In my line of work, I’m most likely going to let them sleep. It isn’t unusual to work 16-20 hours, get 4-8 hours off and then work another 16-20, sometimes for many days in a row. When we get to rehearsal and show days and we’re sitting in the dark waiting for bad things to happen, there’s no harm in letting someone catch up on some much-needed sleep.
I’d wake them up discreetly. Then I’d say “hey, let’s go down and get some coffee or tea.”
If this happened a lot, then I’d tell them about my experiences with narcolepsy and how medication changed my life. And how it’s a good idea to schedule an afternoon walk. Or to use an app that reminds you to stand up every hour or half hour. And recommend a sleep doctor.
Better me than someone who will use it against them or make fun of them or bring it up ALL the freaking time like some folks I work with.
This is what happened to a co-worker with sleep apnea that was undiagnosed. Most people, including our supervisor, thought it was funny and would bring it up or tease her about it. I
I feel I should not that while I probably wouldn’t poke a sleeper, that presumes they’re a silent sleeper. If you’re sawing logs while I’m trying to work, forget that! I have to concentrate here!
What about the situation where you attempt to rouse a sleeping coworker and it turns out they weren’t sleeping?
We’ve had that happen a couple of times in the past decade here in Las Vegas. In both cases, the “sleepers” were unperturbed by efforts to wake them, although the “wakers” did require some attention.In case that was too subtle: we’ve had people die on the job. One was a brain aneurysm; the other was a massive heart attack.
Be jealous of them. They’re probably improving their memory, health, and boosting their creativity and productivity for the rest of the day. Worst case scenario they’re doing a little bit to stave off the ill effects of something like sleep apnea which is beneficial for their life. N.B. this is people taking power naps(~20 minutes) not full on sleeping for an hour or more.
I wish we could change this aspect of our work culture so this kind of thing was enabled and not stigmatized. Some offices do. We had quiet rooms at the office a few years ago with a comfy recliner and a timer in it. Today at my office someone grudgingly built a “contemplation room” with a crappy little steel chair and no one uses it because they don’t want to be seen as “that guy.” But they sell a number of energy drinks in the vending machines…
Enjoy,
Steven
Like happened to me? I’d imagine the “sleeper” usually is either confused that the person thought they were sleeping, or understands what happened and shrugs it off.
My brother, when he relaxes, sometimes starts to snore - even while awake. I have him and his kid over to my house sometimes to watch movies, and unlike with coworkers I don’t let them sleep. (Show the show I’m showing some respect!) But when I reach over and poke him he usually promptly says “I’m not sleeping.” Sometimes he doesn’t even wait for me to poke him, since he hears himself and notices that I’m glancing over.
An obnoxious new guy was hired at the research analysis lab where I worked. Among his many sins was that he napped in his room all afternoon, every afternoon. Everyone generally left him alone, believing that someday our manager would notice.
One day while Obnoxious Guy was sleeping, a coworker went into his room and set an extremely loud timer alarm right next to him. We watched through his door window when it went off. Quite amusing.
Obnoxious Guy was furious.
For a while, a coworker would always wake Obnoxious Guy when it was quitting time. One day coworker decided it wasn’t his job. Obnoxious Guy slept an extra hour and a half on his own time. Again, he was furious. The next day he stormed around and yelled at people about it.
Apparently it never occurred to him that it was not his right to have a long nap at work every afternoon or to have his coworkers take responsibility for his actions.
He was still employed there when I left.
Falling asleep where I work is a terminable offense. In a maximum security prison setting, being that out of it is NOT a good idea.
We had a guy like that in our office once. When the boss saw him snoozing, he’d walk up and kick the hell out of a metal wastebasket.
Depends.
If it’s someone who works in a store or an office, and I need their help, I wake them. If they’re on watch, are responsible for security or are monitoring a nuclear reactor or the like (and this has never happened to me), I’d also wake them.
Otherwise, sweet dreams!
I feel bad for them, since I tend to associate reckless sleeping with health issues…including mental health.
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If it’s got a potential to cause safety issues - wake them up.
If it’s inconveniencing me - wake them up.
It it’s inconveniencing customers who are present - wake them up.
Otherwise, nap away.
In the early 80s I had a boss who was trying to make it in music. He sat me at his executive desk and chair, took my “clerical officer” versions behind a partition and spent his days with headphones hooked up to his stereo system napping off his nightly gigs. Everyone who came in just assumed I was in charge. It was a boring branch of a boring government office, 99.9% of our functions would now be computerised. I only woke him if one of his bosses drew near and at knock-off time.
If they were at the cash register, they would get a goof swift kick. You are supposed to be attentive behind the register. If management saw them on the video, I image they could be fired.
In the aisle, I might just nudge them awake.
In the break room, let them sleep.
Love it!
Of course, some people can fall asleep just about anywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ4mZtfQeDI
The only person I’ve seen sleeping at work is one of the managers, who has some type of very poorly managed diabetes. He’ll nod off at his desk after a big lunch…it’s pretty much understood that, when this happens, people check on him every few minutes but otherwise just let him sleep.
A few years ago, one of our quality ‘engineers’ (who, strangely, did not hold any sort of engineering degree) started nodding off at his desk while remaining perfectly upright. He shared an office with three other people, and his desk faced the wall closest to the door – in other words, his office mates didn’t know he was dozing, but anyone walking by the office did. One of the managers liked strolling back to this office and – assuming this fellow was dozing by himself – slapping the hell out of the wall just to see the guy’s reaction. He never got in trouble until the day one of his office mates got curious about why this guy felt the need to reserve a file cabinet in the quality inspection area all for himself. Turns out the sleepy guy was hiding reams of incomplete paperwork in there in an attempt to make it appear as though he was keeping up with his tasks. A few calls placed to sites the guy had recently been assigned to visit revealed that he had failed to show up, or he would show up but not actually perform any of the required inspections. O_o It’s still a bit of an in-joke…
"Hey, have we been to [vendor name] lately?"
"Well, [sleepy guy] went there five years ago."
":dubious: Did he, though?"I was working late one night, when the unmistakable sounds of snoring filled the office. I gave it about 15 minutes to see if the snorer would wake up, and then I went and found him. (It was one of the file clerks.) I woke him up gently and went back to my desk.
I worked night security on campus while going to school. The worst thing you could do would be to be caught sleeping.
I caught my boss sleeping one day. I woke him up so that he knew I knew and we both understood that he wasn’t going to go looking for me sleeping. I never did, but it was just insurance.
In my first job in Japan, one of the workers was constantly falling asleep on the job. She could sleep while standing and making copies. The boss knew about it, so there wasn’t anything for me to do.
No poll option for “join them”?