

I can't count the times friends have asked "Why are you still asleep? It's 3PM!" Gee, maybe it's because I worked 12hrs today and got off at 11AM . . . "

I would never even consider calling one of my friends at 3AM and ask why they are asleep . . .

Sigh. Just grouching . . . been a bad month for this type of aggravation, so far . . .

I'm ok now . . .

 

Unplug the phone...

I used to work for a ship owner on a ship that went on cruises in the archipelago around Stockholm. We would often have parties on board, when guests celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, weddings or company parties. They sometimes would run till 2 or 3 am. After that, about an hour to get the guests out, tie up the boat, and maybe another half hour to get rid of garbage and shut down the engines. Then an hour on the tube, and a nice brisk walk at the end...

Quite frequently my boss would call me at 8 am and ask if everything went ok the night before...

At that time, I avoided giving people my home number, gave them my mobile number instead and made sure the mobile was shut off while sleeping... Didn't help with the boss though, he managed to get hold of my home number, I have no idea how!

So you have my deepest sympathies!

 

Hiya, Solange

I do unplug the phone . . . I've also put a kill-switch on my door-bell (pays to be a geek . . . ).

I'm just amazed still when I check my voice mail at the calls I have received . . . sigh.

Whatcha gonna do!

Hey, hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Did you eat a cookie for me?

 

My #2 son works the graveyard shift, 10pm to 6am, so we know what you mean.

Family still try to see if he is awake or asleep during the day. Sorry Aaron. Bazza

 

i love working the graveyard shift everyone thinks i'm crazy because i would rather be up all night and sleep all day.

 

Yes, it was great, nice to meet family, and the cookies were delicious! Wish I could have sent you a few, but I've tried that before, they tend to break in the mail...

Did you have a good Christmas? Any time off?

 

I remember getting home and watching people go off to work wondering why I was sitting on my porch having a Beer at 8:30 AM.

They will never get it. Don't try to explain, enjoy shift premium.

 

I worked 3rd shift long time ago, Hated it.
When I ate breakfast the Wife & kids were having Dinner
I remember when driving home I could hardly keep from falling asleep, then when I got home I'd be wide awake
It was like Bazarro World

 

Yes, I did have a good Christmas. Saw family and got some neat gifts. I ate way too much (again) so its probably best I didn't have any of your wonderful cookies . . . I might have burst! lol

No time off for me this year - I had to go into work at 11pm on Christmas eve, and I've been working away all week! I'm off (hopefully) tonight . . . time to relax! Hopefully I will be off new years eve - unless I get called in (we have a gal who is very, very pregnant . . . so you never know! )


Happy new year, Solange!!!!!!

 

I'm lucky, ASUS - I now live only 1/2 mile from work - and I usually just walk unless the weather is bad. I can relate to being sleepy coming home, then being wide awake - I have that problem all the time. Anymore I just take allergy pills (diphenhydramine) when it gets really bad - they just knock me out.

Too true, BirdBath . . . you can talk till you are blue in the face, and it gets nowhere. I've caught a few odd looks myself wandering around my yard with cold one at 08:00 am, lolMy neighbors thought I was an alcoholic . . .

I do get a shift bonus . . . it works out to almost 8% . . . lets see, pay me more for working a slow shift . . . . hmmmm

 

I haven't ever worked the graveyard shift, but I wish I could. I work from like 7:30 to 3:30 or 4:30. Can't really complain about the hours, but most of my best work is done @ night. I've been surprised how much better work is of a night. We've been redoing a lot of things on our network and I've had a couple 11 and 12 hour days. I guess I'm just in my groove later in the night. Probably because I don't have people calling me saying, "Can you unlock me? I guess I tried my password too many times." lol Happens about 20 times a day.lol

 

My son-in-law works the night shift for Micron in Boise. He must have the weirdest time adjusting because he has to wear a bunny suit every night! He puts it on in the "booty room".

 

lol . . . I can imagine his quandary trying to explain why he puts on a bunny suit in the booty room . . . I can't count the connotations. Happily, we geeks understand the reasons for a dust free environment.

 

The mids is not too bad once you get used to it.
I worked a job for a year where we rotated shifts - 6 days on and 2 off - from day to mids to evenings. That was rough. You'd no sooner get used to one and you'd be changing.
I heard about a year after I left that they went to 12 hour shifts and stayed on that for a month at a time.
Hmm - Booty Bunny, Bunny Booty

 

I spent many years working the graveyard. I love it and still miss it somewhat. Thing is, it's great if you live alone or with someone who works that same shift. Hard part is on nights off what to do (I was a regular at Denny's with a book and some good convo). My roomies knew better than to bug me during the mornigng tho, I almost took one out with an ashtray one morning when she poked her head in to see if I was awake (big glass ashtray left a heck of a dent in the door panel) Otherwise, I cover the window and sleep like the dead.

Now, having a family and all, I work 4 10hr shifts (1030 - 9) which is not too bad, but I wouldn't mind a more nromal schedule. Of course, going into the hair business, I know that will never happen. Happy new Years to you all and try to find a job you love


~C

 

I work from 10PM to 6:30AM, and still don't get a good night's sleep most times. People aren't really geared to sleep those hours, but I need the paycheck (badly).

A coworker was having problems with her husband on that reguard, getting calls at 11AM. So she, being a vengful person, kindly reciprocated, calling her hubby at 2AM to ask how it was going. She claimed this solved the problem. Strange...

 

A lot of my previous jobs have entailed night shift (usually 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.), which was good for going to the stores and such when they weren’t too crowded. The afternoon shift, (3:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.) were a bit more of a pain, as weren't exactly nights, and not exactly days, either.

I find I get a lot of my best work done in very late evening, or the small hours of the morning. Less nose and distractions. Being an insomniac at times, it kinda fits in, anyway.

 

What's even more fun is when your regular work shift is from 8am to 2am, often without more than a couple one-hour breaks. The next day, no one can figure out why I sleep 10-12 hours. rolleyes

I'm at my best at night as well. Left to my own devices, I sleep naturally from about 7am to about 2pm. Nobody in my family gets it, either, but I do get very lucky with friends who work the same hours I do or at least get it when I don't answer at a time they think I should be awake. Of course, it also comes in handy knowing I can call them at 4am and it'll be ok, since they're up too.