Anybody here work 3rd shift?

Hey guys,

I need a paying job for regular/steady/reliable income, and with all else that I have going on during my weekday schedule, it looks - on paper anyway - that 3rd shift would be the way to go.

Well it just so happens that I have an "in" at a local widget factory with 3 shifts, and it looks like I should be able to start in a week or two by the default requirement of my being willing to work 3rd shift. The money stinks, but it stinks less than ZERO - and it's weekends off, and my neice is engaged to their new managerial hotshot, so it looks like I'm about to be a 3rd shafter for the first time ever.

So are there any voices of experience amongst the wagon kookery concerning trying to balance working 3rd shift, sleeping, and being a parent who works 3rd and never sleeps?

Any input is welcome, and some may even be appreciated.

Thanks guys,
John

You'll need ear plugs and good blinds for sleeping,.and a steady supply of benadryl,.
you need to really be focused on your sleep ,.

nick

It's been a long time since I worked third shift, but I found it "easier" than 2nd (afternoon) shift. I would usually stay up after work until about 11 am, then sleep until early evening.

When I was working second shift, I felt like all I ever did was sleep and work. Third shift didn't feel like that; I got by on very few hours of sleep and I was able to get stuff done during daylight hours.

However, I didn't work third shift for an extended period; it was only a few months.

Nicks right and you really need to esablish a schedule and stick to it no matter what.Find out what works best for you concerning sleep.Whether you go straight to bed when you get home
or in the afternoons depends on what your body tells you.It will take time but for me,I slept
in the evenings and went straight work when I got up.Everybodys different so right everthing
down.
Good Luck
JG

nick & flasheroo are correct; you'll need to find the schedule that works for your body and your schedule/situation.
I just provided my experience as an example...
Joe

I don't think it'll matter when my body says it'd prefer to sleep. I can't be the guy who's up the whole time my kids are in school, then goes to bed as soon as school is out.

I'm actually pretty good at falling asleep whenever/wherever - so I hadn't even worried about that being an issue.

I work 3rds 6 days a week and I have 4 kids. Just get in the habit of coming home and straight to bed. I have a fan in the bedroom I run on high to help drown out any noise, as I have a 2yr that gets watched at my house by his Aunt. I tend to sleep longer than I should some days I work in a Foundry

As a dad, I used to sleep when the kids were off to school. A much quieter house was conducive to easier sleep. I could be with them after school and for dinner that way.

I did it while in college and would stay up till about 2PM and sleep to 10PM, but as mentioned with the kiddos, a morning sleep would probably fit your lifestyle better.

Your body clock will get whacked, especially on your days off if you try to switch to 'normal' mode (doesn't work real well). Good news is it's easy to stay up all night when you have too. I worked with a guy who had been doing it for 15 years and loved third shift, so who knows.

My biggest problem was falling to sleep on the drive to work at 11:30PM (had to start drinking coffee as it was a 45 min drive in).

i used to drive produce overnight in college here... the thing that sucked about it was it was one day a week for the overnight shift (we did our school routes on monday).

i covered my bedroom windows with aluminum foil. it blocks ALL light! i found that if i stayed up and had a late night the night before it was easier. you have to watch because humans are naturally diurnal. so it will screw with your system and metabolism etc etc. some people enjoy 3rd, i prefer 1st. but it seems like everyone hates 2nd shift. if your kids are in school for 8 hrs a day...sleep when they are in school. then when they are home...so are you! ...it will screw up your summers but i dunno you may like it!

Well, here's where things stand....

Grocery Store: I'm about to go on my FOURTH interview with them to restock shelves on the graveyard shift. FOURTH! And not ONCE have they asked me if I had any physical limitations, etc. It's so retarded.

Widgit factory: Well they decided not to hire any more people for the busy season within the factory, so that end up being a huge bust... but then just last week, my buddy called me to see if I knew how to weld. I do, but don't have any certifications. He didn't care about certifications and told me to call the manager of the prototype and repair shop directly. After a brief conversation with that guy, we figured out immediately that my professional resume would have very little relevant information to offer him, but my personal portfolio of projects that I'd done was another story, and he wanted to see examples of my "works"!

So I spent all last Thursday night compiling an email with lots of pics of things like my camshaft handrail, my "variable pressure up to 100psi" pneumatic potato gun, a video of my bathroom, and other things that I'd painted. He said he wanted to see everything so that he could get to know me a little better in terms of my attention to detail, my approaches to creative problem solving, and how things that I'd built with my hands turned out.

Well apparently taking all those "after" pics was a good idea after all because the combinations of my personal portfolio examples, my professional experiences with designing injection molded parts, and knowing how to conduct myself professionally in an office environment, they want to interview me too!

I don't think I have to tell you guys how well a job in a prototype building, machine assembling, and machine repair shop like this would suit me, and the pay is a LOT better.

Please cross your fingers for me!

Thanks,
John

Morning John,I am pretty sure that after the boss watches the video of your bathroom,you're
HIRED!With your creativity and the ability to make your ideas into functioning models,I would
want you to work for me now.Best of luck and keep us informed!
JG

Well, the guy DID like my bathroom and my interview went great, but the other applicant had all kinds of directly relevant experience and was plug-n-play for what they needed, so that door is closed.

Probably still gonna end up at the grocery store though, but will keep looking.

Sorry to hear that John but when 1 door closes another toilet gets flushed so stay positive!
Jim

Thanks, but I'm good. I knew it was a longshot.

Well I started the 3rd shafter gig acrossed the street the other night. So far it seems to be working out for the most part. It's decently physical work, which is nice and I've been able to make to all of the kids' weekend sports things - which is a priority. My commute takes about 15 seconds and I come home every night for "lunch".

Obviously, this is only a "something until I can find something" deal, but at least I don't hate it, and nobody else there seems to hate it either. It'd be great if it paid alot more, but there's no reason for it to. I get to leave my brain in the car while I work - so this'll do for the short term.

Bewber wrote:

Well I started the 3rd shafter gig acrossed the street the other night. So far it seems to be working out for the most part. It's decently physical work, which is nice and I've been able to make to all of the kids' weekend sports things - which is a priority. My commute takes about 15 seconds and I come home every night for "lunch".

Obviously, this is only a "something until I can find something" deal, but at least I don't hate it, and nobody else there seems to hate it either. It'd be great if it paid alot more, but there's no reason for it to. I get to leave my brain in the car while I work - so this'll do for the short term.

Go get your brain,. write something funny,.

nick

Writing is just another extension of art. People love to oogle and compliment, but very few will pay.

Bewber wrote:

I get to leave my brain in the car while I work

John, Please don't tell me that you Drive to work! Its like 500 yards from your front door!

I understand that, but the two reasons for doing so make sense.

#1 = lunch.
If I only get 30 minutes for lunch, I'm not going to spend 15+ of it walking to and from just to be cute about it because I can. I was already told that if I brought my lunch and the things I brought were items that could be from the store, I need to be able to produce a receipt to prove it was paid for. Since that's where we shop, and nobody takes lunch at the same time, screwum. I'd rather just run home, GTFO of there for a spell, and catch a couple minutes of sportscenter.

#2 = Safety.
I really have no desire to get ran over in the parking lot walking home in the morning by a person either driving by braille or someone with the sunrise in their eyes.

I know it may seem exceedingly lazy to use my car, but it's absolutely not a desk job. Trust me that I get plenty of excercise and walk several miles while I'm there.

When I first moved to Austin back in the early 90's the only job I could land right away was 3rd shift at an electronics factory called Radian Industries. It was actually 2nd shift...they only had two, and I worked from 6pm-6am, 5 days a week.

I sleep like bear during the day, so the hours were not bad for me. The bad was my wife...then my new girlfriend...got a day job. She was 18 and had never lived away from Mom and Dad..much less lived in Austin, she's from a small town south of Dallas a good three hours away. We had a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a not-the-best-area of town.

So we're in this new town, in not a wonderful area, and she's alone all night with no friends or family close, and we only see each other in the evenings and mornings during the week. Thankfully we had the weekends together, and Austin was a FUN place for a young coupe to BE a young couple....lots to do.

I only did that job for the first few months until something better came along. Thank goodness we were young and crazy for each other or I'm sure she would have gone home.

Personally I liked working nights. It was a graveyard shift so there were not many people there....I got left alone, which was nice, and when I was going in and going home, the traffic was always going the other way, so I never got stuck. Ha!

There is good and bad in everything....and if you don't like something, just wait and something better WILL come along.

-Mike

Aw shucks what a cute story!I always thought that Misty had lost a bet and thats how you
guys ended up together!
Jim

Flasheroo wrote:

Aw shucks what a cute story!I always thought that Misty had lost a bet and thats how you
guys ended up together!
Jim

Actually it was 1993, and a college friend and I got set up on a double blind date. Misty got my friend Martin, I got her best friend Susan. Misty couldn't stand Martin, and I didn't like Susan, by the end of the night we'd swapped dates. The really funny part is Martin later married Susan. See, who says blind dates don't work???

-Mike

Well it's been about 2 months. The job is what it is and the people are cool to work with - some are even hilarious - but I'm tired of playing "grocery store" and am very much looking forward to moving on ASAP.

Couple of funnies though. I was working and it was about 3:20am and up walked the stereotypical IT geek. He was on the phone and in a HURRY. He was about 5'7" and a very unathelitic 320 pounds - with his belt holding up his pants just north of his equator and his pantlegs a little too short. Black shoes, white socks, thick glasses with huge lenses, the whole 9.

Anyway, he walks up and asks "HEY! WHERE ARE THE LUNCHABLES??!!" And when I pointed to where they were, he took off RUNNING, which was also hilarious because it was barely faster than his walk. I just couldn't help but to wonder what on EARTH made that guy have such a lunchables emergency at 3:20am that he'd even think about running.


Another funny was right before thanksgiving. This dude Bob was working on the aisle 3 endcap and Sally was doing the one for aisle 4. She also weighs well over 3 bills but is super cool. Anyway, as the frozen department people came through the doors by aisle 9 with 4 huge roller cart loads of frozen pies - Bob looked beyond her and goes, "holy crap, look at all that pie!" and before anybody could even blink, Sally reaches down to the front of her pants and goes, "Oh I'm sorry, is my zipper down again?"

Anyway, I've grown to not hate it, but part of that solace comes from the comfort that I'll be trained as a phelobotomist and be out of there by May.

Thanks Bewber, I laughed out loud at the second one.

Still laughing,I want to meet her John.
Jim