Anyone here work 3rd shift?

[SDogo]

Anyone here work 3rd shift?

Recently was laid off but a good friend of mine that runs a logistic company for BMW can get me in. Actually he has been trying to get me to come over for a while because they are in the process of expanding.

Anyways, just to keep money coming in until my position opens I have to take a spot on 3rd shift and start tomorrow night. I took the option of working 10 hour days so I have 3 off but how the hell do you prepare yourself for 3rd shift and are there any tips or advice anyone can give me to get me through this spell?

I'm nervous as hell I'll crash and burn.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Anyone here work 3rd shift?

Recently was laid off but a good friend of mine that runs a logistic company for BMW can get me in. Actually he has been trying to get me to come over for a while because they are in the process of expanding.

Anyways, just to keep money coming in until my position opens I have to take a spot on 3rd shift and start tomorrow night. I took the option of working 10 hour days so I have 3 off but how the hell do you prepare yourself for 3rd shift and are there any tips or advice anyone can give me to get me through this spell?

I'm nervous as hell I'll crash and burn.

My wife worked 3rd shift for a while. She thought it was ok but it was hard to go out and do anything together. You get used to after a week or so. If you feel yourself drifting away get up and move around or do some light exercises.

 

[Hoofbite]

Anyone here work 3rd shift?

Recently was laid off but a good friend of mine that runs a logistic company for BMW can get me in. Actually he has been trying to get me to come over for a while because they are in the process of expanding.

Anyways, just to keep money coming in until my position opens I have to take a spot on 3rd shift and start tomorrow night. I took the option of working 10 hour days so I have 3 off but how the hell do you prepare yourself for 3rd shift and are there any tips or advice anyone can give me to get me through this spell?

I'm nervous as hell I'll crash and burn.

I'm not gonna joke. Overnights are tough.

I used to work 2AM-8AM routinely and during the summers, it wasn't uncommon for me to go 8PM-8AM. There are a few instances where I have done 4PM-8AM.

You'll probably adjust to the hours pretty quickly because you have to but adjusting back to normal schedules will be tough.

My sleep schedule was shot to hell for at least a year after I quit working at that place.

The toughest stretch starts about 4-1/2 hours after you start and lasts until about an hour before you end.

That last hour is cake. but the 1.5-2 hours before it get really, really tough.

If you start tomorrow, I'd recommend you stay up as late as you can tonight and sleep as late as you can tomorrow. That, or stay up late tonight, wake up early tomorrow, and get a good 4-5 hours before you go in.

You'll probably make the first couple of nights no problem just based on the new setting and surroundings. I'd say 2nd week it will start to set in really bad.

When I worked those shifts, I stayed on CZ and YouTube almost non-stop. YouTube is pretty good for killing good amounts of time.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

Where I work, it's called 1st shift, but yeah, I'm currently working it.

I find it's really nice when you're married to someone who works normal 8-5 hours. You come home, see them off to work, then hit the hay. You wake up just before they get home and spend the evening together until you go off to work again around 10 PM. The best thing to do is get dark curtains for your bedroom. Then, when you get home in the morning, stay up for about an hour or two, then lay down. That works best for me.

Staying awake at work is much easier if you're sleeping til 4 or 5 PM everyday. I used to sleep from 7 AM til 1 PM or so. At that point, about midway through your shift, you can't keep your eyes open.

 

[SDogo]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm not looking forward to this at all but I have to do what I have to do to keep the lights on and food on the table. Hopefully it's very temporary. Good part is, I'll be busy and active so hopefully the hours pass by fairly quickly.

 

[UnoDallas]

third I always like it - being in Dallas - it was much cooler

I a work rotating shift - 1st for two weeks - 2 nd for two weeks - 3rd for two weeks

good thing I was young

third not bad if you no one home to bother you - I always tired to stay up until the afternoon

 

[Go Big D!]

I used to work the 3rd shift, full time, in the ER. Now I just pick up a couple shifts here and there. But, since the ER I work at is a Level 1 trauma center and there is often a 12 hour wait for the patients, crashing wasn't an issue.

My problem is when I go home and the sun is up, the kids are awake and fighting or need to get off to school, the neighbor next door is mowing their yard, the mailman is ringing the door to let me know there is a package on my doorstep, the dogs that live behind us are barking and I'm just trying desperately to fall asleep!

I've always been a night owl but there is just something about having your internal clock opposite of what mother nature intends.

My suggestions to you is to get blackout shades for your room, disconnect the doorbell and put up a sign on the door not to disturb. You might also find it hard for your body to actually fall asleep when you get home due to the internal clock that I mentioned. In that case, melatonin works well. It's natural and can be found in the vitamin aisle at WalMart. If that doesn't work, Benadryl is a secret that many, on the night shift at work, swear by. I can't use it because it hits me hard and I have a Benadryl hangover when I wake up.

The first couple of shifts will be hard but you start to get used to it.

One advantage of this schedule is you get to do your grocery shopping in the middle of the night when nobody is there.
No more temptation to run people over with my cart! :laugh2:

 

[the kid 05]

I work 3rd driving forklifts. I love it but then again im 22, getting off friday morning and then having friday and saturday nights off and going back to work sunday night is nice

 

[rkell87]

i worked the third shift at 7eleven for a year or so. like people said stay up late tonight. get dark curtains, your going to need total darkness in your room in order to get used to sleeping when the sun is up. your going to hit a wall your first few nights but once you push through it it may be hard to fall asleep, unless you are doing hard labor then you will be exhausted and it wont matter. once your body gets used to the new schedule its not bad cause your working while everyone else sleeps and sleeping while they are working, you get the same free time hours. i hope you don't have pets or kids, cause its real hard to fall/stay asleep(at least for me it was) when they are moving around and going about their day at home.

i will say if you are doing this for an extended amount of time, your sleeping schedule will probably be wrecked for a while trying to get back to a normal sleep schedule

 

[CliffnDallas]

Anyone here work 3rd shift?

Recently was laid off but a good friend of mine that runs a logistic company for BMW can get me in. Actually he has been trying to get me to come over for a while because they are in the process of expanding.

Anyways, just to keep money coming in until my position opens I have to take a spot on 3rd shift and start tomorrow night. I took the option of working 10 hour days so I have 3 off but how the hell do you prepare yourself for 3rd shift and are there any tips or advice anyone can give me to get me through this spell?

I'm nervous as hell I'll crash and burn.

I have been working nights for Thirty years. It just takes a while for your body to get used to it. Now I wouldn't work any other hours. As far as tips. Place something dark over the windows and turn your A/C down.

 

[63echo]

As others have said, blackout panels for your windows will be your best investment. Get some as soon as you can!

I work rotating shifts, spending 6 weeks at a time on days, swings, and graves, and graves are by far my favorite shift. More time with the family and perfect if you're at all anti-social. It stinks when the Cowboys are playing an afternoon game (either time slot depending on whether you go to bed when you get home, or stay up and go to bed later), but sacrifices need to be made on Sundays .

The first week or two will be a bear for you, but it'll get easier almost to the point of normalcy pretty quickly after that. My biggest issue with working midnight shift are my days off...I want to be awake with and go to sleep with the "normal" people, and it just torques my internal clock all to hell.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

3rd shifts suck. There is absolutely no way to make that fun, bearable, or worthwhile.

Unless you're a person who just likes that kind of shift. Some people, as a couple mentioned here, just naturally love that shift more.

If you're like me, and it sounds like you are, and don't naturally like that shift then it's not going to be something you get used to or like or fun.

I'm working one right now, to help my job out, but I hate them. I hate having to do these grave yard shifts. They're crap.

I don't know about the needing shades or whatever. I've never had a problem sleeping no matter rather the sun was up or not. When I get home from a graveyard and I'm tired, I sleep. No problem.

 

[WarC]

Caffeine the first few days. Your body will adjust quicker than you think. Once I got used to the hours I found that 2nd and 3rd shift agreed with me a lot more than getting up at 6-8am every morning.

 

[Seven]

Worked that shift for 2 years. You will crash and burn the first couple of weeks. I got used to it because I'm a night owl by proxy. Still can't get to sleep until midnight or so.

You'll be OK SDogo. It's only for awhile........... hang in there, man. :starspin

 

[Smith22]

I worked 3rd shift for 11 years.

1) Darken your bedroom with curtains, etc.

2) Consider earplugs if the neighbors/family/roommates are noisy.

Weekends are hard if you try adjusting and want to be awake during the day. I would normally sleep 4 hours Saturday morning and then stay awake as long as possible. Weekends were the hardest for me. I always felt like a zombie.

Also, depending on when you sleep, you need to change your eating patterns.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

I take it 3rd shift equals Graveyard shift? I work that currently, 10pm to 7am, 5 days a week.

5 hour energy is your friend if you have problems staying awake. It will be hard to get used to at first.

Your sleep pattern will probably never stay very consistent. I sleep all odd hours now. Days off are hard. You are stuck not wanting to waste your entire day, but at the same time it's a day off and you want to sleep in.. which means sleeping until night time lol.

Wasn't too much of an adjustment for me, I'm a night owl and often went to sleep around 4am before I got this job. I only had to adjust by about 5 hours or so.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

As evidenced by the folks here, it's pretty common to "unscrew" your hours on your weekend. I don't really bother. I just keep my work week schedule on my days off. Of course, my days off are in the middle of the week so I don't really have an issue with people being up and about in the house while I'm trying to sleep.

I could see that being an issue.