I work late, I'm a Night Owl, and I'm SICK of people waking me up in the morning!

The BBQ Pit
21

Screw you ass-heads. Unless you’re working shift work (People working a night shift can ignore this), I’m quite happy calling people at 8 AM on a weekday. Get the hell up.

I don’t like getting up early, either. “Waaaahhhh, it’s so early, wahhh, you called me at 9.” Boo hoo, you pathetic pasty-skinned losers, the bunch of you. I don’t like going to work. I don’t like having to pay the phone bill. I don’t like having to obey traffic signals. Sometimes we have to set aside our infantile desires to make society function on some basic level.

The world’s not waiting for you lazy-ass slackers to wake up at the crack of noon before we start conducting the day’s business. At 9 AM I want to start getting the things done I want to get done, because I don’t want to spend my evenings chasing down shitwits who keep a toddler’s hours. Anyone who can’t get to a normal working day job at 8:30 should be fired.

You don’t like that I called you at 8:45 on a Tuesday morning? Eat me. I’ll call again at 8:35 some other morning. I really don’t give a badger’s ass how nasty you are on the phone.

And this “night owl” stuff is bullshit. “Night owls” are just people who’ve been staying up late and sleeping in and are used to it. If all the people who CLAIMED to be “night owls” really were, we’d be nocturnal animals. Either you get as much sleep as you need or you don’t. It doesn’t matter if it’s between 11 and 7 or 3 and 11. With a week of effort you can change your damned schedule. Join the rest of Western civilization, for Christ’s sake.

(I exclude SHIFT WORK people from this rant. I’d never call someone during the day I knew was working night shifts. Different thing entirely. And you shouldn’t call people on the weekend at ALL for any business reason if they aren’t working.)

Just figured I’d weigh in with an opposing opinion.

22

Another owl checking in. I don’t fall asleep before 3 or 4AM, regardless of the shift I am working or how little sleep I got the night before. I nearly died when I was working the 8:30AM-5:00PM shift - I barely slept.

Now I am on the 11:30AM-8:00PM shift. I like it alot better. I can stay awake until I naturally fall asleep and still get in a reasonable amount of shut eye. My Mother INSISTS on calling me at 8AM, wondering why I am still asleep. I get the old “shouldn’t you get out of bed and do something? You’re just sleeping the day away. No one needs that much sleep.” Trying to explain that I only went to bed 3 hours ago is fruitless, she just tells me that I should go to sleep “at a more reasonable time.” Even other people who work my shift look down their noses at me. They get up at 6AM and get all kinds of stuff done before work. I do the same things they do - just after work. But, in their opinion, I’m not getting as much done - I’m just not as industrious as they are.

My company pulls the same crap on me Yosemitebabe. Whenever there is a company function they have a 7AM breakfast. So the breakfast starts promptly at 7 (don’t dare be late) goes til 8 or 8:30 - then I am forced to work OT 8-11:30 then do my full shift until 8PM. Thank God that only happens a few times a year. We suggested that they have a late dinner for a change, but we were told that 8PM is simply too late to expect people to eat dinner. HELLO?? I don’t get out of work until 8. Dinner is often not ready until 9 or 9:30. Am I somehow not in your definition of “people”?

Finally, if my Mother complains one more time about how I am never going to get a “better” shift so that I can work at “a more appropriate time” I am going to scream. She does not understand how anyone could like these hours. And I think she nearly passed away when I said that I wish they could be a little later - I would prefer to come in at 12 or 12:30 - that would suit me even better.

I hate morning people.

23

For me it has nothing to do with work or school or whatever. My body wants to be asleep at 6am-noon, and is at its wide awake best 11pm-4am. Because to this stupid needing a job to pay the bills bullshit I have to work 8-5(There are very few programming/dba jobs that let dont have core hours of 10-2, and the good paying ones are 8-8 usually). When I used to go camping for 2-3 weeks at a time I very quickly fell into sleeping during the day and living at night, so much more enjoyable.
Who decided that people are diurnal anyway? Maybe when we became an agricultural society we worked with the sun to farm and stuff, but if I was a hunter I’d hunt at night. Humans aren’t fast enough to catch much, or strong enough to bring it down. Personnaly I’d use my brain and hunt in the middle of the night when the prey is sleeping.

P.S. If you “Normal People” are gonna call the police for me talking on my porch at 4 in the morning, I’m gonna call the police when you mow your damn lawn at 7am

24

RickJay took his head out of his ass long enough to spew:

I HAD an 8:30 to 5:00 job - I got PROMOTED to the job with the later (better) hours.

Just because you’re some early bird squicking worm felcher doesn’t mean that the rest of the world needs to work on your schedule.

I COULD work a “regular” day, except jerks like you think that the world revolves around you. Everything has to be around your schedule. So while you’re at home with your family in the evening and on weekends, I’m sitting at work helping out the customer service reps that you are giving a hard time. I don’t know why you must call us from home. Doesn’t your phone at work make outgoing calls? You expect everyone to call you during “regular business hours”. But, then you expect us to be open 24 hours a day to accomodate you.
Wake up. The Earth revolves around the sun - not you.

25

I could go on about this forever. I am 17 y/o and I have to conform to the ‘proper hours’ but it has always been very tought for me. Things got tougher for me when my parents divorced and circumstances changed enough for me to let me slack off which has made it next to impossible for me to sleep normally at any time. I have not slept ‘normal hours’ for more than a few days at a time for 6 years. As a result of my lovely sleeping pattern I have had tons of trouble with school because I drop if I don’t get enough sleep (which for me is more like 10 hours) so generally anything less than 9 does not cut it for me.

Do you know how hard it is to be a 13 y/o dragged in front of the board of school directors? 3 very stern looking people who give you the same feeling that you get when you do something your dad disapproves of… this being one of them so you have 4 people glaring at you sternly. All you want to do is to please them by getting up and going to school at the right time and you say your going to try but your brought before them again and again till you are almost 16 and they finally give up on you because you cannot get yourself to sleep ‘normally’.

It was terrible and only recently, (Like within this year… since I arrived at these boards) have I discovered there are other people like this. If it were possible to let me do whatever and sleep whenever I felt like it I’m sure I would be perfect so I hope I can find a job that will work for me (whenever I finally manage to graduate). Many a time I’ve thought I would do so much better on a 38 hour day. When I let myself go completely I’ve had several times where I went for 28 hours awake then slept for 10 give or take a little.

It has been terrible to live like this being a night person. Very rarely do my cycles change enough for me to work ‘normally’ on a day pattern. I’m just glad there ARE others who are like me. Otherwise I would think I was crazy.

26

Bull-motherfucking-shit right back at you, ass-face!!! You cannot tell me that I have chosen to not be able to sleep until 2 am! I have been this way for as long as I can remember. When I’m forced to adjust my schedule, it doesn’t matter how much sleep I get - I’m monkey-assed tired all fucking day! School is fucking torture! I do NOT “change my damned schedule” within a week! I’m miserable for the whole damned semester.

So up yours with a barbed baseball bat, you self-righteous, arrogant little weasel!

27

Rickjay, go fuck yourself with a wood rasp. You have no fucking clue. You don’t know what it’s like to:

  1. have your parents mindlessly parrot at you, “Go to bed earlier, you’ll be fresher in the morning,”
  2. go to bed at 9,
  3. lie in the dark for five hours,
  4. finally fall asleep at two anyway,
  5. have to wake up at 5 regardless,
  6. have to function for the whole day on 3 hours of sleep,
  7. fall asleep,
  8. get in trouble for same, and then
  9. repeat EVERY SINGLE MOTHERFUCKING DAY FOR SEMESTERS ON END.

This is not an exaggeration, asswipe. This is what I had to go through from the time I turned 12 to the time I started university.

YOU CANNOT REALIGN YOUR NATURAL SLEEP SCHEDULES BY MORE THAN AN HOUR AND EXPECT TO FUNCTION OPTIMALLY. Walk a fucking mile in my shoes before you come and tell us we’re pasty-skinned whiners.

New word: diurnofascist. It means “one of that subset of early birds who traipse through life expecting that everything and everyone naturally obeys their sleep cycle.” They’re no better than the heterosexuals who think that everybody naturally shares their sexual orientation.

28

Smeghead,

SHMUCK!!! Don’t you start bringing the big bosses onto the night shift!!!

I work these hours because:[ul]I get paid better,
I’m awake anyway,
I like the people I work with,
I don’t have to get up in the morning and go to work.[/ul]I DON’T work these hours to have the big boss’s boss call me about what I’m doing!
And Wolfman, FWIW, I have threatened noise complaints against the leaf blower brigade. The cops didn’t want to do anything. Fortunately, I was able to convince the guilty party of my sincere interest in resolving the issue.

Good topic, yosemitebabe.

29

Yep, I get this all the time from my friends who work “normal” hours. “All you do is sleep”. Look idiot - when I am at work in the middle of the night you are asleep . . . so maybe it’s you that sleeps all the time. Arg.

I have been doing the overnights in radio for almost three years and truth be told I would like to get off of them, but an opportunity simply has not presented itself. The really fun thing is doing 11PM to 6 AM five days a week, then working 2PM to 7PM on Saturday afternoon. I no longer have a body clock - I have effectively killed that thing off. But you know, gotta pay those bills and all . . . radio station do not close down. (Well at least the real FM ones don’t.)

  • NM
30

I forgot to add: I work on the night shift because the night shift WORKS! In every shift job I’ve worked, the night shifts outperformed the day shifts. Has anyone else noticed this?

31

Yeah, I am a night person too.

To all those of you who said there is no such thing:
Look, FUCK you. You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. There are night people and day people. There are people who like spaghetti and those who don’t.

Saying that “if there really were night people, then we would all be nocturnal” is like saying “if there really were people who liked spaghetti, then we’d all like spaghetti.” You dumbass!
Some people have a predisposition to be more active at night. (My kingdom for a cite!)

And to Rickjay, a very special ass-monkey who wants to exclude shift workers and then at the same time talk shit about them:
You are cordially invited to fellate me. Make sure you cradle my sac as you take it all down, bitch.

I work at night. I had morning joe jobs all my life, and it sucked.
I can identify with all of you who have been crammed into the morning lifestyle all your lives.

Some dipshit said that we are supposed to get up early. If that was so true, why are alarm clocks necessary? If you are naturally supposed to get up then, you wouldn’t need something to wake you up, would you? I don’t have an alarm clock, I get up about noon everyday, no alarms, no blaring beeps, no loud music, nothing. I feel great.
My girlfriend has her alarm go off at 5:00 am to be at her school by 7:30, and she’s a mess. She feel’s like shit all the time.
Soon, when she’s out of school, she can start working swing shift at the hospital, 3:00 to 11:00, and she will be normal again.
I can hardly wait.

I had to go to school early and it sucked. Now I go to bed at five, get up at noon, get a shitload done before I go in at 4. It rocks.
Soon, though, I am going to have a second job and have to get up at eight.

shit

32

Thanks to all! This is great. I really had no idea that this topic would take off the way it did. Obviously I hit a nerve.

I have been like so many of you - have always had trouble getting up, always wanted to stay up late. When left to my own devices, that’s the way it’ll always be. It isn’t like I got it into my head that I wasn’t going to let myself sleep early. I just tossed and turned until 2-3 am, and woke up feeling like crap.

I wish like anything at times it wasn’t that way. I had a job for a few years where I had to get up before 5 am. Utter Hell. I was always tired, never got any of my own projects done when I got home. Just stared at a TV, exhausted. Why would anyone choose to be exhausted and miserable every day? Now that I have this second shift job, I am starting to have a life again. Starting to do things again, starting to feel rested. It’s just the way it is for me, and obviously many others.

Matt touched on it before - to assume that all “night owls” really could be day people if they tried harder, is the same as assuming all gay people aren’t trying hard enough to be straight. It’s the same principle, as far as I’m concerned. Unless you’ve been in our shoes, you really are in no position to assume anything. Or to be an asshole about it. Hey, what if WE decided that anyone who can’t stay up 'till 1 am is “lazy”, so we’re going to start calling you up at that hour? How would that grab you? It’s “normal” to us to be up at that hour - A LOT of people are up at that hour. So what’s your fricking problem? STAY AWAKE YOU LAZY BUMS!!!

33

Damn, cornflakes, that’s a good point about my nighttime company. I got a new boss a couple of months ago, and I have yet to meet him face to face. He’s sent me a couple of emails, but that’s it. Gotta tell you, there can be no better boss…

Of course, if it was my company, I’d be the boss, and all my employees would love me enough to want me around all the time. :smiley:

Oh, BTW, note what time this was posted. Wiiiiiide awake, here.

34

Say, Rickjay, next time try being informed. I’ll suggest a little reading for you:

>The Journal of Chronobiology, every single fucking issue. See, these people who know what they’re talking about demonstrate over and over and over again that people have body clocks not easily changed, and that some people’s clocks work better if they don’t have to wake up early.
>Anything listed under “circadian rhythms” will be a start.

>Psychology Today used to print articles on a regular basis on the subject.

>You could talk to the Philadelphia Police Department to find that when they geared schedules to people’s body clocks, they increased productivity and morale and decreased
sickness and drug abuse.

Given that we know work pretty much around the clock as a society, intelligent people would recognize the fact and try to schedule to when people work best. Our nation’s schools are slowly starting to grasp this idea and move to a later start time for high schools.

P.S. If you’ve been told not to call early and do, it’s not simply a question of how “nasty” I’ll be on the phone–it’s illegal and I can have your ass hauled off to jail early that morning.

35

Hey, Minxsmom: Tough shit. I’ll keep calling at 8:30. If you don’t like it, turn the phone off.

No, the world does not revolve around me. But, hey, I have news for you: EVERYBODY ELSE IS UP. Ninety percent of the damned world is getting up early. YOU should abide by OUR needs, and if you don’t like it, I guess you’re SOL. If you need to sleep in 'cause you work a late shift, most phones (this may really amaze you) can be turned off through a highly technical process called “taking the receiver off the hook.” If you like I can refer you to Web sites with clear instructions and pretty coloured pictures. I’m amazed that people who cannot fathom the concept of the PHONE can operate a computer. I won’t come to your door because I don’t like trailer parks.

As for you working evenings, it’s not my fault you have a shit job. Too bad, so sad.

I expected the flak over “But I really AM a nighht person!” I would say you’re all a bunch of cousin-porking imbeciles, but the possibility also exists that you’re lying shitheads, so I’m torn between the two. I’ll say one thing for sure: Every “night person” I’ve ever met or will ever meet is a worthless, lazy, whining puke. And as for Bucky’s claim that he’ll get me sent to jail:

Har.

I love it. Is “Waking a lazy-ass so-called `night owl’” a crime now? What a lark. I liked your reference to the Philly PD, though. Evidently all that extra sleep deosn’t stop them from beating the shit out of people. They still seem so grumpy. Maybe they were “night owls” woken earlier than 11:00. Poor babies.

But the absolute peice de resistance was this hilarious line of bullshit from Yosemitebabe:

“to assume that all “night owls” really could be day people if they tried harder, is the same as assuming all gay people aren’t trying hard enough to be straight.”

Oh, my fucking Christ. You people are now comparing your lazy habits to SEXUAL ORIENTATION? You are actually saying that getting up earlier for a couple of weeks is equivalent to having sex with a completely different gender than you’re used to? What’s next - racial prejudice? Let’s start the National Association for the Advancement of Night Owls! We’ll have anti-discrimination laws passed! What a fucking insult to the victims of genuine discrimination; comparing people who are horribly discriminated against, often violently, to a pack of whining maggots.

(Note to Lexicon: Your response was reasoned and well put, an appropriate and perfectly stated response for the Pit. Hope to hear from you again. Incidentally, suck monkey cocks in hell, you unclefucking bloodfart.)

36

RickJay ,

Why in the world are you calling people at home at 8:30 if you don’t expect them to be there? ( if they worked “regular” hours,they’d be gone already)

37

Just a little follow up for the reading comprehension impaired RickJay.

  1. I do not have a shit job. I have a very good job.
  2. I LIKE my job.
    BTW, why should I be required to take my phone off the hook because you are an inconsiderate jerk? I have received a few calls at odd hours that I NEEDED to get. My sister got in a car accident trying to avoid a deer - rolled the car three times before ending upside down in a ditch. My Mother was hospitalized in the middle of the night with a bad galbladder. My Grandmother fell and broke her hip and she needed someone to come help her. I should miss those calls because you want to chat or sell me something? I don’t think so.
    Hey, doreen that’s a very good question. I’d like to see his answer to that :slight_smile:
38

You know, I was hoping RickJay was just being a good-natured asshole with his first post, trying to make things interesting, but now I see that he’s just an asshole. Well, I’ve already said my bit. Fuck you very much.

Oh, and BTW, I love working nights because that’s when I’m awake. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

39

Great. My schedule:

Thursday: midnight to 8AM
Friday: 6PM to 8AM
Saturday: 8PM to 8AM (although my bosses would prefer I come in at 6PM).
Sunday: 6PM to 8AM

I have no set sleep schedule. I am lucky to get 6 hours of sleep in between my shifts, and I am so tired come Monday morning, I sleep straight through till Tuesday.

I usually don’t answer the phone if it rings during the day on the weekends. If somone is calling me at that time I know they don’t know me. But when I first started working nights, it took a long time for my friends to be able to grasp that calling during the day was bad. I really hate it when someone knocks on the door…if it is repairmen or pest control I have no choice but to get up and tell them to go away, or else they just let themselves in.

40

Which means, all those 24 hour stores, 800 “help” lines, 800 mail order lines, tech support - all those people working hours other than 9 to 5 don’t need to do that anymore. Because - hey. They want to be home at 5 pm as well. They ought to get up early, do their 8 hours, and be home by 5, just like you and all the “normal” people, right? So, if you want to call a help line, tech support, order something, rent a video, go buy groceries, or anything after 5 pm, you should be SOL as well. So another way to look at it would be - the world should not revolve around people who get up early, get off work at 5, and then expect that businesses and services be still open through the night to cater to them.

News flash - those people catering to all the 9 - 5 “morning” people are us. Those people that you gleefully insist you want to wake up early in the morning are people who often work late to make sure jerks like you can order pizza at home, or call tech support in the middle of the night, or get some aspirin at 1 am. We are working late, catering to people like you. And you are a jerk enough to still feel you can wake us up in the morning.

See my above comment. So - all the policemen, all the health care workers, tech support, all of these people have “shit jobs” because they don’t work 9 - 5. All those people catering to you have “shit jobs”. Thanks for clearing that up.

You are an idiot, and you deliberately missed my point. Once again. To assume that you know that all “night owls” are not really different than you, but are merely not trying hard enough to be “morning people” is the equivalent of a straight person assuming that all gay people could really be straight if they “tried hard enough”. You know nothing about being a night owl. You aren’t one. So stop telling us you know us, know our lifestyles, sleep patterns, or anything. You know nothing. You are proving yourself to be an idiot. I also suspect that you are a troll, or are displaying troll-ish tendencies.

Putz.