Hina hits the wall and crashes

[hinakiba777]

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place.

My father works 12 hour night shifts at his job. Three nights, three off, three days, three off, and it starts again. While his night shifts are long, his sleep patterns are too messed up by it. He has a few days to reset between the different kinds of shifts.

I on the other hand work one 8 hour night shift a week while attending normal university classes. True, I do it on the weekend, but it really messes me up. First, I don't have a weekend anymore. Saturday is spent sleeping so i don't crash at the desk. And Sunday is spent crashing after my shift. Then i have to get to bed at a decent time so I can get up and go to class on Monday.

I have been working overnights at the desk for two years, and it's finally gotten me. I can't do it anymore. My sleep cycle doesn't reset as well. I can't sleep during the day for some reason. It's really bad. I'm kind of deteriorating.

Returning workers get their choice of shifts and I picked the Saturday to Sunday overnight. It's four hours more than day time workers get with 50 cents more an hour. I truly thought having it on the weekend would make it easier to do. But it hasn't.

Or at least, it doesn't anymore. My body just can't stand it anymore. I'm done.

So now I'm at the mercy of my co-workers. I've sent them an e-mail begging for a day worker to switch with me. I need the money too badly to just give the shift away to a reserve worker, so I'm really stuck between a rock and a cliff edge. Because, as I said, I'm crashing hard.

I'm really concerned.

[SpyOne]

I feel your pain.

I have noticed my body adjusting, and I cannot do some of the things I used to be able to. For instance, I used to be able to do 14 hours shifts day after day, and 16-18 hours when needed. Now, it seems 14 is my limit.

I think my boss is trying to kill me: because I am the only one who is available to work all three shifts at our store, I get assigned to different shifts during the same week. On some special weeks, I will actually work all 3 shifts. But last week, I had a really special run: 9 consecutive shifts where I worked 8 hours followed by 24 hours off. (Actually, one of those I only had 16 hours off.). Then 2 days off, then a 8 hour shift, followed by 8 hours off, then 8 hours on again. I now sleep in spurts of 2-4 hours, and I seem to be stuck that way (although I will probably sleep for 12 hours in a few days and then be back to normal, if history is any judge).

I hope you find someone to cover that shift for you, and in the future try to get a sleep schedule you can stick with all week: if you work nights on the weekend, avoid morning classes and try for ones in the evening. Ranks right up there with "try not to drive East in the morning, or West in the evening" (which was advice from my Dad, who had to do that every day).
None of us are capable of the superhuman feats our ancestors could do, and we all seem like pale imitations by comparison.

[hinakiba777]

Thanks Spyone.

My bosses have told me that if none of my coworkers take up the mantle, then I should contact them about it.

Also, I can't do night classes. I'm most functional from 10am-2pm and 10am-1am. So I need to take midmorning classes. Evening classes;
1) Make me miss supper. (Night classes start at 6. And supper doens't open until 5:40)
2) End at 9

Also, Many times the classes I NEED are offered only in the morning and early afternoon.

I'm just going to have to figure things out. I'm not sure what I'll do.

So far one girl offered to switch two shifts next month. Another girl offered to just TAKE MY SHIFT!

Thanks for actually replying ^-^

[Hobbs]

Ayah, Hina-chan, I had no idea you were in such dire straitts[sic]. I'd so much rather have that shift than my job, lol, but alas, I am so far away.

Hopefully, someone will step up and help, ne?

[hinakiba777]

So great news update!

My friend Saf suggested I split my overnight with her. Which works much better than the original trading plan. You see, a normal shift is four hours long and makes about 8.10/hour.

An overnight is 8 hours long and about a dollar more. So by splitting my overnight. I'm only working 4 hours a week, but I'm still making the overnight amount of cash. Which is great. YAY!

[SuperDan]

Try working in entertainment. Every now and then we'll run into problems with being kicked out of the time clock system because it purges any ins that weren't outed within 18 working hours (a half hour is subtracted automatically when you hit 6.5 hours to account for your unpaid lunch, so this means working more than 18 hours + half an hour + seven minutes due to rounding). That is only with the most stressful of national touring acts though (I'm wanting to say we had this problem with a female artist with a last name that sounds like something you use to unlock a door and with a four band concert with a headliner that must have spilled grape juice on their clothing). Normally we're looking at around 10 hours for a musical act though, 4 or 5 for a comedy act (assuming only one showtime), and anywhere between 1 and 6 hours for a work day or two. Massive amounts of work all at once, then massive amounts of time off. Always fun.