How do people live who work the night shift without waking up the neighbors?

[Jetronic]

I worked the night shift, this is how I did it.

night shift started at 7 PM for me, I was the only one working on this shedule, it was when busy time really started (I was a mechanic at a DHL hub, keeping the sorting machines going). I finished at 3 AM when the worst of the grind was finished. Go home, try to get some sleep (4 AM to 7.30AM) then get up and bring the daughter to school. Go back to sleep, get up around midday, then go to the second job (car mechanic at dealership) and work there 1PM to 5PM go home to eat, get my lunch and off to DHL again to start 7PM there.

Stuff that needed doing around the house got done in the weekend. Trying to get some sleep after 8 AM was torture on some days, I could kill people ringing my doorbell for some survey or to "spread the love of Christ". or mow their lawn, or jackhammer stuff.... I needed to catch up on sleep in the weekend as well.

 

[ATex7239]

Between the military and field work with odd and very long hours I realize you can adapt to just about anything. Thrive probably not. But adapt yes. I don’t miss it. I like sleeping at night and being up with everyone else. It’s lonely being on a different schedule than loved ones. You’re typical doing everything first thing in the morning or late in the evening.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I had solicitors call my phone and not leave messages repeatedly at like 3pm. I started calling them back on my lunch time. I had one that answered all groggy. I said hi are you OK? Do you need police or medical help? You keep calling and not leaving messages. I'm in a place that calls get missed and I want to make sure you are ok. Their reply was "it's 3am", I said I know. You call me when I'm sleeping the same way. Are you OK? Do you need police or fire dept? They hung up.

I use those numbers for those stupid harassing raffles that you know you won't win. I just want some one else to call them all the time.

@ctechbob - that vinyl is nice. I have the foil backed cell/honeycomb version shades. They also help with heat/cold and sound due to the multiple air spots. I had Lowes cut them to a specific length, they wanted to leave a 1/4" each side. I said no I want 32 3/8" exact, side to side. Plastic and mounts trimmed accordingly. I now have to very slightly push then into the window area.

My parents have tilt/turn German windows with the outside vinyl security shutter. Roll those down all the way and it's like you bricked over the window.

 

[tmorris1]

They're at work so how would they mow at 2am ?

There's 24 hours in a day. You do "chores" when you're not at home, right ? Think about when you'd do those.... Now think about when someone working nights could do the same things.

Right? I work days and I mow in the evening after dinner or wait until the weekend.
As for people that work days, are we supposed to be worried about waking up people that work nights?

 

[oldcodger]

Worst work shift I had was 12 noon to 12 midnight. I could just not get used to it.

 

[ecotourist]

Weirdest schedule I've ever worked was:
Normal work day - 0700 - 1700
Normal work day - 0700 - 1700
On call day - 0700 - 1700 next day
Normal work day - 0700 - 1700
Normal work day - 0700 - 1700
On call day - 0700 - 1700 next day

That's right, working (and that's literally working) all night every third night.
You get weekend days off, except if it's an on-call day, then you work 24 hours.

You aren't worth much on the second day of those 32 hour shifts. Have to check your calculations twice.

That's how you train to be a practicing physician/medical specialist. You can do it relatively easily when you're 30 or younger. Hard when you get to be 40.

 

[Dave Hess]

I would rather make less money and work the day shift than be on graveyard / night shift.

No way my body can stay awake.

I wake up daily at 4:30 AM and hit the sack at 10 PM.

 

[IveBeenRued]

I did midnight to 8AM for three years in college. There were two types of mentality amongst my coworkers.

Type 1 (roughly 90% of my colleagues): Leave work at 8 AM, get home and eat dinner, go immediately to bed around 9:30. They’d sleep through 6 PM and get stuff done between 7 and 11 PM or so. This worked fine in the summer when the sun was out until.

Type 2: Leave work at 8AM, stay awake and do errands on my way home. Bank, shopping, haircuts, etc. Get home around 9-10, get stuff done around the yard and house between 10 AM and 2 PM. Go to bed around 3-4, wake up around 11 PM. Report to work at midnight. Repeat.

I was a type 2, we in general were more productive at home and better rested at work. The type 1s had already been awake for 6 or so hours before rolling in at midnight. I was efficient with my time and had only been awake for an hour or so. As a bonus, I had some outdoor time everyday and saw the sun for several hours a day. I was also in school so I was able to take advantage of the early morning classes that no one wanted and the grave shift was dead that I was able to do homework at the front desk of the hotel I worked at.

 

[thunderfog]

I have the worst of it, with my shifts rotating between day/swing/overnights on a weekly basis (roughly). 25yrs in. Brutal. BUT...I knew what I was getting into, so to outwardly complain would be awfully disingenuous. At the same time, it's still a thing, and a difficult thing at that. Taking care of yourself is super-important in a lifestyle like this.

 

[shortyb]

I worked the Pittman schedule (12 hour shift) for almost 35 out of the 39+ years I was fighting crime and guarding the peace, probably 80% of it 1900-0700 (7PM-7AM). Did do rotating shifts for a bit in both locations, but both had 6 weeks at a time on shift before the "big switch". Absolutely loved it and learned how to work it into my lifestyle, or the other way around, very early on. Plus there were way more interesting things going on when the sun went away, and interesting people that you get to meet. Most times it was just quieter and you could breathe and gather your thoughts. Best of all was the Karens and idiots were sleeping . After work most times I would do some light stuff around the house til I got tired and went to bed around 8:30-9:00. On nice days during growing season, I would get up around 3:00PM and get the yard mowed. Clean up and shower and was time for work. In VA, we didn't have take-home cars, so would have "choir practice" when we got off. Had a little hole in the wall place called the Vienna Inn that catered to the vampires and would serve the "special" at 7AM; 2 chilidogs and 2 ICE COLD mugs of beer for $10. Awesome. We also did most things "regular" people did, just 12 hours later/earlier. I used to turn on the floodlights outside on the driveway and wash my cars at midnight plenty of times. No sun drying spots to worry about that way and still do it on occasion now that I'm retired. In fact, the schedule is so ingrained that I find myself doing lots of things during the overnight hours often.

The saving grace was having so many days off with this schedule where I could get things done when everyone else was at work. Ever go into a DMV at like 11AM? not a soul in the place usually. I would also come home on days off and sleep til around 1PM, then up and stay up til around 11PM. Sleep til 5AM and up for the full day off. I always exercised, ate pretty good, never did "energy" drinks (DID drink the heck out of coffee though), and kept healthy. Never had any issues sleeping during the day, even if I only got 5 hours or so. Was known to sleep outside in the hammock during the day in nice weather. Even with all the hustle and bustle going on around me. My neighbors all knew what I did and respected the fact I would sleep during the day and would wait until later in the day to run the lawnmower or do other noisy things. I always returned the respect and wouldn't do noisy stuff when everyone else was sleeping. Working nights and 12 hour shifts DID impact family life a lot with missed events and sleeping when other stuff was going on, but I chalk most of that up to the line of work and fact I was considered essential personnel. All in all, wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it again, especially working nites.