Anybody who has ever worked night shift

[Lindz85]

I worked 3rd shift for 7 months. I HATED it. At the time I lived with my ex-fiance, his sister and her 2 year old kid. Her sister had no respect, constantly letting her kid bang on the door, doing laundry when the laundry room was right next to my room. My ex had no consideration either, he would wake me up every single day when he got home even though I told him not to. People thought it was "awesome" that I got to sleep in all day. I'm like... I'm not sleeping in, I'm just sleeping like everybody else. There was one week where I literally got 1 1/2 hours of sleep for 5 days. I was miserable, I was flipping out on everybody and everything, I was sooooo exhausted and so sleep deprived. I couldn't sleep during the day and whenever I would get to sleep somebody would wake me up. It was ridiculous, people just didn't get it.

[kimber45]

DH has done strictly night shift (for about a year when we were first married) and then worked rotating shifts for another 12 years at another job after that.

Our son was a small and it was so hard trying to keep him quiet during the day sometimes, at that age it was hard to explain to him that daddy needed to sleep .

For the last 10 years he has been normal day shift, but since he is one of the main plow drivers, when we get bad weather it is back to the night shift.

We had a storm over new years and I saw him for maybe 1 hour on New Years Day

[DebMD (banned)]

[kadee]

I worked night shift (11pm-7am) for about 10 yrs. It was during the time my son was in grade school & jr. high & part of high school. I was able to attend most activities he participated in! It was great...but I did without sleep to do that!
No, "day" people don't understand...had a neighbor who would start mowing the grass outside my bedroom window at 7am. on Sunday mornings...my day off & my catch up sleep time!
I made a sign & hung it on my front door & bought an answering machine for the phone! If it is an emergency...call 3 times & I'll pick up! Ring twice, hang up - ring twice, hang up - third time I answer!
Just twice was too common & I had some sales folks do that to me!

[Waffle]

It was years ago, but I've worked both nights and afternoon (3pm to 11pm). I agree you're always tired when you work night shift. Afternoons actually worked out well for me, because I'm not a morning person - but it was lousy for the people with kids.

[steff]

My hubby works nights and has since before we got married (17 years). It's a way of life for us. Took a few years at the beginning to get folks to understand not to call before noon and why hubby is so often NOT at family gatherings or dinners out. Once or twice a year, he'll have to fill in for the daytime superintendent and it completely screws up our schedule & home. I'm a SAHM so that we can actually get to see each other and so someone was always available for our kiddo.

[Politically_Incorrect12]

I think night shift is the only shift where people still expect you to get up at 5 or 6, even on your days off.

[Sammy]

My husbands shift was starting at midnight...... 8 hours on, 8 hours off, 8 hours on then 24 off then repeating the 8 on, 8 off, 8 on then 48 off.

I used a calendar to figure his shedule and did this for many years.

[Deleted]

Jan 14, 2011 12:54:15 GMT -5 Jake 48 said:

we work 24 hour shifts

First responder?

[Politically_Incorrect12]

Jan 18, 2011 20:17:37 GMT -5 Sammy said:

My husbands shift was starting at midnight...... 8 hours on, 8 hours off, 8 hours on then 24 off then repeating the 8 on, 8 off, 8 on then 48 off.

I used a calendar to figure his shedule and did this for many years.

I've not seen this particular schedule before...

[DebMD (banned)]

What sort of job has that schedule?
Wildlife ranger?
Navy?
Security officer type job?

[TrixAre4Kids]

I've worked 2nd shift for years and love it. 3rd shift though! EEEEKKK NO!

I have 5 phones, only one with the ringer turned on. I can barely hear it from my bedroom. Most of my family/friends are trained never to call before 10am, but some folks never learn.

[Gardening Grandma]

I've done it in the past. There were upsides and downsides. The upsides were: no traffic hassle - I got to work and home in record time. If I needed to do something during the day, I didn't have to get time off (I'd try to schedule it either early in the morning right after work or late afternoon if at all possible.). I learned to unplug the phone, get room darkener drapes and wear earplugs when I slept.
The downsides were: people did not "get it". My days off were messed up. I could not go out in the evenings with friends because I had to leave for work. If you're single, it's really hard to have any kind of relationship. And, no matter how well rested I was, from 3am to 5am I got sleepy. I learned to avoid doing anything really critical during those two hours because mistakes were very likely.

I was younger then. No way could I handle that kind of schedule now. It does beat your body up, unless you are naturally a night owl.

[kgb18]

I'm currently at work. With my new/old job I work one 3 to 11 p.m. shift a week. That's not so bad. DH, however, has a terrible schedule. He's a police officer. He's been working midnights for about 7 weeks now. Next week he works a few daylight shifts. Then he goes back to midnights. Other times he'll get stretches of the 3 to 11 p.m. shift. There is no rhyme or reason to how the chief does the schedule. He never gets good sleep, and after being on midnights for so long, he's starting to get a little cranky.
kimber, I know what you mean about the kid thing. DD is 15-months-old. It's so hard to keep her quiet in the day so DH can sleep.

[Sammy]

That crazy shift I posted last night was my husbands for many years. He was a police officer for a department similar to the state police in Mass. that was eventually absorbed into the state police department. The unit he was assigned to was a motorcycle tactical unit that did a boat load of riot control. When you are young you can tolerate crazy shift hours.... to a point. I do not know how many years the shift was in effect, but thinking back it really stressful on your sleep pattern.