That long day again

[altivo]

I've never been able to tolerate working late. When I was in college, I tried a restaurant job that was mostly evenings and lasted about six weeks. I felt as if it had nearly killed me. Occasionally I'd be asked to work the breakfast shift, which I enjoyed much more (as much as you can enjoy that kind of work, anyway) because it started early, at 6 am, and ended at 11. But you didn't make much in tips for breakfast, and I usually scheduled my classes for morning when possible so I couldn't work every morning anyway.

When I was in library school, I had an internship position for a while at a branch library of one of the universities. It was all evenings. The library was open until 10 pm every night. That really did almost kill me. I couldn't adjust to the hours, getting home at 11 and being up to attend my own classes in the mornings. It might have lasted six months or longer, but the university payroll people just couldn't get their act together to issue my paychecks. After eight weeks, in which I'd received only one biweekly check, I resigned. I told them that I couldn't do that, I needed the income for my mortgage payment and food, which was true. They still acted as if I'd committed some big betrayal. Anyway, they did eventually make good on what they owed me but it took another month. At the time I was ignorant of state laws regarding wages. I was entitled to be paid on time as agreed and could have demanded that they issue me a check by hand every two weeks if they couldn't make their computer system do it. But I didn't know that and my bosses apparently didn't know or didn't care.

So today. I had a meeting out in Rockton this afternoon, which meant I drove 50 miles before even getting to work at 4:30. Then I had to stay until 8. Fortunately, it was a slow evening. I tried some coffee to keep me awake, which it really doesn't do. And by the time I was driving home, I was lucky that no deer jumped out in front of me. I don't think I'd have been alert enough to avoid one.

Why I hate Wednesdays, even after nearly seven years on the job. I'm up with the chickens, and after the sun goes down I'm half asleep.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I remember doing 12 hour graveyard shifts at the local salad packhouse. Was a killer.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I can hardly imagine that one. I don't know how anyone can stand third shift.

[hartree.livejournal.com]

I did it for a short time at a production bakery. It was not fun at all.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

6pm till 6am spent ENTIRELY on my hooves. The company did not believe in chairs as they thought it made you less "on the ball". The blisters I got were what was making me less on the ball I am going to be honest. It was not the shift times that killed me per se, so much as the conditions, and the work itself. It was mind melting and soul destroying. I detested it. But it was the only work available for "in between terms" students in the wilds of rural East Yorkshire. :(

EDIT: I suppose the one good thing was seeing how the less fortunate toiled for their crust. And how badly treated they were by management, always living under the threat of being fired. It was what really set me in the the mould of a staunch trade unionist.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the sort of thing that really gets me about the neocon types. You point out to them that the comfort in which they live is in fact generated by thousands of people who have next to nothing. Their response is, "So?"

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

That is brutal. A 12 hour graveyard shift is harsh enough regardless of the actual work involved but I don't know how anyone could stand doing that job for very long.

Perhaps I DO make a bit of a fuss about it

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Honestly? Eventually you DO get used to it. The people who had worked there for a good length of time actually enjoyed their job. Which is good news as SOMEONE needs to do that work. But just because the group of people who work in an environment like that say "oh..its OK really", does not make it OK or morally right. As a matter of fact the conditions improved after I left, because the company was brought by the Van Geest corporation whose management found that kind of brutal working practice out of step with their own. So it all ended up good in the end.

[hartree.livejournal.com]

I've known several people who were put on shifts that they couldn't adapt to, and it nearly killed them. That can be literal, as it puts you at greater risk of accidents and can ruin your health.

I've been able to adapt to some pretty bizarre shifts (Such as my current one. 3 days on graveyard shift, and 2 days on 3 to 11pm. Tuesdays really suck as I get off at 7 am and have to be back at 3 pm.). But that may be more the exception than the rule. It still makes me loggy and less alert at times.

The first day of a weekend for me is getting time shifted so I can do daytime chores on day two.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I couldn't do that. As you say, I'd be killed trying to drive to or from work, or run over by a bus, or something. My circadian rhythm is very powerful and insistent.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

At least you can get up and fall asleep at the same time every day. I seem to run on 28-hour days, and find it completely impossible to go to bed early. I'll lay in bed for four hours or more until my bedtime comes up, and then I'll fall asleep.

By the way, what time does the sun set down where you are?
The great thing about living northerly is that our sunlight hours are from 6:00am-9:00pm, with two hours of twilight on each end. Night-time is all of six hours for me, right now.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Twilight doesn't last too long at this time of year, about 30 minutes. You can see well enough to move around outdoors easily at about 5:30 am give or take a few minutes, and the sun appears around 6. I haven't looked at the precise times lately. Sunset is around 8:45 pm now, and it's dark enough to require a light outdoors by 9:15 or 9:30 at the latest. The evening twilight on a clear day continues to extend, of course, and in another two weeks will reach until almost 10 pm, but then it seems to grow pitch dark almost instantly, as if the setting sun literally turned out like an electric light bulb.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

So opposite of me. I am a creature of the night.

There is something nice about a normal day shift though. You do feel more like a human being and it is nice to have the rest of the day to do things. But every job where I started work in the morning I had a tendency to be late sometimes because getting up in the morning can be very difficult for me. The same thing is true with school.

I do well with swing shift. I'm often the most productive in the evening. But even for someone like me, graveyard is not easy. I never slept as well as I would normally, waking up repeatedly when normally I sleep right through most of the night. It is definitely unnatural and it really conflicts with your schedule and ability to live anything that can be called a life as the rest of world is full of day-walkers :) There are not many places you can go out to for lunch at 2 AM. Breakfast and dinner are completely flipped around. During the winter I barely ever saw the sun. The worst aspect for me was trying to readjust to a more "normal" schedule on the weekends. That usually did not work out very well.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Getting up in the morning is rarely difficult for me unless I am sick or terribly exhausted. But I think during the time from 1998-2001 when I rode a daily commuter train that left Woodstock at 6:02 am, I really got firmly set into the early up cycle.

At that time I did set an alarm clock for 4:40 am. Gary got up with me and we had breakfast, though I think he may have often gone back to bed afterward. I never once missed the train, and even now I typically wake up by about 5 am. I haven't actually set an alarm clock in years. Gary rarely gets up so early now because he doesn't have to, but he does generally make it in time to have breakfast at 7. ;p

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Your right on so many levels I must love you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

But don't you work a late shift most or all of the time? I had that impression. And you seem to manage fine with it. In fact, I'm used to being considered the peculiar one because I like being up early.

Jobsuck (instead of jobget)

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

I used to have a dishwashing job that was pretty hard on me- two shifts daily every day for over six months, minimum wage. I only came home in the evening & got about 6 hours sleep and was out again. I was on my feet all day until I got home everyday, and the gloves they gave me were so poor I chose to work without them... by the time I quit, my hands were soo badly worn down & peeling that if I made a fist the skin cracked & bled, no joke. It took me months to recover before I felt I was "back to normal". Worst job I ever had. The plus side? I was able to keep a bank account going & buy a new pair of glasses- which lasted until I went on my fateful trip to Pennsacola... and my leg muscles got so strong it was probably the reason I could handle walking all day in Pennsacola, or from Melbourne to Cocoa in a matter of hours without stopping as of late.

Re: Jobsuck (instead of jobget)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Two shifts a day is probably illegal as a regular schedule. It's just too dangerous. No matter what the job is, anyone needs time to rest and recuperate.

Re: Jobsuck (instead of jobget)

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

It felt like getting pounded by a sweaty sumo everday for 6 months. My legs were probably twice the size they normally are from the constant standing, walking & even running- they ached often, too.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Aha more information for my take over :D Horses don't like staying up late. Therefore I shall plan evilness after sundown.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*alerts his tiger friend and a dozen wuffies to be on the watch for a misbehaved house cat*