Nightowls and Nightshift thread

Never ceases to amaze me to see recent posts from people at all hours.

Answer this question then "what the f*ck are you still doing up?"

Me at work, getting that really sh*tty feeling, that you get around 04:00. Tired, feeling slightly sick through low Blood sugars and the natural circaidian rhythms which are hard-wired into us are yelling at me that I should be asleep.

Thinking of that Simpons episode where Homer tries fighting sleep whilst driving and he goes into the dream sequence.

Pity we don't have thast function where we can see who's online.

Anyhow time for a walk and some cold water.

sooooo sleeepypppyyyy

I'm a huge night owl, as you've probably noticed. 

Usually get home from work at 11 or 12, then can never sleep for a couple of hours. Used to be up until 2, but recently have found it easier and less distracting to study at night until 2, then watch a movie, sport or something before going to bed at 4-430. 

What sort of work do you do Tegal?

That pattern was pretty much what I did for years working afternoons. I actually quite like it.

Currently trying to find food that stops the dreaded "Nightshift Bloat" have a good, celery, tumeric, ginger broth recipe which I will give a  go.

Yeah it's really good, pretty antisocial though! 

Also get people thinking you're lazy because you sleep late. What I try to explain is that they finish work at 5, so would they go to bed at 530? No. I don't sleep any longer than they do, in fact quite often less, it's just being on a different clock to them. 

I work at reading cinema. Last movie goes in as late as 930, then have to close etc. I work in the GL which only opens in the afternoon, so never get the morning shift unless there is some sort of function (or meeting). 

Yea the big problem with it is you tend not to eat well, looking to try find ways to change this. 

I used to work shifts and still do quite a bit of overnight work on deployments and there have been alot of them lately.  Mine was 12 hour shifts.  Four Nights, four off, four days, four off.

I'm also prone to play Tanks until stupidly late, particularly if I'm on a winning run.  Finished with 6 and a loss the other night - was well after 02:00 when I went to bed.

I do shift work and every so often i get a week of nights. Once I knock my work out of the way, there's only a few things to maintain unless there is an emergency so i jump on here.

I am at Uni in Otago but when I get back to Wellington I work at Maccas (I know it is a terrible job, but its money). But when getting scheduled I always end up getting 5 night shifts. Some nights they can be entertaining having to deal with very drunk people and others it can be dead so I quickly complete all my jobs and then sit down for the rest of the night.

A jobs a job,  good on you for having one. I have many fond memories of the sh*tier jobs I used to have as a kid. Enjoy the lack of responsibility while you can

Hmm indeed. One thing I miss is when a customer would get angry, or just keep going on and on complaining about something, you could just say "I'll go get my manager" and be rid of them. 

Now I'm that manager, and the staff do it to me. 

Had a lady go on for 15 minutes the other day because we didn't have a bowl of fries on our menu. Another had a kid that didn't have ID for their movie, was complaining to staff member who ID'd them, she just went and got me - so I had to listen to him talk about how I was discriminating against his kid etc....He also pointed at some 40 year old women and asked if I ID'd them....

Also had to deal with a drunk guy who was passed out in our lounge tonight. He had other issues too which made it a bit intense. Had to stay with him, keep him awake and talking until medics came. 

Top that off with a vague argument with a restaurant manager + head chef we do business with, and its been a weird week. 

Also, have jury service starting on monday. So that is going to f*ck with my sleeping patterns. Really worried I'll miss my alarms and miss Jury Service!!

As part of my job is dealing with conflict I found this book quite helpful when I started out.

http://www.amazon.com/Verbal-Judo-The-Gentle-Persuasion/dp/0688137865 

If you can get over the naff title and some of the machismo here and there then it's a good read. If your job involves dealing with anger, shittiness and threatening behaviours then it's worth a go.

I normally end up dealing with the problem until they specifically ask me to go and get the manager. I have had a few funny moments with people trying to prove me wrong until I grab their receipt and show them that they are in the wrong. I did this to one customer who took exception to me politely telling him I was wrong by taking a swing at me and actually connecting. He did very well to actually connect considering we have metal bars up to stop people getting into the store.

I can't stand trying to get back into a regular sleeping pattern after doing these night shifts but a night out on the milkshakes seems to set me right again (almost)

Might get this book when I am back up and give it a read when I have nothing else to do at work!

Looks an interesting read. I've become pretty good at dealing with disgruntled customers and just conflict in general. It helps that with things like ID for movies and alcohol, I'm 100% in the right. Have also heard it all before, so know how to deal with different situations. 

I think the key is to realise that even though what they're saying may be stupid (to you), they've felt the need to complain or get annoyed for a reason. So you have to be able to empathise, see where they're coming from, but set them straight. Of course there are times when no matter what you say, they really just want to vent at you, so you just have to employ a bit of the 'broken record technique' (repeating the same message consistently over and over - therefore not giving them anything to latch on to) and let them keep going until they get bored. 

You do tend to get more than the fair share of special people at a cinema though. Keeps it interesting, always end up with good stories to tell.

Yea you hear all the different excuses and know how to deal with them. The worst thing is when something gets taken off the menu and all of a sudden everyone whats that exact thing.

I think no matter where you work, if you have to deal with customers you are always going to get some good work stories to tell people!

But the Police apparently get better ones ;-)

Gave up that malarkey ages ago...Thursdays (or Friday, to be more accurate) are better

For some reason uni exams seem to keep everyone up at night and minimal sleep is achieved... People down here are sleeping 4 hours a day just to cram as much study in as possible! Guess it pays off if you get the job you really want!

Worked shifts a number of years ago. The Prime shift for me was 4pm to midnight. I was renovating a house at the time so would knock off work, home and into bed at 12.30 up by 8.00 and had pretty much a full day working on the house and not too disruptive on sleep patterns.

Midnight till 8:00am shift , was a struggle though!

I can tell you that 3-4 hours a night is only good for about 2 nights and then you just crash. Especially when also doing a bit of footy training it gets hard to stay awake!

My exams are nearly over (2 down 1 to go), and depending on how footy trials go down here, I could be back home working my night shifts!

I once worked 6 am - 6 pm in a plastic extrusion factory (student holiday job).

Fun times.

Any folk temporarily joining the Esteemed Order of the Nightowls due to pre-All Whites anxiety?

See the stuff article saying working night shifts increases the likelihood of cancer?! 

Doesn't everything these days?

The negative impact on health because of nights has been widely documented. It basically knocks 2-3 off your life.

I wonder how? 

I've always just seen it as sleeping at a different time to most other people. I suppose you get slightly less sleep overall because of those times you occasionally have to get up at a 'normal' time after very little sleep. 

Probably due to the fluoride in the water.

Interesting stuff! Cheers. 

Probably partially explains that feeling of tiredness even after getting a good long sleep. 

I love getting a phone call 30 mins before the shift starts, asking to see if I'd like to do some overtime as a person has gone sick. Hence here I am, Nightshift of the YF!!

Yeah I know those calls so I don't answer, if I do I'll always say yes. Not answering gives me time to have a think about it. I also have to make those calls at 06:00 to cover AM's. I'm really Mr Popular then!

When my employer used to have caller display showing, I used to ignore it but "Private caller" could be anyone.

lots of data around Accidents being in the 3:00AM - 4:30 AM zone

as the body cools the brain slows