Early Morning Shift Advice

[Gameface]

Do not do it. My fortnightly roster used to be 11pm to 7am mon-thur, friday off then sat to thur with friday to sunday off. Worked that roster for 6 years, it sucked, the only thing that mattered to me in my life was getting enough sleep, it took years off my life, i ended up living like a zombie with insomnia, I'm not a nice person to be around when i haven't had enough sleep. (I'm generally not that nice anyway tho..) For an extra 5 bucks an hour? forget about it. I get 23 bucks a day (or something like that maybe closer to 30, got no idea) now cause i work the PM shift as an allowance (3-11) nights paid me 60 a night, since changing shift i'e maybe lost 50 bucks a week after tax but i almost have a normal life. I would not go back to night shift for 150 bucks extra a night.

Exactly how I feel.

I have nothing but bad choices to make when I work nights. I can either flip back to days on my days off and be absolutely miserable, mentally half there and a complete raging ******* picking fights with my wife. Or, I can stay on a night schedule and spend the majority of my time sitting alone in a dark house by myself trying not to make too much noise so I don't wake up my family, but be closer to full mental capacity, not aggravated all the time, way easier to be a around.

My employer pays a laughable $0.75/hr night shift differential. That amounts to around 2% of my wages for living a 100% ******** life.

 

[Rubashov]

Exactly how I feel.

I have nothing but bad choices to make when I work nights. I can either flip back to days on my days off and be absolutely miserable, mentally half there and a complete raging ******* picking fights with my wife. Or, I can stay on a night schedule and spend the majority of my time sitting alone in a dark house by myself trying not to make too much noise so I don't wake up my family, but be closer to full mental capacity, not aggravated all the time, way easier to be a around.

My employer pays a laughable $0.75/hr night shift differential. That amounts to around 2% of my wages for living a 100% ******** life.

I effectively had two days off a fortnight cause both my Fridays were sleep and recovery days, to make things worse the Sunday i would work would only be paid at Sunday penalty for one hour, the rest of the shift was at normal rate despite the reality that i couldn't enjoy my Sunday. A good third of my wage is allowances for various things, without it my job wouldn't be worth doing I make close to $40 an hour during the week and $50 odd on the weekend, night shift was something like $47 an hour during the week and close to 60 on the weekend. That said the difference in take home pay is negligible when you look at it at the end of the financial year, around 3 grand or so. Not worth it in a million years.

And yeah its terrible for relationships, its no surprise to me that during those 6 years i had 1 long term relationship. Anyway its half 3 and I need to get some sleep, got a long day ahead tomorrow.

 

[LogGrad98]

I effectively had two days off a fortnight cause both my Fridays were sleep and recovery days, to make things worse the Sunday i would work would only be paid at Sunday penalty for one hour, the rest of the shift was at normal rate despite the reality that i couldn't enjoy my Sunday. A good third of my wage is allowances for various things, without it my job wouldn't be worth doing I make close to $40 an hour during the week and $50 odd on the weekend, night shift was something like $47 an hour during the week and close to 60 on the weekend. That said the difference in take home pay is negligible when you look at it at the end of the financial year, around 3 grand or so. Not worth it in a million years.

And yeah its terrible for relationships, its no surprise to me that during those 6 years i had 1 long term relationship. Anyway its half 3 and I need to get some sleep, got a long day ahead tomorrow.

So in real dollars that is like, $20 per hour?

 

[LogGrad98]

A weekend night shift is tough, really tough. I did a Fri-Sun, 3X12 schedule 6 pm to 6 am, for 4 years. I loved having the 4 days off but I am convinced that the alternating schedules took years off my life and somewhat permanently messed up my sleep schedule it took me more than 4 years on dayshift to adjust my sleep schedule to something kind of reasonable. I still, now nearly 12 years past it, wake up some nights, a few times a month maybe, and can't go back to sleep because part of my brain wants to be awake when it is dark. I have had other sleep issues over the years, so obviously it isn't solely due to working nights, but I am convinced that had a big part to play.

 

[Gameface]

A weekend night shift is tough, really tough. I did a Fri-Sun, 3X12 schedule 6 pm to 6 am, for 4 years. I loved having the 4 days off but I am convinced that the alternating schedules took years off my life and somewhat permanently messed up my sleep schedule it took me more than 4 years on dayshift to adjust my sleep schedule to something kind of reasonable. I still, now nearly 12 years past it, wake up some nights, a few times a month maybe, and can't go back to sleep because part of my brain wants to be awake when it is dark. I have had other sleep issues over the years, so obviously it isn't solely due to working nights, but I am convinced that had a big part to play.

I preach and preach to people that even if they work nights it is much healthier to stay on the same sleep schedule on your days off and I've never met one person who even considered that serious advice. There was never any question but that they'd flip on their days off.

I've tried it and tried every method of flipping I could, but I am a miserable angry person when I do that. Huge drawbacks to staying up at night on your days off, but any sleep expert will tell you it is FAR healthier to do it that way.

 

[Gameface]

If I had to work nights long-term I'd seriously consider getting a divorce preemptively so I could have a full-on night lifestyle and try to find other people who weren't on meth that were up at night to hang out with on occasion.

 

[fishonjazz]

Thanks for the advice guys. Im gonna pass I guess. The money is hard to pass up though.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Thanks for the advice guys. Im gonna pass I guess. The money is hard to pass up though.

I decided to pass as well. Money is tempting but when you realize it will heavily affect your sleep, free-time, health and time with your family it’s not close to being worth it. This thread made me realize it so thank you to everyone who contributed.

 

[Rubashov]

So in real dollars that is like, $20 per hour?

Probably less, the spending power of our dollar in our economy is pathetic, to give you an idea of prices, Litre of petrol 1.50, steak at a pub $35, plate of food a decent restaurant $60-80, pint of beer $10-12, packet of smokes $35, rent is around 200 to 300 a week. It doesn't last long.

I preach and preach to people that even if they work nights it is much healthier to stay on the same sleep schedule on your days off and I've never met one person who even considered that serious advice. There was never any question but that they'd flip on their days off.

I've tried it and tried every method of flipping I could, but I am a miserable angry person when I do that. Huge drawbacks to staying up at night on your days off, but any sleep expert will tell you it is FAR healthier to do it that way.

That's pretty much what I did, for the first 5 years of night shift, I worked two jobs, so every Friday and second Saturday i'd be working a door until 3am, then would drink with my colleagues until 5 or 6am, my one Sunday off a fortnight would normally start on somebodies couch and end at the bowls club after a number of pints.

 

[idestroyedthetoilet]

35 for a pack of smokes? Bloody hell. I think it's about $70 USD here for a carton. Want to go into business together?

 

[idestroyedthetoilet]

Thanks for the advice guys. Im gonna pass I guess. The money is hard to pass up though.

I think I'd rather work a 2nd weekend job for 6 months of the year or in 3 month blocks. I work 4 10's plus lunch and 3 hour commuting. I get about 2 hours a night for non-work stuff during the week. Working 2 extra 8 hour shifts somewhere close to home wouldn't seem like much of a change and not too bad in doses. There would still be a day off and two full evenings to enjoy.

 

[idestroyedthetoilet]

I forgot you work a ton of overtime. Even better - higher pay than a 2nd.