Ever Worked the Night Shift?
work July 31st, 2009
For a brief period between high school and my first real job, I worked the night shift at a mall.
One of the stores, a large pharmacy, was remodeling and needed people to unload merchandise from shelves, clean and reorganize while renovations took place. And they wanted it done round the clock so the store could reopen quickly.
It was the single worst job I’ve ever had.
My heart goes out to anyone who works 11PM-7AM. You’re basically living in another world. All the people with day jobs are relaxing or sleeping when you’re going to work. It completely messes up your view of everything.
I shot mental darts at people who were joyfully getting their days started, while I was going home to unwind and then sleep — in the middle of the day.
In the middle of sunshiny, action-packed, outside-noise-disturbing-my-sleep days.
Knowing that the rest of the world is up and active, while you’re unconscious, makes it that much harder. When I’d wake up, I could never really enjoy what was left of the day because I knew I had to report for work later.
I wouldn’t work the night shift again if you paid me ten times my salary now. Not worth it. Not kidding.
Anyone work a night shift? Anyone in a relationship with one who does? I’d like to hear how you cope.
I’d especially like to thank any medical or emergency professionals who routinely work the graveyard shift. You make it possible for us to call someone for help in the dead of night. Thanks for being there.
Stumble it!
July 31st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Mo worked shifts many years ago. That was messy as she worked three different shifts and each of them lasted a week. One was a late night start, about midnight. Another was an early morning start about 4am and another was a late morning start. Adjusting to a different shift each week was awful.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’ve worked nights since I was a teenager but only until like 3 or 4 a.m. I still sleep until at least noon. I would hate an 11-7 shift!
Boyfriend is on call for his job so it’s not unusual for him to be up and on the road at all hours. Sometimes I get up and go with him at 1 or 3 in the morning. He’s tired all the time, of course. Thankfully this part of his job only lasts a few months.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I worked in a convenience store deli from 8 p.m to 3:30 a.m. nights after high school and in between semesters of college. I don’t believe my sleep cycle has been right ever since. I did the reorganization thing too with a department store (ugh!!!!). I don’t know if it was the single worst job I’ve ever had, but it was close…maybe that Christmas wreath factory job (double ugh!).
July 31st, 2009 at 3:56 pm
My husband worked shifts when he was assigned to the border. He preferred midnight to 8. Since I worked days it was really fine. He was up when I got home from work, we had dinner watched tv, then when I went to bed he went to work. Easy-peasy. At one point in my life I was working 2 full-time jobs and going to college two nights a week – talk about disoriented. I worked my primary job from 9 am to 5 pm; my secondary job from 9 pm to 5 am and 2 nights a week I went to school from 5:45 pm to 7:30 pm…It might have been easier had I been 19 but I was in my mid-30′s at the time. This routine only lasted about 5 months – I gave up the night job.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I have thought the same thing. I don’t see how folks can work the graveyard shift. By 10 o’clock at night, I am ready to hit the sack. A two year-old will do that to ya!
Paul
Eat Well. Live Well.
PurpleGreenPops.com
July 31st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I worked the night shift between 6 PM and 6 AM in 2005. The work was mostly overlooking production of image-retreval servers. The job was good and I liked the people.
But the worst part was that sometime there was no work for us and we had to stay home or worse, go home in the middle of the night.
I’d sleep the day and two hours before check-in I’d get a call saying I didn’t have to go that night.
I’d be pissed and stay awake all night doing nothing !
Anyway, after working on and off there for 6 months I quit – much to the dismay of my supervisors. They even called me back but I told them to loose my number !
I prefer the night shift. It’s quieter, the supervisors are linient and you form a close circle of friends working with you. I’d do it again !
July 31st, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I’m not old enough to have a job yet, but I would hate to work that late. My friend who recently got a job at Burger King told me she sometimes works until 8 or 9, depending on when she starts, usually 5. Other than that, my mom and dad work late sometimes but never work overnight. :/
July 31st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
What if somebody paid you 10 times your salary now, plus threw in a Popsicle? Would you do it then?
July 31st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
It’s weird…you’d think anyone working the graveyard shift would be making three times as much green to make up for the havoc it reeks on their schedules/lives, but I know this isn’t the case. My SIL is an ER nurse in France and works the overnight on and off-I believe they cycle thru. I don’t know how she does it….but thank God for the people who do!
July 31st, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I worked graveyard shift in a couple of hospitals, and later in a document services company. We typed all night and printed things out for the customers… and by “we” I mean the people who worked for me. I was the manager, so I got to proofread everything. And make sure the worker bees were doing their typing. And fixing the damn printer when it became possessed.
I liked working 11-7, actually, despite the fact that I’m a morning person. But since I come from another planet, weirdness is to be expected of me. And I’d do it again for only FIVE times my current salary… heck, maybe even only THREE times.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
One of my old jobs had a 6pm-6am shift, that although it was not my regular shift i would volunteer regularly to cover this shift. I really enjoyed the quiet and having very few people around. The best part was it was a help desk and anyone who called was just happy that I was there to help them. I wouldn’t mind working a 3rd shift job full time. Most stores are open 24/7 now so i could just alter my whole schedule everyday and do all my errands when the rest of the world (that tends to annoy me) is sleeping.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I used to love working night shift. I was the supervisor, and people liked working for me. We watched Sponge Bob during our 1AM lunch, and regularly had pizza delivered.
But then I got a day job that paid me oodles more money…
I wouldn’t go back, and if I did Mrs C would kill me!
July 31st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I have worked the third shift several times when I was on console during Shuttle flights. I am a night person. I loved it.
In fact, the really bad part of the night shift for me was coming back off of it. My body LOVED it and I struggled to drag my butt out of bed and back on my normal 7-3:30 shift. If I could, I’d be sleeping in to the afternoon and working until the wee hours (and sometimes still do, except I still have to drag my butt to work *sigh*). Oddly enough, we’re all night owls in my house and would all of us sleep in a long time if we could just get away with it, parents and kids.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I have never worked nights, probably because I know that I would get fired on the first night. I tend to conk out by 10:30 or so, and I would be completely incoherent at 3 am.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:39 pm
One morning at about 7:30 on the way to work I needed some change and stopped at a bar. When I opened the door there were about 30 people in there drinking beer, playing pool, eating burgers – it was like I had stepped into the Twilite Zone or something. I asked the bartender what the hell was going on and he just gave me a blank stare, as if I was insane or something. I said, “Why are all these people here? This is a very odd time to have a party.”
“What party?” he said. “They stop by here after work every morning. This is their time to unwind and socialize.”
I honestly had no idea.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Never have, but it doesn’t sound like fun.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I’ve never had to work it, but I’ve had to develop schedules for EKG techs in three shifts to cover all 24 hours. Just creating the schedules is NOT fun… you can’t please everyone. But hey, they knew the job requirements when they were hired (heck, even when they trained, they knew it), but still I hated it.
The other thing to consider is that it is hard on the family of the person who has to work weird hours too. When hubby had to do nights for a few months, I despised it. I was the one to make sure he got up, he woke me when he got home, we never ate together. It was a mess.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I couldn’t do it. I need my sleep at night! I am a morning person.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I have never worked the nightshift, but with my insomnia I might as well!
July 31st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Hey Kathy,
thanks so much for the way cool magnet!! The hubster works shifts. When we first met he worked straights nights but now he works three shifts. A week of nights, then days, then afternoons. The down fall to this when I am just tired and need help he is not usually there to help so it’s like I’m a single mom.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I worked in a gas station on 3rd shift for a while, and much later in life in a Computer Operations Center for a bank, printing out all those monthly statements on a printer bigger than God’s pinky-toe. 12-8 is much better than 4-12. The trick is to time it so that you’re waking up an hour before you have to be at work, just like a regular job. If your S.O. is working graves and you’re not, then steel yourself for a bumpy ride, and get used to Saturday night dates, cause Fridays are right out.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:27 pm
My cousin worked nights for about 20 years as the lead operator in the computer room for a BIG local hospital. It had its advantages — the place is always cold, so you can wear the same things winter and summer — and disadvantages — trying to sleep during the day and having to get up early and go to meetings on your day off. There were times she was stuck there for 24 hours because bad weather kept others at home. She still works there, but her schedule has changed and she works different shifts.
August 1st, 2009 at 12:51 am
I was a polysomnographic technician for many years. This is fancy talk for a sleep tech. Because people insist on sleeping at night, to study sleep disorders I had to stay awake all night monitoring the sleep recordings.
Wasn’t too hard when I was younger, the shift ran from 8p-8a and I used to go to a class at 10a afterwords.
Couldn’t pull it off now.
I am still a night owl, but I can’t pull that type of shift. I like my sleep too much.
August 1st, 2009 at 3:34 am
I’ve worked a night shift before now and the one thing that really used to annoy me was getting home in the morning and trying to sleep during the day, with the the neighbours been as noisy as they could possibly be!!!
August 1st, 2009 at 3:43 am
I tried it back when I was about 20, because it paid a lot more money. I lasted a month. I couldn’t function.
On the other hand, my mother loved working the 11-7 shift and she still talks about it missing it. She has 8 kids and sometimes my Dad worked late, so the 11pm start time was ideal for her. She worked at the hospital with her best friend and loved how quiet the wards were at night. Then she got home just as we were getting ready for school and she went to bed. I guess it was her grown-up talk time, which I’m sure she really needed!
August 1st, 2009 at 5:41 am
Babs Beetle — There should be a law against such short shift change intervals. Brutal! I could do the 4AM start time easily, though. I’m an early riser.
Corrina — That doesn’t sound too, too bad. But your boyfriend? Ugh. Nice that you try to join him. It must make it a world easier for him.
Unfinished Rambler — Your hours (and Corrina’s) sound doable. Somehow the few hours earlier start time make a difference. Are you pulling my leg about the Christmas wreath factory?
Grace — I’m so intrigued that people actually like a night shift. This surprises me. Now your schedule??? How that didn’t kill you, I’ll never know. I, too, did the full-time job and college two nights a week (and sometimes also Saturday), but I only did it a year and you had another job thrown in. Seriously, how did you not wind up in the hospital from exhaustion?
PaulsHeathBlog — I’m in bed by 10, too. But I don’t have kids to blame it on. I’m just one of those “early to bed, early to rise” people. And I love it!
Jaffer — I’d be mad, too, if I slept enough to work at night and then didn’t have to go in. What a waste of a day. Again, I’m surprised to find so many people who like night shift. Interesting!
Regan — Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll like a night time job. Look at all the people here who do. When I was 17-18, I often worked at Roy Rogers until 2AM on weekend shifts. I loved being a “closer” because the customers left by 11PM and the few of us who closed up had fun goofing around while we worked.
C.B. Jones — It would have to be the kind of popsicle with chocolate crunchies on top.
kathryn — I think here there are some professions that offer differential pay. Shame your SIL doesn’t. Not nice, France! Yes, I’m glad there’s a whole subset of people who are out there providing services I don’t think about until I need them.
Kelly — I think I’m underestimating the number of companies that operate round the clock. So interesting that you’d do it again, despite not being a night owl. To me, the money isn’t the issue. It’s a quality of life thing.
Melissa K — I can see how the quiet would be enjoyable. But I just can’t get over the fact that I’d be awake while everyone else in my life is asleep. Too weird for me. I like your idea of running errands at night to avoid people. My sister sometimes would do her grocery shopping at midnight after work and she loved how she had almost the whole store to herself.
Chris Casey — Another one who liked it! Something about “1AM lunch” just doesn’t sound right to me.
Stephanie Barr — I don’t remember my body having a hard time readjusting to a daytime schedule. But I know it must have happened quickly, since that’s my body’s natural time. My husband is a night owl, like your family is. But at least we’re on the same work schedule.
absepa — You and I are exactly the same. When I visited Unfinished Rambler and Shieldmaiden in May, they laughed because my head was bobbing and my eyes were closing at 10PM. I tried to suppress my yawning, so they wouldn’t think I was bored.
Jeff — I bet it looked like the Twilight Zone! Night shift really is another world!
Chris — Although look at all the people here who coped so well and liked it. I’m in shock. This isn’t at all what I expected responses to be.
Maureen — That stinks you had to be the one scheduling others to work such a crappy shift. But yeah, if you know it and still stay there, then you have no excuse. When I wrote this, I did wonder how it affected the people who live in the house of the night shifter. It can’t be easy. You must have loved it the first day he didn’t have to go in. Make that night.
Karen — I know you and I are. I see you on Twitter the same time as me in the wee hours of the morning. I sometimes wake at 4:30AM and I’m totally fine with that.
Momo Fali — Awww, I hate how your insomnia is messing up your life so much. I really feel for you. And yet, you looked so fresh and perky when I saw you at 7AM (!!!) at the BlogHer registration. However do you do it?
The Mind of a Mom — Glad you like it! That stinks about your husband’s schedule, particularly because the times change. How does he cope with the weekends? Does he try to get up at an early time on Saturdays? I really can’t fathom how it works in a family situation.
Rufus Opus — Yes, I think that would have helped me, waking up right before the shift started. I hated, HATED, when I got up mid-afternoon, then had to worry about where I could go or what I could do because I had to go in later. It’s not for me, no matter how you cut it.
Ladybugg — Yikes, didn’t think about meetings on days off. That stinks. I can only hope there’s big overtime pay if she gets stuck working 24 hours. Almost makes up for it.
Susan K — Geez, when a friend had a sleep study, it didn’t even occur to me that the technicians had such backwards schedules. Yeah, when you’re younger, you can manage so much better. In my 40′s? No freaking way.
Karen — The neighbors, the mail truck, the garbage truck, kids playing after school, the list goes on and on. Plus, the sun shines in the windows! It’s so unnatural, isn’t it?
Barb WillThink4Wine — Another one who loved it! Incredible. It sounds like your mom had a system and it worked for her. But how would that work when the kids were off school in the summer?
August 1st, 2009 at 6:20 am
I would simply not be able to function working nights. I would hate, loathe and detest it, and what’s more, I would NOT be able to keep awake. But I’m eternally grateful for those who do – medical workers, utility workers, police, transport, emergency call-out folk, hotel workers .. our world would grind to a halt without them!
August 1st, 2009 at 7:23 am
I worked that shift ever since I was a teen. I really loved it. Even when I was in the army working in the ER at the post, when 11-7 came up I jumped on it. I do not know what it is about that time but to really suit me fine. I guess as a teen to sleep until 2pm and not get yelled at was a great feeling,lol.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:27 am
I worked in a plastics factory nights when I was a kid. Like you, it was the worse job of my life. I would do it if my children’s lives depended on it but for no other reason!!!
August 1st, 2009 at 8:20 am
I worked as a waitress one summer on the graveyard shift. That was where I learned to tolerate, if not love, coffee. Also speed. Then I worked the 3-11 shift at a publishing company for less than a year. Both were weird, unnatural experiences. Oh, and my husband worked the graveyard shift for 3 years. That was extremely difficult. People didn’t understand why he couldn’t “just stay up” for daytime activities. Dumbasses.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:33 am
Jeff…I just have to say that the first line of your comment sounds like the beginning of a joke or the opener to a fantastic novel!
August 1st, 2009 at 9:40 am
My husband delivered pizza until 4:00a.m. during our first year of marriage. I worked until eight and would come home and read and watch T.V. until he got home. It was an easy transition from single to married with no pressure about cooking and still having plenty of time in my own head. We slept until 1:00p.m., and our biggest worry was making sure the phone didn’t ring before noon. Then he called me at 3:00a.m. to tell me that the store had just been robbed, and he had to lay on his stomach with a shotgun to his head. From then on we have had day jobs and rarely go anywhere after dark. Fear of death changes everything.
August 1st, 2009 at 9:49 am
I worked the overnight Sunday shift at a radio station in college. It was surreal. Coffee and reds, crazy hours, sleep maybe a couple nights a week. Good times, 20-year-old style.
I am married to a vampire-uh-graveyard shift blackjack dealer and it has been a difficult adjustment. He works 2 AM – 10 AM, every weekend, holidays, and he just sleeps whenever else he feels like it, or thirteen seconds after assuming the position on the sofa with the remote in his hand. I occasionally do set eyes on him when he is not emitting snores, and we do have Monday and Tuesday (his days off) together, mostly, when he is not nodding off.
My friends and family just think I’ve murdered him and am covering it up by the whole graveyard shift story. Other people speculate that I’m a single mom.
August 1st, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I never worked a night shift but I was married to a man who was a military policeman and worked swing shifts (which meant one of his three shifts was the night shift) I hated it because it messed up both our lives. I was going to work and he was coming in to sleep or I was sleeping and he was going to work. The one in the middle wasn’t too bad.
August 1st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I would love to work a midnight to 8 shift. I am so not a morning person. I always went to college at night – but when you are 18 going to school 4 nights a week from 6 pm to 10 pm while working 8:15 am to 4:30 pm and then partying on Friday and Saturday – well, hell that’s what being 18 is about – at 35 not so much. At one point I even added a third job on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at a telephone answering service – that lasted 3 weekends but I did get to answer Walter Cronkite’s phone and give him his messages!
August 1st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Hey Kathy, Yes, I’ve work the third shift but don’t remember much about it. Love your top 10 list. I met you and JD at Blogher (newbie breakfast). You have a great site.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:07 pm
One of the best work schedules I ever had was when I worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana. I worked in the microfilm department and spent my shifts filming medical records (3,000-4,000 sheets/hour, printing up claims/documentation for customer service and other departments, and indexing stuff. Mindless work that made my brain leak.
But I did it Mon-Thurs, Midnight to 10:30 AM. That was awesome. I had my late mornings free and could then go to be before work. Most of my weekend was free, too.
Of course, I’ve always been a nightowl. Many nights, I’m just sharper between 11:PM and 2:AM.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 am
I work from 11pm – 7am – my body and mind works better then. I can do morning shifts – but tend to be all groggy – even when I’m strictly on A.M. shifts. I get up about an hour before I have to be at work, and I do errands right after work.
Which is nice because i can get things done faster – most times first appt of day for doctors, no lines at stores, etc. Everyone that is awake around 7 -8am is at work or getting ready going to work
As far as family gathering and the like, i just adjust my sleeping schedule around it.. .not a big deal.
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
Jay — I feel as you do. Couldn’t do it myself, but glad there are people who can, and apparently a lot who don’t mind.
Auntie E — Ha! That’s one way to look at it. I just read your About page. Did you work those hours when you were a civilian nurse, too? And — is there anywhere you haven’t visited or lived?
Document Scanning Services — I suppose I would, too, if it were suddenly the only job I could work. But I really mean it that I wouldn’t want more money. It’s a quality of life thing for me.
JD at I Do Things — I think they call them first, second, and third shifts in order of their crapiness level. I could probably do 3-11 if I had to. Three years is a long time for Dave to work graveyard. I know it must be as bad for the spouse. Yeah, people are stupid.
ann of the junkdrawerblogfamily — It does! I read it that way too. “A guy walks into a bar…”
misspiggytoes — “Fear of death changes everything.” No truer words have been spoken. I’m sorry that happened to him, but I’m glad he got out. Nothing good ever happens after midnight. I worry for people who work stores alone at that hour. There must be something more that can be done to protect such vulnerable employees.
Elle — LMAO at your story. Wow, going into work for a 2AM shift sounds worse than anything I’ve read so far. What a strange time slot. The good thing, though, is having off on weekdays. I find it’s easier to get errands and appts. taken care of when most others are at work. There’s the upside at least.
grannyann — The swing shift arrangement must be brutal on the body and mind. How can you find any regularity? And find time to share with your SO? Ugh.
Grace — Absolutely. Age makes all the difference. You took Walter Cronkite’s messages?! Way cool!
JC — So it’s really all a blur? Good to meet you at the conference, too! Next year, we won’t have to sit at the newbie tables. I thought that was kind of weird they separated us. At any rate, we’re no longer newbies!
Cromely — I love how you make that shift actually sound appealing. For me? No way. My husband prefers nights, too. He’s slow-moving in the AM, whereas I’m sharp as a tack at that hour.
jianali — You’ve done well with that schedule, it sounds. You’re right about your free time being other people’s work time. Lines are shorter, no crowds, no competing for attention. That’s the nice part.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:21 am
I just was laid off and was on third shift for about 5 years. The worst thing about it when the “others” needed to call a meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon! I used to tell the big boss we should have all meetings at 3:00 am when they were sleeping. It is a tough shift to work, all my bedroom windows had foil on them so I could pretend it was night.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
i have worked a night shift before now and the one thing that really used to annoy me was getting home in the morning and trying to sleep during the day, with the the neighbours been as noisy as they could possibly be
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I did a stint of working 11 pm to 7 am as a telephone operator. It was never boring, but I’m with you–I wouldn’t work the night shift again if you paid me extra to do it.
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 am
And now you know just how behind I am in my reader… but I just had to put in my two cents.
I work Saturdays and Sundays 8pm-8am at a homeless shelter. I thought I would hate it. I LOVE it. This is so much more than a job. I feel like I’m making a difference! Yeah, sometimes it sucks… schizophrenics off their meds, breaking up fights between two men both three times my size… but it’s worth it.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
For several years, I worked the evening shift, getting off work around 1-2 A.M. and that was ok. But about 6 months into my current job, I had to switch to 7p-7a to cover a coworker who was on extended maternity leave. It was horrible! I’ve never really been a late night person anway, so after about 2 A.M., my brain just turns to mush. Plus, I worked alone during those nights and really hated the isolation.
I’ve been on standard 8-5-ish day shift for about 15 years now and couldn’t imagine going back to evenings or nights. I’m naturally prone to being a morning person – I wake around 5:30 without an alarm.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:56 am
I worked a worse shift. I worked from 3:00 AM until usually 1 or 2 PM at the Post Office. You got home and basically took a nap and got up enjoyed the evening, went to bed at 10 or 10:30 and got up at at 1 0r 1:30 AM. We called it sleeping in split shifts. At least when you worked 11-7 you were up all night, not just half the night. It really messes with the body.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 am
When I worked at a convenience store, I refused to work the closing shift which was until midnight. In retaliation for this, they stuck me with opening the store at 5AM. The joke was on the boss, because I actually LIKE to get up early. Otherwise, I had a couple temp jobs that were third shift, usually 11-7 or midnight to 8. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I will proudly live in a cardboard box before I will do that again.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
I have worked nightshifts before and it’s really unhealthy and I will never get used to it. So, I end up resigning from my well paid job.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
Only time I worked the “night shift” was getting up with premature, newborn twins who seemed to need to eat every hour and a half. Lonely feeling. I agree – the safety and medical professionals who pull all-nighters are heros! To be up all night and sleep during the day is unnatural.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I have worked nights, and I loved it. My brain only really starts going at about 4pm, and I can go all night. But, it’s rough dealing with the rest of the world when you are on nights, and I did find it tough to get up and do things before work. That’s just unnatural. I now work 8:30 to 5. m-f, and while I do find it hard to get up in the am, I enjoy having time after work to ride my horses.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
For some stupid reason, I worked in the middle of the night, while also holding down a full time day job. It was one of those inventory jobs where you have a big heavy calculator thing slung around your neck and you tap away at a 10-key machine while you walk around a store after it closes and COUNT THINGS. Woo hoo! was that ever fun.
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I used to work an overnight shift at a residential treatment program for kids. Actually enjoyed it – until they went non-smoking (with NO notice) and suddenly I was expected to do 10 hour shifts without a smoke.
NOW I could do it – I have nicorettes – but back then it was TORTURE
August 4th, 2009 at 5:18 am
ettarose — Wow, five years of that? And how can people expect you to come in during the day. It’s like asking me to go in for a 3AM meeting. No fair!
globalwarming — I know I couldn’t sleep well during the day. Especially in the summer when everyone’s outside. And the lawn mowers. The lawn mowers!
Karen — I’m glad it wasn’t boring, because it sounds like it could be. Nope, you won’t find me workin’ 3rd shift, even if it was fun and made me gobs of money.
Dory — You ARE making a difference and the bonus is that you like the shifts. But 12 hours? How on earth do you manage? Good for you Dory!
Rob O. — I wouldn’t even be able to make it to 2AM, even if I got my body on that schedule. I’m not wired that way. Like you, I haven’t woken up to an alarm in years. Although I still set it because I’m afraid of the day I might not.
MA Fat Woman — Whoever made up that shift is evil. Messed up, for sure. Split shift sleep must have been murder. It’s also hard to say three times fast.
Kim — Ha! Yeah, I could start at 5AM, too. Lately I’ve been waking at 4AM, so it’d be perfect for me. And I could get home nice and early and still run errands when most of the world is still working.
Mortgage Modification — Good for you. Really. It’s a quality of life thing, isn’t it?
Ungirdled Passion — My sister used to say she wished there was a phone number you could call in the middle of the night when you’re nursing, just so you’d know other moms were up nursing at an odd hour. The loneliness stunk.
shadowsrider — Unnatural is the key. Same for me — I wouldn’t want to be out in the world, knowing I had to go into work later. I couldn’t truly relax and have fun.
Margaret (Nanny Goats) — How did you manage? Ugh! The money must have been good. Please tell me the money was good.
flit — Sounds rough. But thank God for the gum, right? And that’s not a regular, boring job. I imagine you had to deal with some pretty tough situations.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I would hate the night shift. I agree with you … it would drive me crazy that the world was going on around me while I slept and that everyone could rest while I had to work. Just not any fun at all. The closest my husband gets is that he works about 3 to midnight. So I never see him because I work 8:30 to 5 p.m. Blagh! But we see each other on the weekends and work in the same office so there is about a two hour lap over period where we do see each other.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Hi Kathy,
“The Night Shift?” Wow, it has a whole different meaning for me. I was a New York City police officer who spent a giant part of my career working the midnight “tour.” It’s nuts, I tell you. If you want to see the worst in humanity, deal with shootings, gang violence, domestic violence, drug sales, and deadly car accidents due to alcohol…then work midnights as a cop in some of the neighborhoods I patrolled.
Then, deal with the fact that you sleep most of the day, assuming you get home at a “normal” hour in time to see your spouse off to work and your kids on to the school bus, and maybe you need to hang out with your cop buddies and have a drink and talk about the mess of a human carcass you all discovered in a trash bin or the poor guy who was gunned down and took his last breaths before your eyes.
After getting a few hours of sleep, you crawl out of bed, strap on your pistol, and head off to your precinct to do it all over again.
I traded all of that in for the “four to twelve” tour, which is just like the midnights, but far busier, and you have the added benefit of having to work back to back tours to cover manpower shortages and because the midnight tours are notoriously understaffed.
God help you if you get caught guarding a crime scene, have to take a prisoner to the hospital, guard an EDP (emotionally disturbed person) in the psych ward at the hospital, or you make an arrest. You’ll be gone for the next three or four tours and your kids will have to look at pictures of you to remember your face.
All in all, I actually miss some of the times I had on the midnight tours. I also miss my longtime partner as he died three years ago from a heart attack at the age of forty eight. It was fun chasing bad guys, but it takes a huge toll on your mind and body.
I have new a career now, nine to five, Monday through Friday, and I sit in front of a computer all day. The only danger I face is if my computer catches a virus. Sorry to rant. It’s good to catch up with your blog. Take care. -Mike.
.-= Michael J. Kannengieser´s last blog ..The Business of Men =-.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Lisa — I’m glad at least that you can see your hubby at the end of your shift. That’s something. And you have your weekends, so all is not lost.
Mike! — Welcome back, buddy! Good to see you here. I don’t doubt what a toll it takes on anyone in your former profession. Your story sounds harrowing. You must have loved what you did or you never would have done it. I tip my hat to you. Most people can only imagine what goes on in the life of a police officer. I’m most sorry that your kids missed you. I’m glad you have a “boring” job now that doesn’t put you in harm’s way. Keep visiting, Mike! It’s good to know you’re still with me!
August 7th, 2009 at 11:42 am
During college I worked at a hospital answering phones and admitting people. On occasion I would work the swing shift with a friend of mine and on break we would push each other in wheels chairs as fast as we could. If we got hurt we were already at a hospital, but that doesn’t really heal ‘stupid’.
.-= Carla´s last blog ..Seafair Saturday =-.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Kathy, thanks for the thank you to emergency personnel. I have worked EMS for 15 years, a 24 hour shift with 3 days off in between. The shifts are tough, but I love the 3 days off. I get to spend more “awake” time with my kids, so it’s very worth it to me.
August 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Carla — Funny! No, in fact, there is no known cure for stupid. But it does sound like a fun way to keep yourself occupied during slow periods.
Connie — No doubt about it. We’d all be screwed without people like you. The 24 hr shift sounds like murder, but the three whole days off a week sounds wonderful. I know some nurses who do very long shifts like that so they can get a big chunk of time off in return. THANK YOU for what you do!
August 10th, 2009 at 4:31 am
I had a night shift but only until 10 or 12. I still could go home and sleep. However, I worked sometimes in weekend when someone having a break. What I hate from this when the new years, people celebrating the new years when I had to finish my job.
.-= Ruri´s last blog ..Designer Purses on a Tight Budget =-.
August 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
I work on shifts, working the night shift for 7 days every month. Specialists say I am going to lose 5 years of lifespan in my entire career. It is a hard paid price for having a nice income…
.-= Gabe´s last blog ..Comfort Food Lens updated Fri Aug 14 2009 6:26 am CDT =-.
August 14th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Ruri — I always wondered about people who had to work through new year’s eve. If it’s any consolation, I was thinking about you.
Gabe — Hey, if you’re being paid well, that’s something. And don’t worry about losing five years off your life. Those would probably have been bad years anyway!
August 21st, 2009 at 12:11 pm
My dad works night shift and about 10:15/10:30ish Sunday night to Thursday night he leaves and gets back about 7:30 or 8. Tonight he is working again, overtime. Ugh
.-= Abbey R´s last blog ..School – the most efficient way adults thought of to torture kids =-.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I’ve worked all three shifts. As a cop, I worked swing shifts. I hated both first and third, and greatly preferred second.
I hate morning jobs because I’m not a chirpy morning person. I hate getting up early and having to go to bed early and I always dragged ass every morning until after lunch. But I hated third, as I hated to have all my sleeping during the day and I felt as if I could never get enough sleep on third. Second splits the difference for me. I don’t have to get up early or ever use the hated alarm clock and it’s still dark when I finally go to bed. I work a second shift job now and I normally don’t go to bed until around 3 am, then wake about 10 or 11 in the morning. Perfect.
My son prefers working third shift as he likes sleeping all day.
.-= Libertine´s last blog ..Harry Truman on Health Care Reform =-.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Abbey R — Sorry to hear that. Can’t be fun.
Libertine — Glad you found a happy medium. I can see how third would have killed you. Pure torture on the body/mind. And kudos for your son for finding what fits him, too. I’m an early bird, so I could totally swing a 7-3. In fact, I’d just about kill for it.
September 5th, 2009 at 12:15 am
I love night shift because I’m not a chirpy morning person.I hate getting up early and having to go to bed early and I always dragged ass every morning until after lunch. So that i want to do job at night.for further information visit:http://www.gethiredhelp.com/
.-= Robbert´s last blog ..Recession almost at an end =-.
September 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I’ve had a few jobs working the graveyard shift and I enjoyed it much better than working first shift. There were two different ways I usually handled my days. I would either get done work and do whatever I wanted until it was time to go to sleep for work or I would get done work and sleep then go hang out with my friends before work. I’m more of a night person anyway so that made it all the easier.
November 12th, 2009 at 5:08 am
I understand what you are saying. Even I have done some night shifts and it’s boring to go to work when other people are coming home. Even I was not able to sleep during the day time because of the noise outside, doorbells and phone calls.
January 17th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Working in the Night shifts is so Horrible.But being a Customer care executive my job is mostly in the night shifts.The timings up 2.00 AM is OK for any one,the work time between 4-5 AM is not possible to control the sleep to any one after that we can manage easily.11-7 is my work time