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I’ve noticed that a lot of TZers seem to work ‘nights.’. I’m retired now, but used to work twelve-hour nights quite often, including Christmas.
So, is it true? Do a high percentage of the forum handle anti-social shifts? Are fine watches a kind of reward?
Retired now. I used to work nights. Loved it.
Used to work nights and weekends on the railway when younger, I’m in the office nowadays and much prefer my (mainly) mon to fri shift pattern
My previous job I did 2 weeks of days, 1 week of nights.
My current job I do 24 hours on, 72 hours off [emoji106]
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Not retired currently do 4 days on with 12 hour shift then 4 days off so I’m in tomorrow for the next four days
I usually work 2 night shifts every 10 days although it can sometimes be less if staffing doesn’t require it.
I’ve been doing this for nearly 30 years and as I’ve got older my hatred of them has increased.
Yep, it’s ok when your young, we used to practically fight for night shifts when we were young!Quote:
Originally Posted by village
Now I’ll avoid at all costs if I can, it’s just not natural lol
Did a stint of a couple of year's on refurbs of power stations and oil refineries, as said good fun when you're young and the pay packets were amazing.
I used to be on call - 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Meant I could get a call any time of night in case of a system failure or doing some overnight / weekend maintenance tasks. Retired now though - now I just can’t sleep. The wages did pay for a few watches over the years!
I've worked for the Ambulance Service for years, last rota I was on was a 26 shift rota 13 days, 13 nights and 4 out of 7 weekends all 12 hour shifts minimum.
You can't work like that forever, it's not natural for your body. It was certainly making me ill. I'd got to the end of my teather with it and this whole pandemic has just been the icing on the cake. Took a new role within the service as of January this year and back to working Mon to Fri for me. I've never slept so well in my life.
Used to work nights and loved it, not needed to for years, but a possible career change will lead to working nights on a regular basis.
It used to surprise me how many others would be active on forums at silly o’clock in the morning.
When I used to work in a brewery I used to do 2 weeks nights, 2 weeks days in rotation. Loved the night shifts working on my own, bliss.
In fact Mondays on the night shift week I used to do day and night shift back to back meaning I'd finish my working week Friday morning. Monday's were a bit long but after that you were plain sailing towards the weekend.
When I was a PC, nights was 11pm - 7am but if I had dealt with an incident I often didn't get home till 10am after doing reports, then I'd be on 'quick change' and back on at 2pm well knackered after 3 of those and little sleep.😴
Work 2 weeks days then 2 weeks nights, do that for 6weeks then I get 4 weeks leave. Hate night shift in cold countries, love it in the heat.
days and evenings rather than nights these days but i have done every possible combination in the past.
Night manager in a custodial establishment, working 1 week on, 2 weeks off. Love it. Moved from day manager to nights some 6 years ago for childcare reasons and haven't looked back.
The only thing I miss is the interaction with staff on days, but overall have a good group of staff on nights.
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Never did it myself, but lived with a nurse for many years so am familiar with the complete topsy-turviness of the lifestyle it brings!
R
I used to work two jobs, one 8:30-5:30, the other around 10:00-2:00 (or 4:00 on Friday/Saturdays).
I’m still awake quite regularly at night, just habit I guess.
Currently sat on the bridge of a flotel offshore Brazil on nightshift. I'll do 3 weeks of 12hr shifts and then short shift to days for the last 2 week (hopefully) of my trip.I like nightshift as the grown-ups are generally in bed and not bothering me with stupid questions
I did 31 years of shift work - earlies, lates and nights but have now retired.
There were some benefits - for example dropping and picking up the kids from school and being with them more than most working parents can be and I often had a fair bit of me time either side of a shift to indulge in my hobbies when the family were at work/school.
The down side was working at weekends, Easter, Christmas, etc when friends and family were off and being woken up by my wife yelling at the kids, 'be quiet your father is on nights and trying to sleep"!
Worse bit of all - I was constantly knackered.
Don't miss it at all!!
I used to work 11 hour night shifts in an old job. It was quite a good shift actually as I worked from Tuesday evening through to Friday evening. So I got three nights off each week and wouldn't start until 9pm Tuesday evening. I do agree it's tough and I felt tired the whole time.
Now I work a late shift Mon -Fri. Start at 1.30pm and finish at 10.
I used to work 5 nights a week 8hr shifts , for 5 years , I hated it , I was always tired . It was worse during the summer with the longer day light hours I just couldn't sleep properly .
I used to do 6-2 2-10, for 30 odd years did do 10-6 nights for a while, retired now, but wife is a Carer in a home for the elderly and does a couple of 24hr shift inc sleep in on call and morning and evening shifts all in the same week
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In all the many years of night shifts, I always wore the same basic watch....a Seiko kinetic. Cheap but excellent and very long-lasting. All those dark nights, all those sleepless days. Some people seem to adapt really well to nights, but many don’t.
Still, the extra pay was pretty good.
In a 4 week period I'll work 7 day shifts and 7 nights, 12h each and 6 'til 6, in sets of two or three shifts in or off. I used to work 4 on 4 off alternating between days and nights, it's easier on the body as you have longer periods off to adjust however it ruins your weekends, now I get every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.
Working weekends can be tricky socially though weekdays off are a bonus.
I've never has the "pleasure" of working nights on a regular basis, although occasionally I've driven a truck across Europe overnight. For those who work night shifts on a regular basis, I have a question:
I heard it's easier on the body clock to work permanent nights rather than alternating. Is this true? What are your experiences?
I've only ever alternated so I can't speak from experience of working nights only however as to which is easier I suppose it might depend on how many shifts on/off a nights only worker worked and if they reverted to sleeping at night on their days off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiny
As an example, I work 2 or 3 shifts alternating day/night then have 2 or 3 off. If I was nights only, worked the same 2-3 on/off pattern though tried to sleep at night on my shifts off it would be worse than alternating. If I stayed sleeping during the day if working nights only then it would be easier on the body though it would ruin any life outside of work.
About 20 years ago I was working on large power station steam turbines. Mainly the nuclear stations across the UK.
Once I worked 28nights in row 14hour nightshifts, 6PM to 8AM. Was a breakdown and the station had to get back up, was also hectic, the crane was going full chat taking big lumps off the turbine non stop and I was the N/S gaffer.
Great for the money but I was deeply tired after about the 20th day. I mean that deep tiredness where you keep zoning out and daydreaming. I even remember pulling into the digs one morning and just sitting in the car sort of asleep with my eyes open.
Did 7 nights a week on bar/door, in night clubs on Crete, Agios Nikolias resort for one Summer season, a couple of decades ago. Not qute the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiny
As cards hark has mentioned, it's going to be about the types of shifts they do and what they do on their days off. We had a night mechanic who kept the vehicles on the road if something happened overnight, he only ever worked nights and kept that same pattern going on his days off as well. He said its only as hard and tiring as working 40hrs through the day, ymmv. I guess after a while that kind of sleeping pattern will just become your normal.
My rota never allowed that. My last rota had me going from days to nights back to days over a 7 day period. Most of my colleagues have long term health concerns by the time they reach 50. At one point they even brought in interrupted meal breaks, that was a real low point.
Crikey I must be a weirdo - never worked a night in my life!
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I know a guy who did 20 years of shift work at Vauxhalls in Ellesmere Port. He reckons it caused his chronic fatigue syndrome. It seems you can push the body a lot when you are young and it just bounces back, but like an elastic band, if you stretch it too much it reaches the point where its knackered and never returns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hattori Hanzo
Early 20’s did shift work on the railway. Earlys, days, lates and nights. Was ok. I liked having the day to myself for the gym etc. My father was a police officer and loved nights. Nothing better seeing everyone de icing their cars knowing you’re off to bed
Retired now but I worked 'month about' 40 odd years ago at a car plant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiny
Money was great at the time, on nights the first 40 hours were at 'time and a third'. Overtime on Friday night at 'time and a half' of the 'time and a third' rate. Saturday night was the same until midnight then it was 'double time' of the 'time and a third' rate until finishing at 7am!
We used to work 6 nights a week for the month on nightshift to earn the money, then have a rest on dayshift doing a five day week!
Never did me any harm.............
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NB2CNr692RE/maxresdefault.jpg
Nothing worse than watching everyone tucking into their dinner as you're on your way out the door on a Friday evening for a weekend of nights.Quote:
Originally Posted by southerner101
Done nights a few times when I was last employed in my 30’s, definitely wasn’t for me, I couldn’t get the sleep pattern right and felt hanging most of the time, saying that I’ll happily stay up late.
I don’t think it’s part of the human make up to be nocturnal, forcing your body to be on an opposite clock to how it’s set up surely does it damage over a long period of time..
Spent best part of 20 years working shifts, including nights. Got tired of working weekends, bank holidays, Christmas etc. Have been 9-5 past 9 years (although still do 24 hour on-call) and much happier. I couldn't imagine going back to working shifts. Funny enough it was during shift work surfing that I learnt about automatic watches and discovered watch forums.
This also points out some of the pros and cons, although I'm yet to meet anyone who's pros out with the cons.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article...s-to-your-body
Luckily I’ve never worked a Night Shift. Neither have I ever worked Weekends. Just a nice steady week. Sometimes 50-60 hours. But mostly 37.5-40hrs
Retired at 57 in 2013
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Was working on a new port development South of Stockholm a few years ago and my schedule was as follows
Tuesday 03:00 Alarm goes off, taxi to Glasgow airport at 04:00. On the 06:05 from Glasgow to Amsterdam. Amsterdam to Stockholm arriving at my final destination of Nynnasham at 16:30. Quick trip to the system baloget shop for beer then to the supermarket before starting night shift at 18:30.
Work 7 12 hour night shifts finishing the following Tuesday morning at 06:30. Go to bed for a couple of hours then back to work at 11:30 to start day shift which finishes at 18:30. Work 12 hour day shifts until the following Tuesday where I leave at 11:30 when the new day shift comes on. Quick shower, travel to Stockholm airport for flight to Amsterdam and then to Glasgow. Arrive at Glasgow airport around 22:00, taxi waiting to take me home which I reach around 22:45. Then have 2 weeks off until it all started again.
That was a killer and it was in winter which made it worse.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I don't miss shift work all but, one of the best things is the world was climbing into bed after a long cold night shift and sliding up next to my wife's warm naked body.....................................absolute heaven! But, I digress............... I think this is the 'Watch Talk thread :))Quote:
Originally Posted by southerner101
I always worked days as a delivery driver for many years, I drive a taxi part time now mainly weekend evenings, whilst I really enjoy having the week to myself I don’t think my body clock would ever adjust to working permanent nights, for example if I drive the cab from 5pm on Saturday and work through till day 2am Sunday morning and get to sleep for 3am, I’m normally awake by 6am the same morning then I’m knackered by teatime Sunday.
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