the negative affects of working the nighshift.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

My gf used to be a night bartender, 8-4am closing. Then close the books and make sure everything was set for the next day On weekends if it was really busy with lots of credit card charges, she wouldn't leave until 6:30 am.

And the really bad downside. She would leave with her partner and the dj when it was dark. The area across Ala Moana Center was very busy until investors bought a lot of the buildings and it became a haven for the homeless and reprobates. One morning, my gf was coming out the back door and got mugged by one of those reprobates. She ended up at the ER with a separated AC joint. Surgery was scheduled and 3 years later, she is still suffering.

[Brian 162]

I worked mid nights at a self serve station in high school. Only did it for 1 summer.
I worked 11-7 for 6 months straight for the local natural gas utility in the winter. I was busy all night, made the night go quicker. No traffic was a bonus, in the mid-80's hardly any one was out. By the last day of the week I was a zombie. I transferred to days in the spring. hardly did any shift work after that.

[MAS956]

I had a job as a security guard between my freshman and sophomore years in college for Burns security patrolling the Mervyns warehouse off of A street in Hayward between 11pm to 7am. This was in the late 70s. Can't imagine what that area is like today....

[Evans, Marv]

I worked graveyard in a window & door factory in the early '60s. Never liked it. After the Army I worked grave yard at a steel fabrication yard during the grave yard shift & Fuller Brush salesman selling door to door during the day for six months before starting school. After starting school, I kept the steel yard job (gantry crane operator) on a swing shift. I always hated grave yard but loved swing shift.

[ckelly78z]

I worked the ideal shift for 9 years when I was a printing press operator for our local newspaper (25 years ago). I went in at 8 pm, and got paid until 4:30 am, but most days was walking out much earlier (whenever the press run was complete, and we all cleaned up.)

I liked it because I could be awake by noon, and have the entire day at home to get stuff done, and still eat dinner with the family.

We would take our "lunch around 11 pm, and play euchre for an hour...no real supervision, and no big wheels walking through. I loved the job, and the guys I worked with, but the pay/benefits were really subpar for raising a family.

[masraum]

When my dad was in the Navy, some of his jobs involved shift work. He would rotate through the 3 shifts, 7a-3p, 3p-11p and 11p-7a.

I've never worked anything like the 11-7 myself. As a bartender, I spent several years working something more like 5p-2a which would then include 1-2 hours of extra work at the end of the night to ensure that everything was restocked and clean for the next day. That never bothered me. I've always been a bit of a night owl anyway.

During college, I worked at a grocery store. I'd often work 5-12. A bunch of us would then wait around and when the stockers got off at 2, we'd all go to a bar for a bit and then find something else to do often until the sun came up. After a while of sleeping until 3-4pm, and then driving home when other people were going to work got old, but mostly because it was impossible to get anything done. You were never awake when you could run errands.

[jcommin]

I have never worked a night shift - but I'm salaried exempt and I have worked whenever the need arises. I have worked days/nights/weekends and holidays, 9,10, 11, 12 hours days and around the world. I can handle shots like this - I realize it is not the norm and it take a toll on your body clock.

I am dating a woman who works a 3rd shift. She prefers it. She is off at 6 am and I tyypically see her in the morning prior to my work day starting. She works Sunday night thru Thrusday night. Saturday is probably the only day we can spend time together. We have done Sunday dinners before she goes off to work. I don't know how she does it sometimes because she can be up for many hours - I find it exhausting. Sometimes I have a hard time knowing when she is up or sleeping: I will text her rather than call her.

We have been doing this for 18 months - it's an adjustment.

[Tobra]

Humans are not nocturnal critters. Trying to make them nocturnal can have significant adverse consequences.

I had some night shift gigs in the Navy when in dry dock in Long Beach. They would give us a certain amount of stuff to get accomplished. I was a fast worker, got my tasks completed in 4, rather than 8 hours and was well rested for my shift at the beach surfing. My tan was glorious when I attended my sister's wedding.

[ckissick]

Vash would appreciate this. I worked night shift on the Crystal Springs lake tap tunnel project in San Mateo County. We had to inject chemical grout into the gravel to keep it from caving in as we got under the lake. I would put a bit of grout in a dixie cup and time it until it set. Then we could resume digging. I had a log sheet where I entered times. The most surreal part about this was entering times on the log sheet like 3 AM. WTH am I doing here?, I often though , deep underground, water dripping on me, with 12 feet of gravel between me and the bottom of a lake.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Tobra

I had some night shift gigs in the Navy when in dry dock in Long Beach.

Don't get me started on the Navy and their nocturnal "emissions": The Navy has f-upped that wet dream.

In routine steaming, not at war, the average Navy ship is a dysfunctional mess of a tired and sleep challenge crew; officer and enlisted. Just look up "dog the watch".

I could type for a week but one example will do:

When I was the Air Boss Department Head on an amphib the XO and I became friends. Naval tradition says that all Department Heads meets in the XO stateroom at 1700 to give Department reports.

That would mean, often since I was also an officer of the deck and stood bridge watches, that I had to get up from a deep sleep (let's say I had the midnight to 4am watch on the bridge) to stand around for 10 minutes.

I asked the XO why. Blank stare.

"How about I sent the Mini-Boss (another officer and we worked opposite watches and shifts in the tower on purpose) when necessary? He can wake me up if something is important..."

"Uh, ok."

Key point here is the the Mini-boss was an F-14 RIO and a really good guy...Notre Dame graduate, etc. I completely trusted his judgement. We still exchange emails and barbs.

However, you would have thought, after the first meeting Mini attended in my stead, that I had shot Admiral Spruance.

The other Department Heads, each of whom had other officers in their Departments, thought I was "cheating". Amazing: Not being a sleep deprived zombie is somehow cheating.

The XO, as relayed to me by Mini, looks at them and says, "You idiots can do the same thing."

And they did, bless their black shoe hearts.

[Hard-Deck]

^^^. Thus the two CRUDES losses we’ve had here during my tour. Sad. Hope the Navy changes to get it right.

[Flat Six]

Worked graveyard shift for 3-4 years while in college; 1030p - 7a. Would go from work to school for a few hours, get a nap in the afternoon, take care of life stuff (laundry, shopping, etc.) then another short nap before work again at 1030p. Worked great for my schedule. During the summer, I'd get off at 7a, take a short nap, hang out at the beach most of the day, take another nap before work, lather rinse repeat.

Biggest downside for me was when I moved to a more regular work schedule. For nearly 10 years after, I didn't get a full night's sleep. Like clockwork, I'd wake up every 2 hours for about 5 minutes then go back to sleep. 2 hours later, same cycle. Sucked.

[epbrown]

I've worked nights since... you know, it's easier this way: I'm almost 60 and the only period I've worked days was 1991-1993. What I learned then was that working days is a parade of useless meetings, whereas nights people spend about 4 hours figuring out what will still be open for lunch.

[NY65912]

While in college I worked at a large NYC Metro area grocer warehouse from 8pm - 4:30am and then went to class for 11:00am until 5pm picking orders of fruits and veggies . Did school work whenever I could. Took another job for Chemical Bank in Manhattan. Worked from 12am - 8:00am. I did this for 3 years. Lost all my fat and gained muscle.

I had a real tough time eating, always felt nauseous. After that I hated working nights for the company I now work. We do a lot of bridge and tunnel projects, hence a lot of night jobs.

Night shift sucks over the long term.

[Bigtoe32067]

I think most people like the night shift because it’s quieter without all the supervisors and other people up their butts. Not as stressful.

[NY65912]

It was stressful for me. I came home and tried to get a few hours of sleep but the kids playing and outside noise never let me sleep long or well.

We just finished 2 night projects Grand Central Terminal and the RFK bridge,and the crews do not want to go back to night shift on the new Holland Tunnel job. The complained about domestic stress and strain.

[stealthn]

I worked shift work in a computer room for about 4 years, got used to it, no issues. The 11-7 shift was quiet, but there was still work to do. Saturday morning I would just not go to sleep, stayed up went out to the bar and normal sleep time Sat night Sun morning.

I used to drink two pots of coffee on the night shift and to this day coffee does not keep me awake.

[Les Paul]

Worked 6-2 2-10 10-6 for 10 years. Then 6-6 6-6 for the next 23 years. As the years went by most supervision was cut. Worked at a huge chemical plant and on nights I might average 2-3 calls and see nobody. Management didn’t care what you did as long as you didn’t run something over, or spill something. I loved nights but my family hated them because they said by the 4th in a row I was a crank. I was a competitive runner most of those years and nights definitely were harder to train in that no matter how much sleep I got I became sluggish.

[Mike Andrew]

Did a 2nd shift thing running screw machines for a while. Remember rushing from work to a bar to meet my buddies just in time for last call, If they were still there and not already courting some young lass.
3rd shift at Chrysler as a college summer gig. Actually a better deal than 2nd shift as I could do some stuff until early afternoon and then crash until 9:00ish. My crew used to go out for a beer now and then after work ended at 7:00 in the morning. Holy sheet, the people one typically sees in bars at this hour is eye opening.

[cstreit]

*ahem*. Effects *cough*. 😂