I work tech support on the graveyard shift of an ISP, and my clients often come up with questions for me about why I work my shift and how I deal with it. Does anyone here have any burning questions about graveyard shift? Or, for that matter, tech support? Bring them here!
I work graveyard as well. Beware the Daywalkers and the Burning Daystar!
How long did it take for your body/biological clock to adjust? How much trouble did you have sleeping? Do you have to sleep in absolute darkness?
Cheers.
I’ve done some 3rd shift in my life. I wonder, how many times do 9 to 5ers consider you to be lazy when you sleep through out the day, when in fact you actually sleep less than they do?
Brutus: ‘Evil daystar!’ has become one of my more commonly-used expressions. 
green_bladder: It took about two months to really adjust. It probably wouldn’t have taken as long, except that I had a bad habit of trying to keep to a day schedule on my two days off a week. On graveyard shift especially, it’s vital to remember to stick to a regular sleep schedule, because you can’t depend on your body to get tired at the right time. As for the light thing, my bedroom has no curtains on the huge window so there’s sun most of the day, but so long as there’s not too much noise, I sleep okay.
Parental Advisory: Just this morning, in fact. The morning shift came in, and one of the guys asked me what I was doing for the day. I said (of course) “Go home and sleep,” and he responded that I was wasting my day. :rolleyes: I’m not sure exactly what he thinks they pay me for. It happens fairly often, though.
What…a…SHOCKER!!
Parental Advisory: (incidentally, I like your name ) No, no surprise. Their reaction usually lasts until I tell them exactly how long I spent on the phone with our offices in Germany escalating the network problem that had us up to our ears in calls. Then the day shift will generally agree that I really do work when I’m in the office.
How does your sleep schedule change from Winter to summer?
As a former Tech Support Monkey I feel your pain. Tech support has to be one of the worst jobs around. I’m glad I don’t do that anymore!
OK, so my question is:
How do you get things like banking and shopping etc done? You must have only a few hours a day to do that in, right? Is it difficult?
(former movie theater employee here)
How cool is it to commute when there is absolutely NO TRAFFIC! I kinda miss that. Although, once when I called my insurance company to report that I’d hit a deer they’d questioned what I was doing driving around at 2AM. (My mom said “THEY CAN"T ASK YOU THAT?!?!?”)
Gee, Daerlyn, I don’t find it vital to stay on night schedule on my days off…I work 3 x 10hr shifts, then have four off. I sleep around 4 hours the next day, wake up, crash around 9pm, wake up following morning, and have 4 days up. On that 4th day, I take a nap if I can in the early afternoon (the only time available) and go in at night.
That, with caffeine, works fine. I’ve been doing it for years. In my 18 years of post-college work, 13 years have been on nights. My husband thinks I don’t sleep well at night on my days off because of my schedule…he doesn’t remember that I went on nights in the first place (before I met him) because I don’t sleep well at night. Never did.
As to how long it takes to adjust, I would disagree. I think you can do it or you can’t. I can, about half of my coworkers can, the rest just can’t. If you can’t, you’ll never adjust. If you can, it’s not really a problem. Interestingly, I have flown across 8 time zones at once (several times) and have never experienced jet lag. (My big tip–I reset my watch on the plane, and then I believe it.) I think I must simply have a weak body clock, or lack one entirely. When I wake up, I am completely disoriented and don’t know whether it’s 4am or 4pm.
I have tried googling “shift work” or “shift workers” and gotten some interesting hits. Lots of useful tips, too.
My biggest misunderstanding? We don’t call it “graveyard” shift because it’s not quiet and boring–it’s so busy that the time flies. Nobody realizes how much work gets done while they sleep. That is, until I go on vacation and they cover for me! I always hope for a busy night then, just so I can build my reputation!
CuriousCanuck: It doesn’t seem to, really. I’m still keeping more or less the schedule I was in February (albeit more regular, because I’ve stopped trying to be WonderWoman 
).
Stephi: Banking I generally do right after work. I get off shift at eight am, get home about nine, and by the time I’ve gone through my routine of feeding the cats, checking my email, etc, it’s almost ten and the bank’s about to open. I do the majority of my banking online anyway, so that’s not much of an issue.
Shopping ? Depends on what for. Grocery stores around here are usually open 8 am to 10 pm, so it’s not too hard to find time. Anything else, I do on a thursday or friday, when stores are open til 9 pm.
voguevixen: There’s always traffic in downtown Montreal. When I leave for work I catch the last wave of people heading out clubbing, and when I head home I’m caught in the morning rush hour. On the upside, each morning I watch the people going to work and think how lucky I am to be on my way home.
Theobroma: You’re quite lucky. I have a few friends who work the graveyard for other companies that have a similar routine to yours (3 on, 4 off, or vice versa), and they often switch to a daylight routine for their days off. Unfortunately, my company has us working 5 regular eight hour shifts, which makes for much more of a hassle trying to switch back to days for only 48 hours. I tried it for several weeks, and discovered that I ended up far too tired to be of any use on my first shift back of the week.
As for how long it takes to adjust, I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. In my experience (myself, my co-workers, and a few friends), there’s a definite adjustment period. Not necessarily a long one (for instance, if I’d picked a routine and stuck with it from the start, it probably would’ve taken about one week to get used to it), but it’s definitely there.
And we call it graveyard because of what it does to your social life. :D.
Oh do I hate this.
I’m a natural night person - I have a very hard time following normal sleeping patterns.
I tend to sleep from 8am to 4pm or so, give or take an hour. A normal amount of sleep. But people can’t stop accusing me of being lazy for ‘sleeping in all day’.
Argh.
Me Too!!!
If I have nothing to do for a few days (working freelance sucks sometimes) I’ll naturally cycle to a 6-7am to noon-1pm sleep cycle. When I worked a normal 8-5 job I had trouble sleeping every farking night. I’m also most productive between 8pm and 4am.
Up until about a month ago, I was hard pressed to find someone with a more messed up schedule than I had.
Go into work at 10pm. Get off work at 6:30am.
Go to exwifes house, hang out and take kids to school. Go home at 9:30am. Catch a nap until 11:00, then off to pick up the youngest from Preschool.
Back home at noon, and sleep till 2:15pm, then up to pick up the Daughter from 1st grade. Home again by 3pm, and sleep until 6ish, then up for time with the fiance and dinner, showering, etc.
This was my schedule.
I love my new daytime job.
Tristan: Ouch! Hence should I ever have children, staying on the graveyard would not be an option. It can be really rough on family time. I haven’t seen my roomate in about a week, despite both of us coming home every day/night.
Same thing for me- my sleep schedule varies all over the place depending on what days I work. The only thing I’ve ever had a hard time with was working split PM/AM shifts: 4pm to 9pm and then 3am to 7am. Even if I don’t go home and just crash in the breakroom I don’t get any real sleep.
How many calls do you get at night versus during the day?
Is the call volume any lighter at night?
About how many people are on staff for the day shift versus the night? (just an approximate ratio).
Are you paid a nighttime differential? My sister works nights and she receives a differential bonus.
During daylight savings time changes are you paid for the extra hour you work in the fall, and do you still get paid for a full shift in the spring when you work one hour less? At my sister’s job this is how they do it.
Do you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same times most other people do (that is, breakfast in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, dinner in the evening)?
Do you have to turn your phone off while you are sleeping during the daytime? Also, do you find it difficult to sleep because of daytime noises such as neighbors mowing their lawns, children playing, traffic, etc.?
I worked graveyard shift for many years, and never got used to it. I also have insomnia, and it was impossible to get any quality sleep during the day, especially in noisy Manhattan. This affected my health for years to come.
The best part was when people wanted me to do chores for them during the day, or people who’d call me just to chat, because they knew I was home. Grrrrrrrr!
And then there are some of your co-workers who actually like working that shift, because they’re social misfits who can’t function in the real world.
I’ve been a graveshift worker for 11 or 12 years now ( though that may be coming to an end soon, much to my disgust ). 10-6, five days a week. I’ve always liked it. I currently work with one ( two on Tuesdays ) other person, with no supervision ( we see our supervisor 3 or 4 days a week when he comes in at 4 or 5 a.m. but he doesn’t manage our work ), a reasonable degree of responsibility and in a usually low-stress environment. Very relaxing, actually. No uniforms ( which I’d have to wear on day-shift ) other than lab-jackets or coveralls as necessary, no engineers or maintainence, no visitors, no deliveries, minimal office politics - just a quiet, low-key job. The 15% graveyard differential is a nice bonus, as well ;).
Drawbacks? After so many years, I find I’m frequently just a little run down in the daytime, though never dangerously slow ( not lack of sleep, I get my 7-9 hours a day - I imagine it is more the cumulative physical stress of an “unnatural” lifestyle ) Also social life does suffer, though not nearly as bad as it does on swing ( 2-10, probably the most comfortable shift from a physical standpoint ).
Generally I go to a compromise schedule on my off days, staying up to 3 or 4 a.m. and sleeping in until noon, which suits me reasonably well.
I will agree with Theobroma that people seem to fall into the category of either “can do it” or “can’t”, with very little intermediate. Only in my experience, 75-80% can’t. Which doesn’t mean they don’t - It just means those that can’t are walking zombies much of the time. However I disagree that no adjustment period occurs - For most ( who make a successful long-term transition ) to standard 5-day work weeks, I think there is one as you work out what schedule works best for you and your body. I have seen innumerable people attempt to sleep in a split-schedule - a few hours in the morning, a few at night. But I have never seen that work long-term ( maybe there are some, but I’ve never met them ) without zombifying folks. Instead most seem to settle in to going home, going to sleep within an hour or two and sleeping in a single 8-hour block, works best ( those like Tristan who can’t do that because of family obligations, have my sympathies ). Also, unlike Theobroma with her long weekend, I don’t think most people can handle going to a normal schedule on a two-day weekend and then back to graveyard on a consistent basis and not end up wrecking themselves. It simply isn’t enough time to re-adjust and sleep properly.
- Tamerlane