Money is tight and I have to move soon so I’m thinking of ways to make more money. Have any of you ever worked a 9-5 job and a 10-6 job at the same time? I’d get 3-4 hours each night then I could sleep in on the weekends. Recipe for disaster or pain in the ass but bearable?
I couldn’t do it - unless one of the jobs was as a mattress tester! I’d think a more doable option would be a part-time shift in the evening, and then maybe another shift on weekends.
Sorry things are so tight.
I’ve not done it personally, but I’ve known people who have. One used to work essentially 8am-4pm at one job and then 8pm-4am as a bar manager. She said she almost never slept and would never do such a thing again.
Most people can do it for a couple weeks, but it eventually catches up with you. I work 70 hour weeks consistently, but I work from home. It’s much easier if you can look like something the cat dragged in and don’t take up time commuting.
One summer while in college I worked 8:30AM-5:30PM and then 6:15PM-10:15PM. That lasted about 3 weeks. Monday and Tuesday were fine, Wednesday wasn’t so great, and I didn’t even **remember **Thursday and Friday.
Good luck to you if you can work 80 hrs a week. Wow.
I spent a few months working 9-5 and then 5:30-1:00 AM. I also worked pretty much all days weekends. I think having a solid workday like that is a lot easier than having a night shift and a day shift- I could still keep a fairly normal sleep schedule. But I was still a complete basketcase- on total autopilot, just a step away from breaking down- the whole time.
It’s not easy. You will earn money, but it is something that can only be done for a short time and you have to recognize that you will have no life. No going out with friends, no drinking, no non-work socializing, no sex, no time to even really have your own thoughts. You really have to learn how to get something meaningful and worthwhile out of your life even when you are basically a machine.
I learned how to pack a full days of existence- a full day of thoughts and emotions- in to the approximately 10 minutes I had to myself in bed before I fell asleep.
Anyway, I think it’s worth doing for a short time, with a clear goal. I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot of skills that stay with me to this day- about how to cope with bad situations, how to make the most of your free time, how to make sure I’m never again in a situation where I have three jobs…
Good luck!
I vote “living hell.”
9 to 5 then 5 to 12 or whatever (i.e., waiting tables, delivering pizza) seems alot more doable (because you get a contiguous 8 hours of sleep, which will be really good sleep because you’ll be tired as hell).
Make a choice. Live to work or work to live.
Five years of 80+ hour weeks came to an abrupt end when I told both of my bosses to go and fuck themselves on the same day.
It didn’t damage our relationships, I still work for one of them 25 hours a week or so and the other one when he needs a hand during the summer, but it made them realize that they were beating the living hell out of me.
I also did a semester of school during the day while working 6-6 overnight guard shifts. I got around 8 hours of sleep a week, and to this day neither me nor my family or co-workers have any idea how I did it. I can will myself to stay awake and function, but once asleep I can’t wake up. So I simply didn’t sleep. Got a 2.96 GPA that semester to boot. Not great, but you do it for 5 months and see how you do, you know what I mean?
I strongly recommend against doing what you’re thinking about doing unless you have no other choice, i.e., break yourself physically and mentally vs. starving to death or living in your car for the indefinite future. In that case a the pain is worth it. I did the work/school thing because I have a kid to take care of. Without him I would definitely have done things differently.
Ditto to those who suggest getting a part time evening job if possible rather than breaking up your whole night. I’ve done 60-70 hour weeks at various points with that system, and it was no problem – I had no real social life, but I thought it was doable.
Forgot about my own excessive working experience. I was working property claims during hurricane season back when I was at Nationwide Insurance. For the duration (about 2 months) they offered us unlimited double and a half overtime. I took full advantage. For that period of time I worked 70-90 hour weeks. By the time it was nearly over I was so exhausted I started having hallucinations while I was driving. When that happened I quickly cut back to something closer to a normal schedule.
I would go in sunday at about 3, work until 430 monday afternoon, then back again monday night about 10pm and then till 430 tuesday and keep up a similar schedule all week. I thought I would kill myself, but the 30-50 hours of double and 1/2 OT was really nice.
I worked a job that left me 8 hours of sleep time if I didn’t eat or do anything else. I could rest on the job. I burned out in a month to the point where I couldn’t stop shaking. I had to not work for about a month after quitting. You might make it for a short while, but it will ruin your health and then you’ll not be able to work normal hours even. Get a part time job or your likely to be even worse off in a short while. Get something that doesn’t break up your sleep time if you can.
If you absolutely want to try this, try looking into jobs with passive night-shifts, i.e. you are on the premises, but the can spend the time sleeping unless something happens (pretty common in guard-work and such).
Thanks for the info! I’ve got to do it for my two kids so the motivation is there. I’m pretty sure I’d crash and burn if I did full time 80+ ( my day job includes two Saturdays a month) so I’m going to look for a steady part time job.
I’m already getting no socializing, sex, or anything like that so I won’t miss it much 
I do know someone whose daughter works an eight hour waitressing job five days a week, then a six hour convenience store job six days a week plus overtime. She eats at work and comes home to shower, sleep and change clothes. When she gets vacation time from one job she works more at the other job.
She has done nothing else in her life for over 15 years.
I haven’t done the two jobs thing but I’ve pulled long hours at work before (come in 10am Sunday, work till 9am Monday, sleep until noon or 2pm, then work till 9am the next day, etc.). I found that it took a couple weeks to be able to be awake for that long at a stretch, and then once you get into a rhythm, it gets a bit easier. But I’ve also found that as you get older, it gets harder: when I was in my early thirties, I could do several weeks of this (I got a full night’s sleep two nights a week, but the rest was the crazy schedule). The older I got, however, the less I could do it.
If you must do this, please be careful. Be aware when you’re too tired to drive; catch naps when you can, and eat regular meals (not snacks or junk food), particularly at 2am.
There was a summer when I was working 8:00am-4:30pm at one job, then 6:00pm-11:00pm another job, and then another job 8:00am-5:00pm Saturday and Sunday. But it didn’t interfere with my sleep schedule, so it was sustainable.
I made a fair amount of money, and saved nearly all of it, because I didn’t have the time to spend it.
Regards,
Shodan