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Working night shift
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Kalidor

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:52 pm    Post subject: Working night shift Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

So just recently I got a job at a hotel in town. On the surface this would seem to be a really great thing. I get paid better than I did at my old job, working at a hardware store. It is a more "prestigious" position, and will likely add to my credentials on a resume. I don't have to wear a uniform, aside from reasonably dressy clothes, and it isn't very strictly regimented. Sounds great, right?

There is one catch though. I am, for the most part, working the night shift, or graveyards as they are somewhat affectionately called. The hours are eleven pm to seven am. I do the night audit, which in itself isn't too bad. Basically I have to balance and reconcile all the sales for the day that have gone through the hotel, liquor store that the hotel operates, restaurant, and lounge. It's a lot of math, and it can almost be fun, as I actually have something to do that is a little challenging. It's that way now at least, I'm sure after awhile it will just become routine. The trouble is that I get tired at about three in the morning. The eyelids start to droop, and I begin to yawn incessantly. At this point the hours just seem to stretch out too. Once the sun starts coming out again it seems to get better, and I perk up a little bit.

What I want to know is if there is anyone else out there that has to work night shift, and what they do to get by the tiredness. What kind of hours do you sleep? If you have to work a few nights in a row, do you go to bed when you get home at like eight, and then sleep till threeish, or do you stay up longer and then go to sleep at like twelve or so and sleep until eight maybe? Also, I wouldn't mind hearing any horror stories about working night shift. I've heard a couple from the other guy that works the days I don't, and man, some of them are a little bit wild!
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Arenegeth




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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well I worked as a security guard in a nightshift once, but it wasn't a big deal why?

Because I'm a creature of the night by that I mean for some weird unexplained reason I thrive in the night I work, I think, I act better in night time, that is why my time is usually reversed, I sleep during the day and have fun at night, though lately it switches a lot, I actually requested to be set at night because there was a chance I would see more action that way and it better fitted my schedule, but they said no at first but succumbed to my desires eventually.

There is nothing like waking up at sunset and sleeping at dawn, as I write this, the sun has come out and I'm not as sleepy as I would like which means I may stay awake for quite some part of the day...

Now what to do to help those wee hours of the morning pass, I don't know it depends in your job as a security guard I listened to my N-Gage radio, read a few issues of Edge Magazine, played a bit Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on my Game Boy Advance and had "dirty" conversations with certain Russian dancers getting off work from the nearby "Clubs"...

Now a key is to accept your schedule, if you say I'm a night person now and I will be for as long as this shift lasts then all you have to do is adjust your internal clock as they say, mine is set to "Whatever DudeTM " mode for the last few years, you set it to nighttime and don't think of the time as the wrong time to be up but the right, and if you can catch a glimpse of the sunrise from where you are then have that as your reason for staying awake and alert, the damn thing is beautiful I have to tell ya.

Good luck to ya to your new job, if everything else fails pretend to be a Vampire I heard it works...
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Wataru

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well, my roommate, Nailo on the boards, works the night shift (same hours as you, also). While he can tell you more about late-night advetures, I can somewhat vouch for his hours. Usually he comes home around 7:30, stays up until 10 or so, sleeps until 6ish. Then Earthquake and I come home and the three of us hang out until 10 when he gets ready for work and leaves at 10:45.

The biggest problem I see is the general problems you will experience from being denied sunshine: moodiness, crankiness, lethargy, etc. Make sure you keep up on your vitamins, because we get some of them from the sun and if you don't get them from somewhere you're in for some health problems.
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Arenegeth




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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Quote:

moodiness, crankiness, lethargy, etc.


Well if you eat right and exercise proper you don't need to worry about those things, sun is my mortal enemy and we rarely look at each other directly but I'm not in the least pale or moody or cranky or lazy or whatever, make sure to accept it as I said and not feel as your doing something wrong, eat work out and you will be as fit as an ox!

But as much as I hate to admit it, the sun is needed to a point as well, so make sure to catch a few stray rays now and then...
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WIND

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well I never had to do the the job you did, but my did. so almost everynight during the summer I'd go and keep her company(she doesn't like being alone all night) So yeah she did the audit and what not and after a while I was helping too, because sometimes you get a crap load of people in and I'd just do her work. You're right about how it is challenging(and i'm someone who HATES math).I found it's around 5 and 6 that i just couldn't stay up, I'd fall in and out of sleep. what I found that helped me was taking a walk in the early morning air(really good) and drinking tea (others might drink coffee, but I'm not a fan of it i love my tea).also try not to sit down so much.

and if you want some horror stories: one night I'm just sort of watching tv, and this super pissed lady comes in and is like her sheets are dirty or something like that, so my mom gives her newsheets and everything, but the "witch" is like " i'm not a maid, i'm not changing my own sheets" i'm in the back listening to this and i'm thinking to myself "lady, it's about 3 a.m. do you think there are any maids here to change your sheets for you???" so my mom comes and asks if i could do it, so to be nice and help her out(she was swamped, she had like 10 walk-ins) so i go to the room and start making the bed with this woman watching me the whole time, oh did i mention i had no idea how to set this thing up the right way(she wanted everything on it, as if it were brand new. which pissed me off cause she was gonna mess it up anyway) so while i'm doing this she's yelling at me and saying that i'm going slow and such, so i decided to be an ass and replied " hey, look! i do not work here and the only reason that i'm doing this is because i'm trying to help my mother out. no one reallt had to come up and do this for you, my mom was just being a good person. SO if you don't mind, i'm going to finish this and you're going to shut the hell up"...so she did and i did and the end
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 2:34 am    Post subject: Re: Working night shift Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Kalidor wrote:
anyone else out there that has to work night shift, and what they do to get by the tiredness. What kind of hours do you sleep? If you have to work a few nights in a row, do you go to bed when you get home at like eight, and then sleep till threeish, or do you stay up longer and then go to sleep at like twelve or so and sleep until eight maybe? Also, I wouldn't mind hearing any horror stories about working night shift. I've heard a couple from the other guy that works the days I don't, and man, some of them are a little bit wild!


i am lucky, i got the AFTERNOON shift. this shift starts from 3pm to 12am, which is okay, because i usually go to sleep after 12am anyway (i'd say sometime between 1-4am is my sleep time)

don't think i can't get tired. i tried putting together working, dating, and school, and was living on average 5 hours a night sleep - and that isn't healthy at all. i'd sleep from 2-7. wake up at 7, get changed, leave about quater to eight, meet my friend/bf at around 9. find something to do - usually watch futurama or go to some shops or nando's for lunch. then come 2pm we'd head to work, wait around till we started at 3. work. i'd lie down in a dark room to just rest my eyes on my breaks at 5, or even fall asleep. then on my next break i'd drink coke or something, and just yawn until about 12 when we finished. i drove dozily home, jumped online - because there was no other time i could do so, and go to bed about 1 or 2 am... and then repeat.

that was when i was on holidays. but when i was at school, and working, it was the same thing - except i'd wake up around 7/8, get changed and leave and go to classes buy food. and then head to work. sleep during breaks, drink red bull or a V to try not to sleep at my machines - which i had almost done once or twice...

it was pretty full on. to sleep that little and have to pay attention in class. i was working 5 nights in a row. on top of that, an incredibly strained relationship with a co-worker.

I'm still at this place of employ. i love the hours, and i SERIOUSLY love the pay. and yeah, i'm prepared to do the school/work thing, because that relationship ended, and there's no need to go in early, or to school when i don't need to just to see him/give his sorry ass a ride to work. so i could sleep better.

the problem that most impacted on me was, as a nation leader, i wasn't as active as i should've been, and i had little time to do so. i wasn't up to date with what was happening, and just felt inadequate. my battle plans were hastily organised, and this whole thing was time consuming. i was at the point of quitting, but SARS ad-minh told me to appoint strategists/mod, and that's helped a lot, especially during my exam period - which i passed (generally) *clap clap*.

i would say working nights is million times better than the morning. i'm not a morning person. as part of my induction to work afternoons, i had to work mornings whilst training with the permenant full time staff. with so many people, there was little to do, and the culute of the morning people sucked. i was used to sleeping late and to wake up at 5/6 am to go to work and start a bit before 7, so i can have breakfast... i was so tired. i'd sleep when i got home from work (5pm). there was no time to do anything, i was a slave to a job in which i am pretty much a slave to a machine. the morning people were bitchy, and they were constantly looking for you to slip up, not so they could tell you what you've done wrong, why, and how to fix it, but to report you to the boss... they felt threatend by us, and it was incredibly immature these 40+ people acting worse than us young adults!

there's also a lot less to do in the afternoon shift or night shift. we even had nights when we'd have dinner together. i'd go out and get Nando's for everyone. we shared cake on my birthday. had a going away party for our Ex Boss (who was awesomely laid back) and also went out after work together - at 12, the clubs and bars just start bumpin', so all was pretty sweet. for having a job at such a "Bad time" as the afternoon, i didn't see my real friends much, but i made some great friends, had great times, and i felt have had more of a life working than when i wasn't!
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Filipe

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 2:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I have always been a creature of the night so to speak, and some of my longest lasting jobs have been working the graveyard shift for any amount of time. At times I even prefer to work the graveyard shift so I am not being constantly bothered by customers when im working. It doesnt matter that I am usually doing warehouse work to them because they see that i'm working so they ask me for help. Not that I could help them anyway but it doesnt stop them from asking that is for certain.

I dont get what the big stigma is with having to work graveyard shift aside from having to adjust your sleeping schedule. I mean it's a job for you to be making money so it's a nessasary part of life and I grew to deal with it and eventually enjoy it. Essentially the only thing that will take a hit will be your nightlife, and only because it's replacing your time that would have been taken by the day shift. If it grows to be a problem for you maybe you should ask if you can be changed to the morning or afternoon shift. You also must realize that this could end up being a pay cut as a result. There are certain duties that you mentioned that can pretty much only happen during the Graveyard shift. If thats the main part of your job than if you want to keep it you might need to suck it up.

However to cope with being tired, and the adjustment to your sleeping schedule, it's just something that takes time to adjust to. One day you wont even notice how tired you are, or even notice that you are not tired at all. When that happens, you can work with no problems. Take this from someone who has spent a fair deal of time working the graveyard shift.
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Kalidor

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

AHAHAHA, it is now 6:45, which means that I only have fifteen minutes left in my shift! Woo hoo! Tonight was my first shift working the graveyard alone, all the ones before were training. I think I did alright, even though I encountered some bumps along the way. Time seriously just flies by though when you have to correct like seven big mistakes that other people have made in their cash. What was worse is that I started making mistakes too, and then I was getting all stressed, which just got me more muddled up. It's a vicious cycle, I tell you.

I didn't really have much trouble keeping awake tonight though. During the latter part of the shift that's probably because of me frantically trying to figure my mistakes out, but during the first half two of my friends came to visit me. It was actually really nice, it provided me a little companionship, aside from the janitor, and just helped me to pass the time. Whoever said that working the night shift cuts into your night life sure was right, and I had a pretty active night life before. Most of my friends do too, so that makes it so I don't see my friends as much anymore. That made them stopping in doubly nice.

I have another strategy for keeping aware and alert the night through, and that is drinking tons of water. I've been drinking glass after glass on these last few shifts, and it seems to be working. I read that one of the leading causes of lack of concentration and tiredness is being dehydrated. Couple that with the fact that its really quite good for you to drink a lot of water, and I think I'm onto a winning combination. I'd reccomend it for other people that have a hard time staying awake.

Oh, and I've got my first story to tell too. This morning, when the kitchen staff came in around five o'clock, I was working furiously away with the cash and such. They asked me for one of the keys, which I tossed to them. They also asked me to disarm one of the alarms for the doors they would be using. Unfortunately, I wasn't really paying that close attention to them and didn't do it. Next thing I know, my alarm console is going off in my face. I jump up, totally caught by surprise, and just sort of stare at it blankly. I know how to disarm it, and the instructions for how to do it are right there too, but I just kind of froze. Finally I came to my senses and turned it off, but I think the alarm call must have gone through to the alarm company. I wonder if we'll be getting a phone call from them today :P

All in all, a rather eventful first shift. Oh, and I can use the internet at work too. Yay!
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

i used to work night shift when working at a factory over summer break last year. i enjoyed working night shift because i would rather work at night than work during the day and having no fun. atleast working nights i was able to play basketball and hang out with my friends during the day.
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Daniel Blackhand

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I worked 12 hour graveyard shifts for 5 years, and it really wears on your body to have to keep switching your times around.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I am so diurnal it isn't even funny. if i try to stay up i get punchy and not to happy. prehaps with training i could change but I don't think I'll ever get a night job. I like to sleep during that time. Its to hard to sleep during the day.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Drinking water is great for staying awake all night. Whatever you do don't drink coffee or any kind of other 'upper' as it will wear off after a short amount of time and take you down with it.

Also make sure you eat some decent food and try to snack on small things throughout the night, you might find at around 4am that you are overcome with tiredness whereas a short time before you felt okay. This is due to your body's blood sugar level reaching it's lowest point in the day.

Hope that helps some. Good luck!
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I never really was able to drink or eat anything while I was there working, because it was a warehouse job, only dealing with boxes and such. It would have been a bother, if anything else to go, and eat anything namely because of the simple fact that I couldnt just stop working until break. Sure it wasnt the most convienient way of working the graveyard shift out there, but I managed fairly well. I dont really have any advice besides just pushing through it, and try not to put yourself in situations that are too stressful.
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Kalidor

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

I find that my appetite is generally really suppressed at night. I can be hungry in the evening, but once we start getting into the deep hours of the night I don't feel very hungry anymore at all. I generally follow the advice of eating little things all through the night. I generally try and avoid heavy things too; I don't want all the blood rushing to the intestines for some heavy duty digestion, that would just leave my eyelids drooping. So far water really does seem the best way to go and I've been keeping up with that.

I had a crazy encounter the other night, one of my first ones! It was probably at around midnight, and people were beginning to filter out of the small lounge that is at the hotel. One guy that was pretty drunk came up to the desk and asked if he could make a reservation. He was a pretty large guy, but was really friendly and things were going along as smoothly as a business transaction involving a drunk man can. Then this other woman comes out of the lounge. She already had a reservation and was wanting to check into her room. She comes up to the desk while I'm talking to this other guy and demands that I help her out right then. I try to explain to her that I was already helping this guy but she just keeps it up. The other guy wasn't very happy about it either so he tells her she can't just shove in, and she starts getting really angry. Then before I know it the two of them are arguing with each other, swearing and starting to get pretty loud. The one woman kept demanding to see my manager too, like it was the hotel's fault that she was being pushy and rude. My manager also happens to be on vaction in Europe, which I tried to tell her, but apparently that wasn't good enough. Finally she's so mad that she asks the guy if he wants to go outside. This man is seriously about twice as large as this little woman. Luckily he said no, and one of the woman's friends came out of the lounge to collect her. I'm just glad that the guy wasn't drunk enough to actually hit her or something, that could have been really ugly.

To make it worse, she comes up later in the night and asks me if I can buy something from one of the vending machines for her, because she can't figure it out. I go to do that, and she comes along with her friend. Apparently something was funny because the two of them are just about dying laughing. Then the totally drunk one keels over, just totally loses her balance, and starts to fall! I managed to catch her, which was a good thing since we were on a tile floor. She could have seriously cracked her skull if I hadn't. I was glad to see her get in the elevator and head to her room, I can tell you that!
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 3:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Arenegeth wrote:
and had "dirty" conversations with certain Russian dancers getting off work from the nearby "Clubs"...

does having attractive women around help the work day go by faster?
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