THinking about the overnight shift at work...

[Nick Chapman]

Considering going to the overnight shift here at work.

Pro's:
Could nap at work
Full day to run the detailing business vs half days
No more child care issues-Although they are rare, when these issues come up, one of us has to call in sick.
Not working around managment

Con's:
Working overnight shift
Tough to get sleep during the day when everyone else is home.
Would be a major culture shock
Bidding shifts is for an entire year. So if I didn't like it, from Jan 1st to Dec 31st, I would be stuck with it.


Really not sure what to do here. There are some good pro's about going to an overnight shift, but there are some con's also. It would be nice to have more hours to run the detailing. But is it worth it?

[VonLego]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

I work at UPS and a few folks have done some over night shifts that I've talked to. We have a "Night shift" from 10:30 till about 2:30. We also have a preload shift from about 3:00 till 7:00. Night shift itself isn't to bad, you're just waking up at noon at earliest. Preload, waking up at 1:30 am to go to work... is a difficult thing and the two folks I know pretty well said they became zombies for over a year. By Friday they were walking husks. Granted, one of these folks was trying to go to school and the other had kids.

Bottom line is this WILL screw your sleep pattern up and WILL deplete you. Are you good with low sleep? Can you still be effective? If so you could do it, but think of your family. Do you really want to work 18 hour days, and then try to sleep while the kids are getting home from school? Its hard enough to do homework while folks are getting home... let alone sleep!! (fyi, stay at home college student here)

[Andy M.]

Re: Thinking about the overnight shift at work...

Hey Nick,

This is a tough decision to make, only because if you don't like it your stuck for 12 months. Yes you are correct in saying that you could detail a lot more, however, it will screw up the weekends when you do have time to spend with family. Your internal clock will be reset. You will become used to being up all night while they are used to being asleep. And, you will be used to sleeping when they are awake. I work the middle shift, well, if you want to call it that. My hours are from 2 in the afternoon until when I am finished which is anywhere from midnight to 2AM. After I drive the hour home I simply cannot go to sleep because I am to wound up. I may be exhausted, but still cannot sleep. Another thing to think of is diet. You will start eating at all kinds of crazy times. For example, I eat dinner normally around 2 - 3AM. Since the kids are back to school now, I really don't see anyone until the weekend. Not to mention the things I cannot get finished during the week I do on the weekends. I know you are a busy guy and you really enjoy what you do and you are very good at it. Just trying to give you a few things to think about.

Andy

[Nick Chapman]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

As it stands now(and I've been doing this for a few years now), I go in at 6am and get off at 2pm. Then detailing cars until 7-9pm.
So, I am already doing the 12-16 hour days, this schedule change would just free up my morning and afternoon vs just my afternoons that I have free now.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Hey Nick,

Personally, I would not do the night shift. It will drain you physically and mentally. Your sleeping patterns will be a mess, and honestly, I think you will end up detailing less as you will be constantly drained. I have never had a job which had a night shift, but I know many that have. Each and everyone hated it. I am not saying there are not people out there who actually like the graveyard shift, but at least none that I know.

Do you know where the expression Graveyard Shift came from? In the olden days, people would go into a type of comma that simulated death, usually caused from lead poisoning. They would be buried, as they were thought to be dead! Many villages would later dig up the coffins to re-use them only to find scratch marks inside the lid. Obviously, these people came out of their comas only to find they were buried alive! So they began attaching a string/rope to the hand of the person in the coffin. When they were buried, the string would go up a pipe to above ground and attach to a bell. If someone awoke and the bell started ringing, they would have to quickly dig up the person! Because that could happen at any time, they needed someone at the graveyard 24 hours a day. Hence, the graveyard shift!

Tim

[Nick Chapman]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Hey Nick,

Personally, I would not do the night shift. It will drain you physically and mentally. Your sleeping patterns will be a mess, and honestly, I think you will end up detailing less as you will be constantly drained. I have never had a job which had a night shift, but I know many that have. Each and everyone hated it. I am not saying there are not people out there who actually like the graveyard shift, but at least none that I know.

Do you know where the expression Graveyard Shift came from? In the olden days, people would go into a type of comma that simulated death, usually caused from lead poisoning. They would be buried, as they were thought to be dead! Many villages would later dig up the coffins to re-use them only to find scratch marks inside the lid. Obviously, these people came out of their comas only to find they were buried alive! So they began attaching a string/rope to the hand of the person in the coffin. When they were buried, the string would go up a pipe to above ground and attach to a bell. If someone awoke and the bell started ringing, they would have to quickly dig up the person! Because that could happen at any time, they needed someone at the graveyard 24 hours a day. Hence, the graveyard shift!

Tim

So you're saying I'll start hearing bells if I do this?

[Andy M.]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

So you're saying I'll start hearing bells if I do this?

Ding, Ding!

[Tim Lingor]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

So you're saying I'll start hearing bells if I do this?

Wouldn't that make you a "Ding-a-ling"?? LOLOLOL

Tim

[Paul S]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Nick,you'll be sorry.
I have been stuck working most of my adult life on evenings and nights. If I had it all to do over again I would take a cut in pay or change my line of work to work days.Studies by various universities and colleges show working nights increases health problems . Its hard for the family to remain quiet during your sleep and schedule activities that don't interfere with your changed hours. Friends will have trouble seeing that you're home (car at house) but not up.My mom always thought if I was home in the morning then I should be up.Sales people are the same and I could go on and on but you can see my point so I'll get off of my soap box now.I vote stay on days. Paul

[VonLego]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Up bright and early, work hard all afternoon on cars? Sounds like the life to me...

Other side---

Working all night, detail cars from morning until 7, sleep from 8-12? Not to sure how to fit another full time job in with out sacrificing the ability to stay at 100%. Your work is amazing, and you got that far with a "go-get-em" attitude and a love for cars and what you do. De-rooting everything you know and shifting it around can't be good for this sense of self. I don't know you in real life, but you sound like one heck of a dude. Don't let a graveyard shift take that away from you.

[Nappers]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Nights stink, I'm on them currently and I miss my wife and home life after work. But thats the nature of the beast for a jailer. Nights, weekends, holidays and 12 hour shifts.

We get a lot of comp and vacation to burn so that helps. I got 2 weeks left of nights and will be going back to days. We rotate every 2 months nights to days. Every 8 months or so we switch ends of the week. Right now I work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and every other Saturday. Next month we switch to Wed-Fri every other Sat. Best part of switching is the 7 days off in a row, other side has to work 7 in a row which will be my case in about 9 months.

Nights stink.

Where is it that you work? Having to stay in a shift for a year is not good. Tim is right, nights mess you up. I try to have a normal home life on my days off but takes a day or so to recuperate then back to work. We work 3 and 4 days a week. First day off is shot as you sleep. Been there 15 years, in my twentys I could stay up all day and go to bed that night, now that I'm approaching 40, I can't do that anymore. LOL.

Think a long time about it.

Aaron

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

Well, here is a person who enjoyed working nights. However in your situation, Being that you have not done it before. You would be stuck in it for a year. I would say do not do it.

Your internal clock will eventually reset itself. You will be dog tired at first. About 45 days. Because of lack of sleep you will be more irritable at first.

I say since everyone in your house is use to the schedule now, stick with it. This is my 0.02 worth.

[dvtldav]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

I have worked all three shifts & although I didn't mind it when I was in my twenties, when I got in my thirties and had to work it, I hated it. It just screws up everything. Weekends are messed up, holidays are messed up, in fact I thought everything was messed. I didn't mind working second shift except I missed seeing the family during the school year, and my wife is a teacher so during the school year I didn't see her or my son except on weekends. So my advice is stay on days, or go to second.

Dave

[BigLeegr]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

I would say if you were on your own, then it my not be a problem, but since you've got a family to look after, it wouldn't be such a good thing. If you were given more than 2 days off a week, then it may not be so bad, but if you have only 2 days off, it really is only 1, as you will spend the first day sleeping part away to get into "day mode" and then you'll likely be tired going back to work the first day, as you won't have more than a nap before hand.
As mentioned by others, it's hard to keep a family quiet during the day. Telemarketers will call and wake you if you don't turn off your ringer. You mention more time to detail, but you still need to factor in some sleep time, so you may not actually have more time to detail, and if you do, your sleep time will suffer.
Overall, unless it's the only job you can get, or the money is too good to turn down, I'd say skip it. From experience, I don't know anyone that says "Wow! You work nights?? I'd love to do that too! You've got it made!!" It's more like "What??? Nights?? When are you finished and coming back to days?"

[erobertson]

Re: THinking about the overnight shift at work...

My guess is you wont be happy on the night shift for that long. I currently have to rotate amongst all three shifts and while the nights are ok, I've never been able to make good use of the daylight when working nights. Your sleep patterns get all screwed up and you become lethargic. Harder to maintain family contact although it can be done. Think carefully before making this decision.