Politically_Incorrect12
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Post by Politically_Incorrect12 on Jan 14, 2011 10:45:18 GMT -5
Did you ever feel like others just don't seem to understand what working night shift meant?
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Jan 14, 2011 12:44:37 GMT -5
I am not currently working nights, but did it for many years. My second job keeps me working a few hours into the night most nights, but I know that's not what you're getting at.
And very few daytime types understood it. They thought because I was "free" during the day, it was OK to bug me.
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Jake 48
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Post by Jake 48 on Jan 14, 2011 12:54:15 GMT -5
we work 24 hour shifts
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Post by hawkeyes2001 on Jan 14, 2011 13:02:25 GMT -5
DBF worked nights for about 6 months a year or so ago. All I understood it to mean was that it he was a complete a-hole to be around.
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b2r
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Post by b2r on Jan 14, 2011 13:07:09 GMT -5
Kudos to all that can do it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2011 13:40:42 GMT -5
I agree with nancy. People that have never worked nights don't get it. When I worked an overnight shift an older family member called me lazy because I was in bed sleep when he called me at 11am. I told him when he was sleep the night before, I was up working and that I'd call him to continue that conversation at 2am when I was up and at 'em.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2011 13:49:14 GMT -5
I worked nights for about 2 years. I wasn't smart enough to turn off the phone or ignore the door, etc. After a while I developed sleep deprivation. Not a fun thing to have. I didn't know what I had but sure felt that I was going to die on a daily basis. Now if I don't get enough sleep (I still have sleep problems) I go nowhere & do nothing so as to not bring on the symptoms.
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Post by greeneyedchicka on Jan 14, 2011 13:49:53 GMT -5
Although I don't work night shift now, I did it for over five years in the past. I worked in a clinical laboratory that processed blood tests and the like. It started out being 4 p.m. - midnight, which wasn't too bad because I could get a full 8 hours of sleep in, and I did have the next day free (until 4:00). Then it kept on sliding later and later. When I left the company I was working 8 p.m. - 8 a.m. When I got a day job, it took me a good two months to adjust.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2011 13:52:13 GMT -5
Yes. It means please don't call me at 8:am. I work a 10 hr 2nd shift and don't get in bed until 3 am. I have been on this shift for years and still get those early morning phone calls. They don't get it, they never will.
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Bob Ross
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Post by Bob Ross on Jan 14, 2011 14:58:34 GMT -5
I don't think I'd like the night shift. There's nothing good to do during the day anyways, and it's easier for people to spot you in the bushes.
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gambler
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Post by gambler on Jan 14, 2011 15:09:12 GMT -5
I preferred working nights we could do our job with out all the interference(bullshit) from the 8-5corporate ladder climbing types. If you work in a good size city it is a hole different and very unique world that daylighters just do not get or understand
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Post by cavia on Jan 14, 2011 20:57:44 GMT -5
I used to work nights and now essentially work a split shift that has me coming home at midnight. I regularly get comments from people who think I'm sleeping in because I sleep til 10am and don't start work till noon.
Apparently that makes me 'not an adult' and what will I do when I get a 'real job' that starts early in the morning.
I just let those types have their say - I'm comfortable in my skin and my lifestyle.
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jan
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Post by jan on Jan 14, 2011 21:04:46 GMT -5
I can't do it.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jan 14, 2011 21:08:35 GMT -5
I worked a late shift for you years. I started at 3pm and would get off anywhere from 11pm to 6am. I loved it. You can get so much work done once the building empties.
People don't understand. If I would stop for breakfast on my way home I would have other people assume that I just left the bar.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Jan 14, 2011 21:09:32 GMT -5
I once worked a rotating shift. It sucked. Never could tell when I had off and when it was day. I'd rather work a dedicated shift for a week or 2.
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Politically_Incorrect12
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Post by Politically_Incorrect12 on Jan 15, 2011 6:31:21 GMT -5
I preferred working nights we could do our job with out all the interference(bullshit) from the 8-5corporate ladder climbing types. If you work in a good size city it is a hole different and very unique world that daylighters just do not get or understand There is good and bad to that, depending on the people you work with on your shift. On bad thing is that it is more difficult to get promotions when you work nights because people have a tendency to only see what you don't get done. Another bad thing is that when meetings are done during the day and new protocols are started, they tend to only look at things from a day shift perspective and forget that it may not make any sense to do on the night shift (but they expect it to continue to be done). I have a suspicion that days think the night shift doesn't do anything for the most part too. Maybe that is the reason we seem to keep having more things added to what needs done on nights since "it is slower and you don't have as much to do."
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Politically_Incorrect12
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Post by Politically_Incorrect12 on Jan 15, 2011 6:36:14 GMT -5
I agree with nancy. People that have never worked nights don't get it. When I worked an overnight shift an older family member called me lazy because I was in bed sleep when he called me at 11am. I told him when he was sleep the night before, I was up working and that I'd call him to continue that conversation at 2am when I was up and at 'em. My favorite is when people seem to look at you like you are crazy when you reverse what they just said. For example, "Well since you've been home all day, you can sleep until noon and then get up to do" whatever the task. If you try to say, "Well since you are going to be home all night..." Or when people say things like "Since you are going to have a few days off, why don't you just stay up all day when you get off from work and then sleep all night to be on the same schedule as us?" If you say the same thing to them, they say something like "That will throw off our whole sleep schedule when we have to go back to work next week." I just kind of look at them when they say that, but it still doesn't seem to register.
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Politically_Incorrect12
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Post by Politically_Incorrect12 on Jan 15, 2011 6:37:44 GMT -5
I used to work nights and now essentially work a split shift that has me coming home at midnight. I regularly get comments from people who think I'm sleeping in because I sleep til 10am and don't start work till noon. Apparently that makes me 'not an adult' and what will I do when I get a 'real job' that starts early in the morning. I just let those types have their say - I'm comfortable in my skin and my lifestyle. I still get the "at least you get to sleep until 5 or 6 at night." Of course when I answer that they get to sleep until 6 or 7 am, some simply say that it's not the same thing. It is kind of funny, but you wouldn't think it would be so difficult to understand.
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DebMD (banned)
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Post by DebMD (banned) on Jan 15, 2011 7:15:35 GMT -5
A 2pm phone call to a nite shifter is like a 2am call to those that work days.
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deziloooooo
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Post by deziloooooo on Jan 15, 2011 11:17:50 GMT -5
The thread reminded me of a back in the day. I was a Jr in college and was lucky enough to get a factory job {yup, we had those back then, real dirty factories that made stuff, unions and good pay blue color jobs} working the 11/7 shift. I was taking a course at the local college too.. what a schedule..worked 11/7...would stop at a joint for breakfast, go home , sleep till say 1 or so. Why so short you ask? Picked up my girl friend{later wife}..go the the beach..study my course, she too, also taking a course , were we met to date, knew her before, then to college like 6..after school, class 11/2 hours , go make out/pet what ever, bite to eat, ..take her home..go to work , next day same thing.{whew..no sweat back then, now..thinking of it, I am in need of a nap}
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DebMD (banned)
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Post by DebMD (banned) on Jan 15, 2011 11:25:06 GMT -5
When working 'days' if I was put on a nite shift it took me ~ 3 days to recover-I was in a fog for 3 days, then I decided to work straight nites with a set start work time.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jan 15, 2011 11:31:20 GMT -5
Fortunately, I've never had to do this.
There was a period of time where I was running experiments that had 12 hour time points, which many times meant that I was in the lab in very early morning hours. I was totally useless for the rest of the day.
When I (quickly) showed that there was no benefit to that time point, it made my life MUCH easier.
I just cannot sleep during the day and taking a red eye is utter hell too, since I never sleep on planes.
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Genuine GA Peach
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Post by Genuine GA Peach on Jan 15, 2011 11:42:46 GMT -5
I've worked night shift & split shift. It doesn't matter how much sleep you get, when you sleep during the day, you always feel tired.
The splits I did were 4am to around 11am, then 5pm to about 7. I'm a morning person, but I never could adjust to having to be at work at 4.
I definitely liked the part about having less PEOPLE to deal with on night shifts!
My running partner rotates btw 2nd & 3rd shift. I don't know how she does it. When I was doing those odd hours, I was in my 20s. No way could I do that now.
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Post by kinetickid on Jan 15, 2011 11:47:47 GMT -5
Did you ever feel like others just don't seem to understand what working night shift meant? I worked graveyard for years. I was young then (ages 18-20), so it was easy to be up during the day to attend classes, hang out, or whatever. However, now that I'm older, I don't think I could pull off being awake during the day if I worked nights. In which case I would be quite upset if people weren't empathetic about it.
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Post by kinetickid on Jan 15, 2011 11:51:36 GMT -5
I worked a late shift for you years. I started at 3pm and would get off anywhere from 11pm to 6am. I always loved the swing shift (2-10pm). It leaves enough "day" in the day to get things done (e.g. errands) but ends reasonably early that you're still sleeping/living on a normal person's schedule. If I had my druthers, I would choose swing shift over any other.
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The J
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Post by The J on Jan 15, 2011 11:53:05 GMT -5
I worked overnights (8pm-9am) at the psyc hospital for a couple of months. Even though I got to sleep for about 3 hours a night during the shift, it was difficult to get my schedule figured out. I was pretty burned out from dealing with the day shifts, so I had gone to nights while I looked for another job.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Jan 15, 2011 13:05:18 GMT -5
I could do a night shift or a late shift (I'm not a morning person and my job now has me out of the house no later than 5:15 so I'm up by 4:30 am). I've done night shifts and you're right, most people just don't "get it." The worst were the few months I had to do rotating shift work. Ugg! Work a week of 12 hour days, have a day off and go back on a week of 12 hour nights DS was 3 at the time and I was a single mom but they made me do it to see if I could handle it as part of taking that type of job (only one "crew" has rotating shift and I already knew I couldn't do it because of DS--thing that sucked was they made me and my coworker do it and we were the "guinnea pigs"--hi, Cavia!!--for the program and everyone that followed was supposed to do it as well. They didn't, they got all day shift--I hate my work sometimes). I would catch myself almost falling asleep on the drive home. Those months were hell as I only got to see DS for a few minutes before I went to bed and then a few minutes when I got up. Mostly to pick him up from the babysitter's in the evening to take him to my parent's house for the night, and then back to the babysitter's in the morning.
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Jan 15, 2011 15:56:49 GMT -5
I've worked 12-hour night shifts for going on twenty years, and I like it that way. I'm a natural "night person", I guess. The OP is right, though. Most day workers just don't seem to get the picture when it comes to night workers. They'll happily call you at two in the afternoon and be completely flummoxed when confronted with a disgruntled voice on the phone. They do seem to come around a bit when told you'll call them with the answer to their very important telephone call ... at two in the morning.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2011 15:58:00 GMT -5
About 2 or 3 wks a yr I have to switch shifts for training. Instead of going to bed at 3:am I am getting up at 3:am. It kills me, don't sleep at all (afraid of sleeping thru alarm) and the training dosn't really sink in to well.
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Politically_Incorrect12
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Post by Politically_Incorrect12 on Jan 15, 2011 16:36:12 GMT -5
I've worked night shift & split shift. It doesn't matter how much sleep you get, when you sleep during the day, you always feel tired. The splits I did were 4am to around 11am, then 5pm to about 7. I'm a morning person, but I never could adjust to having to be at work at 4. I definitely liked the part about having less PEOPLE to deal with on night shifts! My running partner rotates btw 2nd & 3rd shift. I don't know how she does it. When I was doing those odd hours, I was in my 20s. No way could I do that now. I definitely seem to always want to sleep more when I work night shifts.
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