I just started a new job as a pharmacist at a major retail pharmacy. After hire, and during training, I find out that a pharmacist who did an overnight shift in my area just quit, and there is an opening. They have mentioned it to me, and are planning on putting me into it once I’m trained, at least temperately…
I’m a night person, so this might actually suit me and my biological clock. I have to force myself to go to sleep at a decent time, or I’ll stay awake till the sun shines. I’ve woken up at 6am for a shift at work, got home around 9pm (12 hour shift +travel), and been awake till my wife yelled at me the next morning at 5am without realizing it (Civilization is really ONE MORE TURN!).
So, the new job is looking at me for an overnight, in the short term, I know I’ll do it just because it is a new job, it is expected, want to make a good impression, and as a floater I have no reason to balk… But, I’m looking for people who have experience in working an overnight shift long term. I have 2 children, twins, not in school yet. I see as they get older, coming home to see them off from school, and waking up around dinner time. (wife is stay at home, so is available all the time)… I see being able to do most after school activities, as long as it isn’t every day…
So basically, for someone who works an overnight shift (look at 8pm to 8am, 7 days in a row), what are the unforeseen disadvantages I have to look at?
I haven’t done a LOT of overnight shifts, but here’s what I’ve got based on limited experience:
If possible, reset your bio-clock before the actual shift begins. Last time I had to do something like this I was able to change my go-to-bed/wake-up times by about an hour a day until I was reset to the new schedule, it was a lot easier than trying to make the shift in one “jump” as it were.
You are going to feel a big jet-lagged… because in a way that’s what it is. For the first week (even two!) be conservative when doing critical things like driving, particularly at the end of a shift. I’ve had co-workers get into car accidents (fortunately, minor) after the end of a shift after changing to overnights, the risk does go up a bit so extra care is a good idea.
If you’re going to be on night shift for awhile get black-out curtains for your bedroom. You want your sleeping area dark to help you sleep during the day.
Leave ample time for sleep - both for falling asleep, and for getting enough sleep. Fatigue is the enemy.
Overnight you can get some… interesting people in retail. Both as coworkers and as customers. It’s not always bad, just… different. Sometimes really, really different. I find it to be free entertainment and fodder for stories. Other people are not so amused.
And speaking as a pharmacist, if you think the overnight shift will be slow, think again. It’s a 24-hour store for a reason, and for the most part, you will STILL always have something to do.
As somebody who did overnight shifts (though not in a retail setting) for three straight years, I’d advise you to run far, FAR away. Seriously, initially it’s quite possible you’ll love the hours - I certainly did for the first year or so - but as time goes on you’ll increasingly grow resentful towards your job and your lack of a social life. I still ponder how many years of lifespan I may have sacrificed due to getting no Gawddamn sleep for three years.
Speaking from experience, then, I wouldn’t wish graveyard shifts on ANYBODY. YMMV, obviously, but that’s my two cents.
Oh, I totally understand. I don’t expect to be playing video games for 12 hours, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done. But the store in question has just recently gone 24 hours, and from talking to one other overnight in the district they don’t know why that person left since it was the easiest shift.
I figure I’ll end up doing most of the things I came in on my off days to do at my old job, monthly controlled inventories, outdates, recalls, autofills, etc. Honestly, I think the biggest challenge will be dealing with people with Do Not Fill Before dates coming in at 12:01am.
I hope you are getting paid a shift differential, as third shift does take a toll on you. (This is coming from a total night owl who used to work third shift. It was still hard.)
The big problem is going to be your off days. Weekends and holidays. Your going to be expected to have a normal life on those days but your going to have to either sleep or be dog-tired.
Also since other people work normal hours get used to neighbors mowing their lawns or doing noisy things during the day because thats just how it is.
The good thing about working nights is there are fewer managers around.
Working night shifts basically eliminates all of your off days in perpetuity unless you’re willing to juggle the different sleep schedules between shifts. After years of trying, I personally found it to be fucking impossible aside from the few times I pulled off 23-26 hour stints. And then I hated myself for it.
As 2ManyTacos pointed out, you will want to stay on the graveyard schedule during the weekends. It is a big hassle, but it can be done.
I worked over eight years on third shift, & I loved it. Raising kids is hard, but doable.
For two years, I got the kids up & off to school after work. My wife worked the early morning shift. 07:30 to 13:30. She took care of them until I got up at about 15:30. We put them to bed at 20:00 & I left for work 30 minutes later. I worked from 23:00 to 07:00. Both of our commutes were less then 10 minutes on a bad day.
The weekends were the only times that we were able to sleep in the same bed. This was the hardest part for both of us. We both modified our sleep schedule for the weekends, but only by three hours each.
Before kids, we both worked 3rd shift. It was wonderful!
Are you going to be permanently on the night shift or rotating shifts - a week on nights then a week on days? Because the latter caused me serious weight gain.
I worked overnights for a number of years with Former Employer. What several people have already said is true in terms of being perpetually tired (there are chunks of my life I literally cannot remember from that time because of the fatigue), having no social life, and attempting to sleep during the day. I could never sleep for a decent clip, btw, even with blackout shades.
The interesting thing with me is that if I’m overtired – as I constantly was working overnights – I get a bit hyper with my third/fourth/fifth wind. I couldn’t go home and automatically go to bed. I’d punch out, do as many errands as I could depending on what was open, maybe take myself out to breakfast, drive around, etc. I returned home when I could feel my eyelids flutter. A longtime coworker who still works overnights told me such behavior is rather common. If you think about it, you’re throwing off your entire circadian rhythm, so your body doesn’t know which end is up.
But yeah, all I did was work, eat, and attempt to sleep during that period.
The other thing is that it’s more difficult to switch to an overnight shift the older your are. I recently had to do a middle-of-the-night shift. It’s nearly a week later and I’m still reeling from it.
I hope the OP is getting a substantial differential. Former Employer had one as an enticement to work the shift, which is why I worked it for as long as I did.
Chiming in for the 5th or whatever time that off days are going to be the biggest hurdle. I did it for five years when my kids were pre-school and it was great for being with them.
But the toll came in switching back and forth on weekends. I did 4 10s, came home on Friday morning slept for about 3 hours so I could sleep again Friday night, did overnight sleep Saturday and then got up Sunday morning and stayed up for close to 24 hours. I don’t recommend that approach.
That all said, some people just can’t do it. I worked with people who went a month getting decent sleep only on the weekends because they couldn’t sleep during the day. I kind of enjoyed seeing people’s reactions when I popped a beer at 7 a.m. after work.
I did weekend night shift at a hospital ER when I was in college. I had to change phase on Fridays, and again on Mondays. It was doable – of course, I was much younger then.
After I got married and we had kids, my wife worked rotating shifts for a couple of years. When she was on night phase, I would get home after work, take the baby from her, give her a kiss, and she’d head out the door. It worked reasonably well – but of course, we were much younger then.
I did janitor for a while - 10pm to 6am. I adjust fairly fine but I had to make two changes to our bedroom. Heavier (almost black-out) drapes and I disconnected the phone before I went to sleep. It was also why we bought our first AC unit - more for the “white noise” as it was the cool. Sleeping from 8am to 3 or 4pm I found any disturbance and I was up all “night”.
Worse case was when I was in the mill. The shifts were 3pm-11, 11pm to 7am and 7-3. That was OK. What killed me was the fourth week which was called “knock-out”. Two days of one shift (3-11) followed by two days of 7-3 and then one day of 11-7. That screwed me up so bad that after that summer I swore never to work in a mill again and haven’t.
Just got home from an overnight shift at a major retail pharmacy. It’s reaaaally rough if the place is busy and you’re all by yourself. Haven’t been doing it long but I can’t say I’d recommend it.
Going to sleep now but can go into more detail later when I wake up
I came close to working 70-80 hour weeks whenever Former Employer opened a new store. The shift IIRC was midnight-noon and I usually took the extra days for the $. Needless to say I was a zombie the rest of the time.
