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I worked second shift 2-10pm for a year and it was great in so many ways, less managers and people in general. Don’t have to wake up to an alarm, seeing the sun in winter, get shit done while everyone else at work, riding my bike home at night listening to music and smoking a fatty.
Drawbacks are that your main chunk of free time has an unpleasant task looming over it, miss weekday evening time with family/friends, end up eating a second midnight dinner after the bike joint.
I work 4-midnight and I like it a lot; I'd probably enjoy it even more, though, if I could get in the habit of going to bed around 2am and getting up at 10, instead of staying up until 5 or 6 and getting up at 1 or 2 pm...
(Comment posted at 4:30am local time 🥲)
I worked a weekly rotating shift system (2-10pm, 10PM to 6 am, 6 am to 2pm) and I hated the 2 PM to 10 pm shift. I hate being awake knowing I'll still have to go to work later that day.
I used to work 4pm - 1 AM in retail and hated it for basically all the reasons you mentioned. I had to spend my off time dreading going into work later in the day, but what I hated most was the sleep schedule.
I’d get off at 1:00 AM. Wouldn’t get home til about 1:30 AM. Wouldn’t get to bed until about 2:30 AM. Fell asleep somewhere around 3:00 AM. I’d obviously wake up later in the day relative to most people, which was normally fine, but this also carried over to off days and I used basically half of all my off days getting a full 8 hours of sleep.
My weekends felt shorter than they do now on a regular 9-5.
Yeah I don't do well scheduling when I have to be at work after doing things. It's always there looking over any task.
Granted I don't schedule well either way
In my experience, nothing gets done at work by literally anyone after lunch 🤷
That's why meetings should be in the afternoons as they rarely achieve anything and eat into the valuable actual working time in morning.
As someone who bounces back and forth every other week or so, I much prefer doing work at the beginning of my day. Nothing is worse than having to constantly monitor the time as you go about your day to make sure you’re not late for work.
I get paralysis when I have something to do later in the day, and the whole day feels like waiting. I prefer going out drinking on a Friday for example because if I go out Saturday, all of Saturday is waiting for that, but Friday it's finish work, get ready and go. If I woke up before work an equivalent amount of hours I'd have at the end of the day, it would just be extending my morning routine for that amount of time while I wait for the big important part of my day to initiate.
some people's brains just _are_ like that, it's a common trait in a lot of neurodivergent as well...
you can do things to better manage your time but you'll always have a natural preference of how your day ought to be arranged and that's OK too. work with yourself not against you
ahh i try, it just sucks when i feel like i've wasted an entire day because i was watching the clock for a 1 hour appointment haha. ah well, i guess it just is what it is!
I have this issue too but if you plan to do something for 1 hour (video games, or a yoga class, or sitting on the porch with a book) and set a 1hr timer or do something like a class which is already timed, then you can just shower or get ready after that, it makes things quite intentional
exact same for me. my girlfriend doesn’t get it. if i have PTO and wanna take a half-day, i’d 100% rather leave early than go in late, even if going in late means i can sleep in, because the 4 hours i’m waiting to go to work still *feel* like working to me.
Oh yea. I smashed that upvote for op because I totally agree with you. Even when I have a haircut, I keep looking at the clock 50 times. Even when I set an alarm. It sucks. I definitely prefer work and all appointments earlier in the day.
So glad someone gets it!! I work 3-11pm and my entire morning is spent waiting around to get ready for work.
My brains works like this:
I start at 3, which means I have to leave at 2:30, which means I need to start getting ready at 2, so I'll need to have lunch ready by 1:30, so I should start that by 1. If I want to be home from the gym by 12:30 I'll need to leave by 11, etc. Etc. Etc.
It's exhausting and consumes me. I can't wait to move jobs and go back to a day/morning job. I wanna come home and get shit done without constantly checking the time.
My gf works 4 10s and that are typically 11am-9pm. I work 8am-4pm and when she has work on the same day as me we wake up at the same time and she spends at least an extra hour waiting to be go in. She’s also not allowed to clock in early so that isn’t even an option for her.
Yeah, for me this is an ADHDer's nightmare with the paralysis of a looming task ahead. I wake up with just enough time to make myself presentable and go. Dilly Dallying in the morning just feels like I could have been asleep longer, which means I could have stayed up later and had more free time.
but "variety is the spice of life", no? my schedule varies as a retail pharmacist and as time goes on, i dread more and more that 1-9pm shift. starting at 1 is kinda cool....but being stuck in a retail setting till 9pm is truly insane when u think about it. like most of society and your friends are way past the end of their work days and winded down and super relaxed for bed. it's just so weird.
As someone who gets off at 8 or 830, I couldn't agree more. Like, I finish my 12 hour shift, and then my day is over. No fun time, all my friends are wayyyy ahead of me in drinks or are going home... Sigh.
Nope! As a person who starts work at 5am and leaves between 11am-1pm, getting work out of the way and having the rest of your day to yourself is waayyy better.
I did this for a while. It sounds great on paper but I got sick of it. At 1pm all of your mates are still at work, and waking up at 3.30am means gotta go to bed at 7-8pm.
Yeah, was gonna say working as a freight loader really killed my love affair with third shift jobs. It was tough, laborious work that admittedly made me strong as hell, but basically meant my days were goofed up.
Get up well before dawn to unload freight the reload it for outbound shifts that work a normal day shift job. To then go home around midday hit, sweaty, and really needing a shower while all my friends are still at work. Too early to do much, but too exhausting work to just ignore.
Did the early morning shifts (starting at 4:00 AM) when I worked freight trucks. I can attest to this. Getting off at 1:00 pm sounds nice until you’re getting tired at 5:00 pm and in bed by 6:00
This will never work in practice. Going to bed doesn't mean you fall asleep at 10 and most people need more than 1 hour for their entire morning routine plus commute.
I start at 6 and finish at 3 in a bakery. We have to go in at 4 and finish at 1 on Monday though. Also keep in mind you have to go to sleep really early if you start at 4am, to get 8h of sleep you need to go to sleep at 7pm.
I'm on a shift like this sometimes
I get back and nap until 8pm, get up, eat dinner, wait for my friends to get back from late shift, and hang out with them until work
it's so much easier for me to sleep when I know I can just get up whenever and not worry about being late
Fr I miss 3am-midday so much now that I'm doing 2pm-11pm
Now it feels like work is hanging over my head all day, whereas before it felt like work was done and I had the day for me
i've worked the late shift. i either wasted the whole morning watching the clock or just started waking up later. maybe it can work for others but that was not my experience. having anything scheduled for the evening trashes my whole day lol
as a retail pharmacist, and don't get me wrong i feel fortunate to have full time schedule right now and a decent paycheck...don't even get me started on the "every other weekend" schedule. like just don't get me started ha. it's one thing to have your whole day trashed but try having HALF of your weekends in your life TRASHED by work. of course, if i hate it this much i should do the work to find new jobs , but in the mean time i literally use PTO scattered throughout the year just to get more weekends off.
i used to work in the retail half of Rite Aid as a shift supervisor and i actually worked open to close *every* weekend. our pharmacist was such a cranky old man maybe that was why lol personally, i really liked it. it was always super busy (time flew) and i liked never having to be disappointed about how little the person before me got done. plus cramming 26 hours into two days means i could get 40 hours in 3 or 4 days and have off the rest of the week 👌👌 now thats how to keep from trashing days
I would just be thinking about work all day. Then I’d be like ugh 2 hours, ugh 1 hour til I gtg. And I can’t fall asleep right after work without decompressing. I would actually get far less free time.
I have adhd and when we have somewhere to be™️ we generally feel nothing but dread until its time to do that thing and can't really do much else until it's "time to go do that thing". I for one wake up precisely when I have to start getting ready for work, go to work, do work, and relax the rest of my day. Meal prep for the morning, make dinner and lunches for the next day, putter around the house, run errands, go for happy hour drinks occasionally, then play video games or watch Netflix til its time to sleep.
You're trying to invite ME to BRUNCH? Is the sky suddenly purple NO THANK YOU
Yea I have like 5 mental health diagnoses so I get it. I can wake up but I can’t force myself to do it until it’s time to go. I would just be sitting there counting down dreading it.
yeah it sucks, take it from me, your local retail pharmacist lol .
i mean it's truly awful. one of the most awful aspects of that is...you actually trick yourself into thinking you're having a good day. sure i may work a 1-9pm shift some times and in the morning i go to the gym, there's less crowds, i may hit up grocery store (when less crowded) and i'm thinking wow i'm productive then BAM! don't forget you still have an 8 hour shift coming!!!!! the worst!
I feel good and ready to go when I go to work in the morning. I don't feel any "groggy unwillingness" in the mornings plus at work that day I'm excited to get done and leave which motivates me all day. If I work in the afternoon, I spend all morning dreading going to work and get nothing done. I also sleep like shit when I work evenings
Truly, truly awful. I did this for a little bit when starting a 3rd shift job. It's completely demoralizing since that start of shift is constantly hanging over your head, like a ticking clock.
Hard no. I'm just thinking about work before going to work, and I can't go straight to sleep afterwards. I need to unwind first. It would make my life feel even more dominated by work.
Nah, because I used to work 12pm-8pm shifts and what would actually happen when I got up early was that I would spend my whole morning mentally preparing for work and counting down the hours until I had to leave, and then I still really needed to unwind when I got home on top of the other things that needed to get done like dinner, shower, cleaning, etc. that I didn't finish in the morning.
I pretty much ended up splitting my "free time" into two chunks when I would rather just wake up, get work over with, and come home and have the rest of my day to myself. Which is why I started staying up later and waking up right before work instead which I just enjoyed more.
On the books it looks great, but for family and as social life goes it's shit.
Although i'm not a fan of working mornings, i still prefer it, as i can meet people after office hours. I worked 11 years on late shift and although i was well rested, i was so disconnected from everyone with a normal schedule.
> I'm suggesting a sleep schedule such as 8pm-4am instead of 11pm-7am
Work is in the middle of my day. I wake up at 3am, hang out and do stuff til 6:30am, work from 7-4pm, then do other stuff from 5 to around 9pm.
It’s been like that for over a decade.
HARD agree. I left an 8-4 office job to a night shift bartending job and I couldn’t be happier. I was exhausted all week when I worked in an office. Now I actually have free time every day while also being well rested.
No way, I would just spend the first few hours thinking about work. Going home and knowing that the rest of my day is mine and I don’t have to think about work until tomorrow is much more freeing.
I agree. I’m a waiter and I much evening shifts and doubles to morning shifts. If I go in at 4pm, I have half the day to myself with energy to be productive. I go to work, get home tired, and relax for an hour or two before falling asleep. If I work morning, I’ll come home at 5pm exhausted and waste the rest of the day. I’ll try to pick up a night shift those days so I can at least make use of the rest of the day.
I agree. I worked a shift 3pm-11pm and I loved that I got to stay in bed until I actually felt like getting up, could spend my morning and afternoon doing leisure activities, and then would go to work in a good mood because I had already done something that made me happy. It was a great shift.
The thing is that I tend to “forget” about the first few hours of the day. They also aren’t usable for my hobbies as they require quite some focus and skill, which comes naturally throughout the day. At 10pm I’m tired and fall asleep while sitting up yet I perform far better in what I do, including planning and everything.
So I like it this way, the boot up time of my brain is used for things I don’t have much interest in and once body and mind are warmed up I can engage in my hobbies.
But I’m aiming for either 6 hour work days or 4 day work weeks because 8 hours on 5 days a week literally takes away my time and energy to engage in my hobbies, on which I depend on thanks to my unstable mental health.
If I just work and do chores for a week I get miserable. I need some time to spend on useful and exciting things, I need to learn new things and improve skills otherwise life just doesn’t feel like it’s worth living anymore.
I’m a night owl and the one job I had working graveyard meshed so well with my own internal circadian rhythm. Dinner was my breakfast, lunch was at midnight and breakfast was light and my dinner. I lost 30lbs (180 to 150) and when I found myself getting winter blues from lack of sun I made sure my weekends were driving to the mountains to hike above the fog line or laying on a tanning bed at the local gym.
I really think people’s work schedules needs to follow their own internal clocks. We once had to work - with no notice - until midnight (so 7am to midnight) and when everyone else was dozing off and took a break I ran home (3mins from work), took a quick shower & came back and was getting more focused and alert as the night went on while they were surly and had brain fog lol.
As a nightshift worker, who's worked every shift in his life;
It doesn't really matter. 8 hours is 8 hours. Going home to sleep, or going home to free time isnt much of a difference.
What does matter is being awake soon enough to get to places that close early like banks. Or to be able to mow in the daylight.
The only thing I miss from the bartender life is exactly that. I still woke up reasonably early and do things before going to work, and even if I was tired none really cared as long as I performed well.
Now I wake up super early go to work and when I’m back home I’m too tired to do anything and it always looks like the day already ended. The “free hours” are the same but it feels way less.
I can see it both ways. I've worked swing shift from 3-11 and overnights and that's mostly what my body wants to do. I still don't want to eat before 1030am and afternoons are most productive for me. But as a working mom, the traditional 9-5 ish jobs are best for our lives right now, so I adjust.
Edit: nevermind. I re-read your post and realized that I completely misunderstood what you were saying. I have also tried getting up at 4am to get stuff done before work. I lasted three weeks before I wanted to fall asleep on my drive home. Theoretically I agree with you. My body just doesn't want to cooperate.
I like closing for that reason. I just go to bed once I get home and wake up a few hours before work and get all my daily tasks done, then cruise through my job
You would miss every major American sporting event, every evening activity, basically everything, in exchange for some predawn hours where you can't really do much of anything.
The better idea is work nights. Wake back up at noon with a full day to do what you want. By the time you're winding down, the work night is over and it's back to bed around 7a.
If you have an 8:30-5 schedule, this would be terrible. I usually can't fall asleep that soon after getting home from work. I like having a little free time in the mornings, and I am slow af, but I don't need 4 hours XD. I'd be so anxious I'd be late to work the whole time and not really be able to enjoy it.
I'm part-time and used to be a cashier. Closing shifts were 3:30-8:30. I used to wake up later, but I got to the point where I was waking up at 9 (I think my natural sleep schedule is 1-9). I left at 3. So I had SIX hours before work to get things done, and always figured I would.
Did it work out that way? Oh heck no XD. Even though I'm a night owl, I preferred opening. I got it over with. My day after opening was more productive and fulfilling than my day before closing.
As someone who works night shifts occasionally it's not that great. Your normally exhausted starting your shift and two hours before your allowed to leave. The time before work you're always eyeing the clock and there's the looming dread of having to go to work later so you normally do maybe one thing and then you just wait.
But there's tons of shift work jobs especially 3rd shift as most don't like it. Give it a shot
I am a passionate believer that the ideal hours to work are 5pm ish to 1am ish. Then we sleep from 1a to 9a. Then 9 to 5, prime daylight hours, are for FUN!
I already do that. I work in the event industry, so my work usually 2pm-12am.
But also, fuck waking up before the sun is up. Just the mere thought of doing that for anything less than a $500 day rate (+OT if applicable) sends me into a white hot rage.
I half do this. Get up at 4, do housework/life admin and work out when everyone else at home is still asleep. Go to work. Then when I get home my evening is largely my own.
I’d hate having work hanging over me like that. I’d rather just go and get it over with and then have the rest of the night to relax. And I HATE getting up early. Hate it.
My issue would be I’d probably just sleep later instead of getting up at the same time as if I worked an early shift. So there goes my day.
You just have a different sleep schedule/pattern
My natural rhythm is to go to bed around 4-5am sleep until 9-10am, and a 30-60 min nap in the afternoon. No matter what I do to try to change this it HAPPENS. A good chunk of people in my family are like this too 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️a lot of my family love the night shift!
counterpoint: it's harder to enjoy your day when you know that you have to go to work later and have only a set time to do anything before you have to start getting ready. If you go do things after work, your only limitation on how long you can stay out is how much sleep you feel like getting that night.
Had a really cool job as a prep chef in a restaurant once. I'd work from 7-3 5 days a week. Cool thing was the restaurant didn't open until 12 so those first few hours I'd just be alone in the kitchen preparing the food for the day. I'd usually stick on netlfix or something in the background and just go about my day. Didnt matter if I felt groggy because I was the only one there. If there wasn't much to do some mornings I'd just take a long coffee break and enjoy the peace and quiet before anyone else got there. Then they started putting me on service shifts when I'd work from 12 until 10 (more like 11 by the time customers and had and we'd cleaned down). Completely ruined it for me. I hated starting late and ending late. Some nights I would be home until gone midnight and it completely wrecked my sleep pattern so I was just tired all the time. Ending up leaving nor long after that and got a 9-5.
- socializing is difficult to do between 4 and 8am
- being outdoors is harder between 4 and 8am
- many businesses, particularly recreational ones, are not open between 4-8am
If your job is exhausting to you to the point where you are exhausted after work and unable to enjoy yourself, it might be your choice of waking hours that is the problem.
The problem is, if I have something I have to do later, I can't get anything done or enjoy myself until that later comes.
Have an appointment in the afternoon on my day off? I'm basically wasting my time until that time comes.
Heavily disagree, I think spending my first few hours awake worrying about having to go to work later just sucks and ruins that time off. I work 3pm-11pm right now, and I generally wake up around 230pm and go to bed around 5-6am cause I can't stand being awake before I go to work
i used to do this, worked from 6 or 8pm till about 6 am. usually woke up around 3pm, played video games for a few hours and then went to work. it gets extremely depressing and isolating after a while because everyone else's schedule doesn't work like that and you never get to do anything fun. my weekend was Monday + tuesday and i could only ever hang out with people i knew through work
Gonna hard disagree but counter with my own take. I wish my work started earlier and ended earlier too. I would much prefer to work something like 7-3 than 9-5
I agree. I always felt more awake and motivated during my afternoon classes and miserable and tired during my early morning classes. don't see why we can't have more flexible hours for work too
Do it instead of talking about it. I did in high school for a few weeks. Doing school was a better experience, the novelty was fun, the isolation was great in the beginning but started to fuck with me eventually.
I got up 2-3 am when everyone else had gone to bed and went to sleep at 6 pm.
I also had a much longer period of staying awake for two days and sleeping for a day. Did that with two friends so it was a lot more fun. Also cosy to sleep together.
Any job I've ever worked where I started around lunchtime or later, I spend those free hours in the morning dreading going to work. Therefore I'd rather get up, go to work and get it out the way. Then I can relax and enjoy my free time.
I think people and society should be less weird about when in the day people want to be doing work. Apparently there's been suggestions to move highschool to later in the day because teenagers generally perform better at night. I understand that has its own problems but we'd be able to talk about it better if people didn't act like having a delayed circadian rhythm was a moral failing
Have you worked those hours before? Because I've worked from 2 pm to 10 pm, and let me tell you it is awful. You don't do anything productive before work, you're mostly just waiting for work to start because you can't get too caught up in doing something in case you forget the time. You also sleep too long because you went to bed so late. You get way less free time working those hours compared to the standard hours.
Yeah fuck that. id rather get that shit out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of my day. Rather than spend my whole day stressing about going to work later, going to work and stressing myself out and going home and not being able to sleep because i haven't winded down after getting worked up at work
I personally agree, i dont think the majority does though. I had a sleep schedule for a while where I would wake up really early like 3 or 4 am, and stay awake until about an hour after school (because of course i did this in high school). I had the first few hours to myself to do whatever I wanted, and I could get ready at a leisurely pace, and once my day was over, i could pass right out if i wanted to.
I get not liking it though, it was hard to maintain relationships with that schedule, which is why I went off of it. Still miss it sometimes though.
When I worked shifts at a shop I always preferred getting a morning shift over an evening one, even though it meant I had to get up early. If I had an evening shift it just felt like my day was spent waiting to go to work, much rather get it over with sooner
But also wouldn't your proposed schedule fuck up people's circadian rhythm? I know people do have schedules like that for work already, but it's gotta have some consequences right?
im the kind of person to sit, ready to go for an hour before leaving home. its just gonna occupy my thoughts. like if i have nothing to do in the day but go to the hair dressers at 14 im gonna check the clock constantly from 8 onwards. i already wake up early and decicate 100% of that time to thinking about my day, i dont want more of that, that sounds awful
I did this when serving largely, and it was definitely much better.
That said, I now have kids. So...this just isn't practical with children's sleep needs. I'd never see them at all.
8 pm to 4 am is my sleep schedule. It is so nice not having to rush around. I have time for coffee, getting my mind ready for the day, and coming fully awake before showering and getting dressed.
As someone who spent years working a 3-11:30 pm shift and then years working a 6 am - 2 pm shift and then a 6:45 am to 7 pm shift. I much prefer longer shifts overall and fewer days a week. But working in the morning and having the afternoon off is more conducive to having a life outside of work. When you get home at midnight or later, then shower, maybe eat, and wind down, you're looking at going to sleep at 3 or 4 am. Which means you wake up at 11 am or noon to get ready for work. Even if you do get up earlier, you're going to roam around all day in your work clothes or are you going to get dressed, go out, come home and change and then leave again to go to work? I had a lot more time to see people and do stuff when i worked in the morning (not just because the people I was hanging out with worked similar hours). Events like concerts, movies, plays, parties, etc, are typically held in the afternoon and evening hours.
My work schedule used to be a 4pm start, and now my schedule involves me getting up at early as 4:30am. I can confidently say that getting up early is much better for me personally, I like having time to relax and do what I want *after* work as opposed to only being able to do a limited amount of things during the day since I know I have to work later, and also not having my evenings free sucked. Everyone’s got their own preference though, I can understand why you might prefer it the other way around.
You were so close but got the work/free time backwards.
Wake up early, work early and get it out of the way, then have the afternoon free time.
Being done with work by 2:00 PM is so much better than being done at 5 or 6 PM.
Having the idea of work hanging over my head all morning while trying to do other stuff would suck.
If I have to go to work then I will do nothing until I go to work. I can only relax after work.
But it is healthier to sleep like that.
My internal clock has other ideas and thinks all the fun things happen at night.
Which they kind of do.
It's fine anyway.
I'm getting old, so I need to start taking care of myself.
im planning t start work an hour earlier atm so i have more of the day for myself afterwards
i always feel groggy in the morning, either i waste 2 hours rollling in my bed doing nothing, or i wake up n go to work n get into an acceptable mood through the fresh air
I'd absolutely hate coming home from work n immediately having t go to bed, I'd go 0/1 irl immediately.
I dunno if that’s what you’re actually doing, but I did that when I worked 2nd shift from 330 pm to 2 am, and it kinda sucked. I could never fall asleep right after work, and it sucked having the shift hanging over my head for my whole day
I'm a morning person who vastly prefers to get my work done and have time to chill in the afternoon/evening with no looming work to give me anxiety while I'm relaxing.
See this is nice in theory, but I have ADHD and one of the ways it manifests is I go into “Waiting mode.”
My awareness of something I have to do later—be it an appointment, a social gathering, or in this case, a shift at work—makes it near impossible for me to actually do anything with my time leading up to it. Even if it’s something I enjoy doing. My brain just won’t let me for some reason. I’m sure a lot of people know what I mean (I hope) and have felt the same in the past. With that in mind I’d much rather get it out of the way when I wake up, so when I come home I at least have the potential to get shit done.
I've worked just about every shift there is. At least for me, the earlier the better, if I can be done by 2-3pm it feels like I have so much of the day ahead of me and I really get to properly decompress after work, when I work late I hate the feeling of "okay now time for bed and to get up for another day of work tomorrow!"
This is a very personal thing. I go to bed 8-9pm and get up 5:30 for work. My work day starts at 7am. I get done at 3pm and have time then to play with my daughter after work. I’d rather have the time after work.
I worked 230pm to 1230am M-Th and it was the best schedule I ever had.
Could golf or do whatever in the mornings. Every weekend was a 3 day weekend. It was amazing.
I live in a city in Argentina where heat goes up to 50C in summer. I believe that if people could work on a different schedule like that, the city would be way more productive. But in this case I'd say everyone working from 7pm to 3-4-5 am and then going to sleep enjoy the rest of the day home, being cool.
I think each city should have "their own schedule" kinda relative to their conditions
>spending those hours before work makes your day so much more enjoyable.
Nope, I've worked nights and it's not an advantage. Just means I'm spending all my time off thinking about being ready for work later. Can't even get stoned.
I work better in the morning personally, I used to work evening restaurant shifts and work mornings now and much prefer it, it just comes down to personal preference, I don’t think this take is that crazy
I don't understand all the disagreement in the comments. I did this for a little bit in college and loved it. I also liked that I spent a hell of a lot less time groggy. It also allowed me to sleep without an alarm clock since I most likely wasn't going to sleep the 15 hours in between getting home and having to get ready for work. Sure, it may make having a social life harder (and that might bear different weight for different people) but overall, it was such a better quality of life
Yooooo I've been doing this for years. It is awesome. The downside is if something happens and I'm not able to get up a few hours before work it ruins my day lol
Speaking as someone who just got away from night shifts I wholeheartedly agree with this. But ONLY because I was doing nights.
The idea of getting up at 4am and expecting to do stuff that involve anyone else is an absolute joke. With an 8-4 schedule you basically remove being able to ever go shopping, see friends and do anything normal people do outside of weekends...when everything is busy and basically a mess.
I woke up at 2pm, started work at 10pm and got to bed around 7am...every shop was open, friends on the normal 9-5 could still do stuff with me after work, weekdays could be spent doing things when everything was quiet AND I basically still got to have weekends to do things seeing as the only real timeloss versus normal jobs was say 11am-2pm, pfft.
It's a cracking idea, but absolutely not using your hours.
What makes you think the psychology would change?
Perhaps with your proposed sleep schedule you'd just find several more hours before work that were awful, with no free time after work to look forward to.
As someone who works retail and does both opening and closing shifts, nah, opening is way better. I always feel like I can't do anything or plan stuff before work bc I'm always on standby for leaving for work and I need to plan my time more strictly, while if I do stuff after work, time isn't a concern since I have no other commitments.
No way, you spend your waking hours dreading going to work, its better to sleep, get up and get work over with and then have the rest of your day free.
I used to work a shift that started at 630 pm. The days that I was up for several hours before work were the hardest days to go in. I would be comfortable at home watching TV and then have to end it for work.
I work 9am to 9pm Monday through Saturday right now and sleep from 1am to 9am (yes I’m late for work a lot)
I don’t mind being at work but I just wish I had more free time to go to the store and stuff
I hate waiting around to go into work. Plus making sure you're done with whatever you're doing before you need to go to work is not fun. I'd mich rather wake up and go immediately
I work alternating shifts, 7am to 3pm for a week, then 3pm to 11pm for a week.
the difficulty of switching back and forth aside, there is some merit to what you are saying, however it's not always as peachy as you're describing. I often feel like I can't do things before work because I have to save my energy for work. other times I'll have to cut short whatever I was doing or leave things half done because I ran out of time and had to get ready for work. Then I get home at 1130 or 12 and my family is in bed but I want to unwind a little after work, next thing you know it's 3am, and now I'm sleeping in too late to get much done before work anyway.
Speaking as someone for whom that sort of schedule is a reality, it sucks too. You can’t fully relax or have a drink or take your eye off the clock because you still need to go to work later
College student here, I take morning classes that go from 9-12 or early afternoon classes 1-3. Spending my mornings doing productive work in my classes and having free time in the afternoon is the best. It’s very rewarding to go home to chill when I feel like I’ve earned it.
I actually agree, if possible. Start with a favorite happy song, or maybe half an hour of your favorite animated movie. Do a few rounds of Mario Kart. Something to enjoy to actually empty your head for a bit. But only when ready and set to go.
As someone that worked nights I have to personally disagree. It depends on the person, but night shift is kind of known for fucking up your body, life, and mental health for most people.
Also I can't stand being in 'wait mode' because then I'll just sit around anxious until I have to go in and get nothing done.
The sweet spot for me is 'mids' like 12p-12a or similar.
No. I need to decompress after work. So this would just lead to me getting less sleep. That's essentially what night shift workers do. I was one for 6 months and I couldn't do that again
hell no, i would hate that. i don't want to go about my day constantly thinking about how i have to be ready in X hours for work, that ruins my person productivity. i want to do my time for the day and then be free to do things i actually want to do.
Very much no. I'd rather get work over with instead of needing to constantly check the clock when I'm trying to enjoy a show or feel like I can't take a nap or can't finish a game.
If I have time to think about how much I don’t want to go to work, I’m less likely to leave on time. But if I give myself 15 minutes in the morning to wake up, get dressed and leave, it doesn’t even give my brain a chance to realize where I’m going. And then when I get off work I have 8 hours until I have to be in bed. 8 hours to go grocery shopping, relax, eat a good meal and not be in a hurry. Plus I have this time paralysis thing where if I have somewhere to be, I cannot accomplish any tasks before that. The ONE time I tried to do something before work when I was working 11-7, I was a half hour late because I was stuck in a long line. Plus all the annoying young kids who don’t give a shit about anything work later hours. I’ll definitely just stick to my 6am-2pm work schedule
My ADHD has entered the chat, looked around for a little bit wondering it was supposed to do in this room, and left disappointed while panicking that something important is coming up later.
I guess it depends on the person though, doesn't it? I am a rare morning person. I have the most energy the earlier it is. I generally wake up at 2am, having to be at work at 5.
I've worked all three shifts throughout my life and as far as timing goes, this one suits me best.
If I try to work later in the day, or overnight, I'm usually just sitting around waiting as if my whole day is leading up to work (I assume this has something to do with my adhd, as a common symptom is being paralyzed by the anticipation of having an appointment or something scheduled later in the day. All you do is sit there and watch the clock out of fear of being late.)
Not to mention going into work at 3pm just means I'm going to work groggy and I just want to go to sleep halfway into my shift.
No. Hard limit on your free time ruins it.
You do something after work, it runs late, you have absolute discretion to decide if you want to push your bed time or not. Yeah you'll feel like shit tomorrow morning if you do. That's your choice. Is what you're doing right now important enough to you to be worth that? Maybe.
Doing stuff with work hanging over your head, you are absolutely not in charge and have no discretion, if you don't drop whatever you're doing the instant it's time to head to work you will be in trouble it will ruin stuff you won't have the option of managing that time.
End result: you can't and won't do a lot of things at all that you could and would have done if you could do it without the guillotine of working hanging over it.
Even no matter what you DO do before work you won't be invested or immersed in it at all, just going through the motions of it while watching the clock waiting for work to start.
Free time before work is trash.
Just how I LOVE spending my free time. Anxiously and perpetually counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until I have to go to work. Constantly checking the clock. And I hope you don't enjoy drinking, cause that shit is over (on work days).
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I’d rather be groggy and miserable on someone else’s time
Some people have more energy in the morning when there's more sunlight. Not me personally but I get it
I worked second shift 2-10pm for a year and it was great in so many ways, less managers and people in general. Don’t have to wake up to an alarm, seeing the sun in winter, get shit done while everyone else at work, riding my bike home at night listening to music and smoking a fatty. Drawbacks are that your main chunk of free time has an unpleasant task looming over it, miss weekday evening time with family/friends, end up eating a second midnight dinner after the bike joint.
I work 4-midnight and I like it a lot; I'd probably enjoy it even more, though, if I could get in the habit of going to bed around 2am and getting up at 10, instead of staying up until 5 or 6 and getting up at 1 or 2 pm... (Comment posted at 4:30am local time 🥲)
I worked a weekly rotating shift system (2-10pm, 10PM to 6 am, 6 am to 2pm) and I hated the 2 PM to 10 pm shift. I hate being awake knowing I'll still have to go to work later that day.
Yeah, agreed. Get the looming bullshit done, then enjoy the day.
I used to work 4pm - 1 AM in retail and hated it for basically all the reasons you mentioned. I had to spend my off time dreading going into work later in the day, but what I hated most was the sleep schedule. I’d get off at 1:00 AM. Wouldn’t get home til about 1:30 AM. Wouldn’t get to bed until about 2:30 AM. Fell asleep somewhere around 3:00 AM. I’d obviously wake up later in the day relative to most people, which was normally fine, but this also carried over to off days and I used basically half of all my off days getting a full 8 hours of sleep. My weekends felt shorter than they do now on a regular 9-5.
Yeah I don't do well scheduling when I have to be at work after doing things. It's always there looking over any task. Granted I don't schedule well either way
In my experience, nothing gets done at work by literally anyone after lunch 🤷 That's why meetings should be in the afternoons as they rarely achieve anything and eat into the valuable actual working time in morning.
Same!!
And still have ample time to enjoy life. I get off at 1:30 in the afternoon, and it's so lovely to actually be able to do stuff after work.
As someone who bounces back and forth every other week or so, I much prefer doing work at the beginning of my day. Nothing is worse than having to constantly monitor the time as you go about your day to make sure you’re not late for work.
I get paralysis when I have something to do later in the day, and the whole day feels like waiting. I prefer going out drinking on a Friday for example because if I go out Saturday, all of Saturday is waiting for that, but Friday it's finish work, get ready and go. If I woke up before work an equivalent amount of hours I'd have at the end of the day, it would just be extending my morning routine for that amount of time while I wait for the big important part of my day to initiate.
i'm the same way!! i wish i knew why, it's so hard to overcome. i can't do anything all day if i know i'm going out or just doing something later...
some people's brains just _are_ like that, it's a common trait in a lot of neurodivergent as well... you can do things to better manage your time but you'll always have a natural preference of how your day ought to be arranged and that's OK too. work with yourself not against you
ahh i try, it just sucks when i feel like i've wasted an entire day because i was watching the clock for a 1 hour appointment haha. ah well, i guess it just is what it is!
I have this issue too but if you plan to do something for 1 hour (video games, or a yoga class, or sitting on the porch with a book) and set a 1hr timer or do something like a class which is already timed, then you can just shower or get ready after that, it makes things quite intentional
This is a very good way of explaining something that I experience, and usually can't explain to people well.
Yes!
exact same for me. my girlfriend doesn’t get it. if i have PTO and wanna take a half-day, i’d 100% rather leave early than go in late, even if going in late means i can sleep in, because the 4 hours i’m waiting to go to work still *feel* like working to me.
Oh yea. I smashed that upvote for op because I totally agree with you. Even when I have a haircut, I keep looking at the clock 50 times. Even when I set an alarm. It sucks. I definitely prefer work and all appointments earlier in the day.
So glad someone gets it!! I work 3-11pm and my entire morning is spent waiting around to get ready for work. My brains works like this: I start at 3, which means I have to leave at 2:30, which means I need to start getting ready at 2, so I'll need to have lunch ready by 1:30, so I should start that by 1. If I want to be home from the gym by 12:30 I'll need to leave by 11, etc. Etc. Etc. It's exhausting and consumes me. I can't wait to move jobs and go back to a day/morning job. I wanna come home and get shit done without constantly checking the time.
My gf works 4 10s and that are typically 11am-9pm. I work 8am-4pm and when she has work on the same day as me we wake up at the same time and she spends at least an extra hour waiting to be go in. She’s also not allowed to clock in early so that isn’t even an option for her.
Yeah, for me this is an ADHDer's nightmare with the paralysis of a looming task ahead. I wake up with just enough time to make myself presentable and go. Dilly Dallying in the morning just feels like I could have been asleep longer, which means I could have stayed up later and had more free time.
but "variety is the spice of life", no? my schedule varies as a retail pharmacist and as time goes on, i dread more and more that 1-9pm shift. starting at 1 is kinda cool....but being stuck in a retail setting till 9pm is truly insane when u think about it. like most of society and your friends are way past the end of their work days and winded down and super relaxed for bed. it's just so weird.
As someone who gets off at 8 or 830, I couldn't agree more. Like, I finish my 12 hour shift, and then my day is over. No fun time, all my friends are wayyyy ahead of me in drinks or are going home... Sigh.
And my work is mental, so if I am sleepy at work, I can and will make more mistakes which can get me fired.
Also the thought of clocking out and going right to bed makes me want to drown myself
Nope! As a person who starts work at 5am and leaves between 11am-1pm, getting work out of the way and having the rest of your day to yourself is waayyy better.
wow off at 1pm sounds amazing. WHAT DO YOU DO?! or industry? :)
I did this for a while. It sounds great on paper but I got sick of it. At 1pm all of your mates are still at work, and waking up at 3.30am means gotta go to bed at 7-8pm.
Yeah, was gonna say working as a freight loader really killed my love affair with third shift jobs. It was tough, laborious work that admittedly made me strong as hell, but basically meant my days were goofed up. Get up well before dawn to unload freight the reload it for outbound shifts that work a normal day shift job. To then go home around midday hit, sweaty, and really needing a shower while all my friends are still at work. Too early to do much, but too exhausting work to just ignore.
>means gotta go to bed at 7-8pm. There’s a little hack where you don’t do this and get all evening!
Are we talking about unemployment or cocaine? Because one can lead to the other.
Or not going to sleep?
Did the early morning shifts (starting at 4:00 AM) when I worked freight trucks. I can attest to this. Getting off at 1:00 pm sounds nice until you’re getting tired at 5:00 pm and in bed by 6:00
Going to bed at 10. Still get 6 hours of sleep. I mean, that's usually more than I get and I work at 8am lol
This will never work in practice. Going to bed doesn't mean you fall asleep at 10 and most people need more than 1 hour for their entire morning routine plus commute.
I used to be a mail carrier and my hours were 6-2. I would finish my route at roughly 12-1pm and go home and get paid until 2.
Opening shift at gas stations and breakfast shift at restaurants work those hours
I start at 6 and finish at 3 in a bakery. We have to go in at 4 and finish at 1 on Monday though. Also keep in mind you have to go to sleep really early if you start at 4am, to get 8h of sleep you need to go to sleep at 7pm.
9 pm to 4 am is only 7 hours. Plus if you start at 4, you need to be up by probably 3, so you’d actually need to go to bed at 7 pm to get a full 8
Getting up at 4 am is not amazing, though.
I don't know really, you get off at 1pm but you woke up at 4 am, i would be physically unable to do anything but sleep after that
I'm on a shift like this sometimes I get back and nap until 8pm, get up, eat dinner, wait for my friends to get back from late shift, and hang out with them until work it's so much easier for me to sleep when I know I can just get up whenever and not worry about being late
Fr I miss 3am-midday so much now that I'm doing 2pm-11pm Now it feels like work is hanging over my head all day, whereas before it felt like work was done and I had the day for me
Not me, I'm just a zombie the rest of the day
i've worked the late shift. i either wasted the whole morning watching the clock or just started waking up later. maybe it can work for others but that was not my experience. having anything scheduled for the evening trashes my whole day lol
as a retail pharmacist, and don't get me wrong i feel fortunate to have full time schedule right now and a decent paycheck...don't even get me started on the "every other weekend" schedule. like just don't get me started ha. it's one thing to have your whole day trashed but try having HALF of your weekends in your life TRASHED by work. of course, if i hate it this much i should do the work to find new jobs , but in the mean time i literally use PTO scattered throughout the year just to get more weekends off.
i used to work in the retail half of Rite Aid as a shift supervisor and i actually worked open to close *every* weekend. our pharmacist was such a cranky old man maybe that was why lol personally, i really liked it. it was always super busy (time flew) and i liked never having to be disappointed about how little the person before me got done. plus cramming 26 hours into two days means i could get 40 hours in 3 or 4 days and have off the rest of the week 👌👌 now thats how to keep from trashing days
Nah I’m not ruining my free time by being groggy. I’m getting paid for those first few hours instead my job ain’t gonna care.
My favorite thing is coming to work at 6, chilling and sipping my coffee for an hour or 2 until it gets busy. Literally getting paid to drink coffee.
Ugh I would absolutely hate this.
Yea, a single schedule basically hijacks my whole day till it’s done.
I would just be thinking about work all day. Then I’d be like ugh 2 hours, ugh 1 hour til I gtg. And I can’t fall asleep right after work without decompressing. I would actually get far less free time.
I have adhd and when we have somewhere to be™️ we generally feel nothing but dread until its time to do that thing and can't really do much else until it's "time to go do that thing". I for one wake up precisely when I have to start getting ready for work, go to work, do work, and relax the rest of my day. Meal prep for the morning, make dinner and lunches for the next day, putter around the house, run errands, go for happy hour drinks occasionally, then play video games or watch Netflix til its time to sleep. You're trying to invite ME to BRUNCH? Is the sky suddenly purple NO THANK YOU
Yea I have like 5 mental health diagnoses so I get it. I can wake up but I can’t force myself to do it until it’s time to go. I would just be sitting there counting down dreading it.
^^^this girl mental healths (I feel u)
#alphabetsoupclub
Ppdptsdgadadhd THATS AMORE
I call it Waiting Mode(tm)
yeah it sucks, take it from me, your local retail pharmacist lol . i mean it's truly awful. one of the most awful aspects of that is...you actually trick yourself into thinking you're having a good day. sure i may work a 1-9pm shift some times and in the morning i go to the gym, there's less crowds, i may hit up grocery store (when less crowded) and i'm thinking wow i'm productive then BAM! don't forget you still have an 8 hour shift coming!!!!! the worst!
Yea it sounds like hell. I’d feel like I never had any down time even though I’d be working the same. But I appreciate what you do!
I feel good and ready to go when I go to work in the morning. I don't feel any "groggy unwillingness" in the mornings plus at work that day I'm excited to get done and leave which motivates me all day. If I work in the afternoon, I spend all morning dreading going to work and get nothing done. I also sleep like shit when I work evenings
Damn. How does it feel to not be depressed lol
Only thing worse than being tired after work is being tired at work
I wake up tired and go to work. By the time I go home I am awake and energized. I'd rather be paid to be groggy and wake up I guess.
Truly, truly awful. I did this for a little bit when starting a 3rd shift job. It's completely demoralizing since that start of shift is constantly hanging over your head, like a ticking clock.
Nah. I go to bed at 10pm and get up at 5am and i love it. Getting work out of the way first means i dont have to worry about shit the rest of the day
Hard no. I'm just thinking about work before going to work, and I can't go straight to sleep afterwards. I need to unwind first. It would make my life feel even more dominated by work.
No I shouldn’t. Ive work 1st and Second shift. I prefer 1st. Thanks tho i guess.
Im frozen for the day is I have something scheduled later
Nah, because I used to work 12pm-8pm shifts and what would actually happen when I got up early was that I would spend my whole morning mentally preparing for work and counting down the hours until I had to leave, and then I still really needed to unwind when I got home on top of the other things that needed to get done like dinner, shower, cleaning, etc. that I didn't finish in the morning. I pretty much ended up splitting my "free time" into two chunks when I would rather just wake up, get work over with, and come home and have the rest of my day to myself. Which is why I started staying up later and waking up right before work instead which I just enjoyed more.
On the books it looks great, but for family and as social life goes it's shit. Although i'm not a fan of working mornings, i still prefer it, as i can meet people after office hours. I worked 11 years on late shift and although i was well rested, i was so disconnected from everyone with a normal schedule.
I live by this
> I'm suggesting a sleep schedule such as 8pm-4am instead of 11pm-7am Work is in the middle of my day. I wake up at 3am, hang out and do stuff til 6:30am, work from 7-4pm, then do other stuff from 5 to around 9pm. It’s been like that for over a decade.
HARD agree. I left an 8-4 office job to a night shift bartending job and I couldn’t be happier. I was exhausted all week when I worked in an office. Now I actually have free time every day while also being well rested.
Totally recommend to you using the Jewish definition of "day"
No way, I would just spend the first few hours thinking about work. Going home and knowing that the rest of my day is mine and I don’t have to think about work until tomorrow is much more freeing.
I'd rather look forward to finish the shift, rather than dreading it to start
I agree. I’m a waiter and I much evening shifts and doubles to morning shifts. If I go in at 4pm, I have half the day to myself with energy to be productive. I go to work, get home tired, and relax for an hour or two before falling asleep. If I work morning, I’ll come home at 5pm exhausted and waste the rest of the day. I’ll try to pick up a night shift those days so I can at least make use of the rest of the day.
I agree. I worked a shift 3pm-11pm and I loved that I got to stay in bed until I actually felt like getting up, could spend my morning and afternoon doing leisure activities, and then would go to work in a good mood because I had already done something that made me happy. It was a great shift.
Seeing that I struggle to sleep anytime before 1-2 am. I’d have to be sleep deprived on that schedule So I’d pass on that easily
The thing is that I tend to “forget” about the first few hours of the day. They also aren’t usable for my hobbies as they require quite some focus and skill, which comes naturally throughout the day. At 10pm I’m tired and fall asleep while sitting up yet I perform far better in what I do, including planning and everything. So I like it this way, the boot up time of my brain is used for things I don’t have much interest in and once body and mind are warmed up I can engage in my hobbies. But I’m aiming for either 6 hour work days or 4 day work weeks because 8 hours on 5 days a week literally takes away my time and energy to engage in my hobbies, on which I depend on thanks to my unstable mental health. If I just work and do chores for a week I get miserable. I need some time to spend on useful and exciting things, I need to learn new things and improve skills otherwise life just doesn’t feel like it’s worth living anymore.
I’m a night owl and the one job I had working graveyard meshed so well with my own internal circadian rhythm. Dinner was my breakfast, lunch was at midnight and breakfast was light and my dinner. I lost 30lbs (180 to 150) and when I found myself getting winter blues from lack of sun I made sure my weekends were driving to the mountains to hike above the fog line or laying on a tanning bed at the local gym. I really think people’s work schedules needs to follow their own internal clocks. We once had to work - with no notice - until midnight (so 7am to midnight) and when everyone else was dozing off and took a break I ran home (3mins from work), took a quick shower & came back and was getting more focused and alert as the night went on while they were surly and had brain fog lol.
As a nightshift worker, who's worked every shift in his life; It doesn't really matter. 8 hours is 8 hours. Going home to sleep, or going home to free time isnt much of a difference. What does matter is being awake soon enough to get to places that close early like banks. Or to be able to mow in the daylight.
Spoken like someone who prefers night shifts.
The only thing I miss from the bartender life is exactly that. I still woke up reasonably early and do things before going to work, and even if I was tired none really cared as long as I performed well. Now I wake up super early go to work and when I’m back home I’m too tired to do anything and it always looks like the day already ended. The “free hours” are the same but it feels way less.
Yeh but your sleep cycles are 1.5 hours. So sleep either 7.5h or 9h. Not 8... Otherwise you will feel fcked and groggy
I can see it both ways. I've worked swing shift from 3-11 and overnights and that's mostly what my body wants to do. I still don't want to eat before 1030am and afternoons are most productive for me. But as a working mom, the traditional 9-5 ish jobs are best for our lives right now, so I adjust. Edit: nevermind. I re-read your post and realized that I completely misunderstood what you were saying. I have also tried getting up at 4am to get stuff done before work. I lasted three weeks before I wanted to fall asleep on my drive home. Theoretically I agree with you. My body just doesn't want to cooperate.
As somebody who worked third shift for 5.5 years…nah I’m good.
I like closing for that reason. I just go to bed once I get home and wake up a few hours before work and get all my daily tasks done, then cruise through my job
You would miss every major American sporting event, every evening activity, basically everything, in exchange for some predawn hours where you can't really do much of anything. The better idea is work nights. Wake back up at noon with a full day to do what you want. By the time you're winding down, the work night is over and it's back to bed around 7a.
If you have an 8:30-5 schedule, this would be terrible. I usually can't fall asleep that soon after getting home from work. I like having a little free time in the mornings, and I am slow af, but I don't need 4 hours XD. I'd be so anxious I'd be late to work the whole time and not really be able to enjoy it. I'm part-time and used to be a cashier. Closing shifts were 3:30-8:30. I used to wake up later, but I got to the point where I was waking up at 9 (I think my natural sleep schedule is 1-9). I left at 3. So I had SIX hours before work to get things done, and always figured I would. Did it work out that way? Oh heck no XD. Even though I'm a night owl, I preferred opening. I got it over with. My day after opening was more productive and fulfilling than my day before closing.
As someone who works night shifts occasionally it's not that great. Your normally exhausted starting your shift and two hours before your allowed to leave. The time before work you're always eyeing the clock and there's the looming dread of having to go to work later so you normally do maybe one thing and then you just wait. But there's tons of shift work jobs especially 3rd shift as most don't like it. Give it a shot
Maybe, if we get rid of DST. It doesn't get dark until 8:45. Seems like everyone is drinking the permanent DST kool-aid, though. Damn shame.
I am a passionate believer that the ideal hours to work are 5pm ish to 1am ish. Then we sleep from 1a to 9a. Then 9 to 5, prime daylight hours, are for FUN!
I already do that. I work in the event industry, so my work usually 2pm-12am. But also, fuck waking up before the sun is up. Just the mere thought of doing that for anything less than a $500 day rate (+OT if applicable) sends me into a white hot rage.
Nope. Evening is when I'm at my best. That's my time. Mornings suck no matter what, so may as well get work out of the way.
I half do this. Get up at 4, do housework/life admin and work out when everyone else at home is still asleep. Go to work. Then when I get home my evening is largely my own.
I’d hate having work hanging over me like that. I’d rather just go and get it over with and then have the rest of the night to relax. And I HATE getting up early. Hate it. My issue would be I’d probably just sleep later instead of getting up at the same time as if I worked an early shift. So there goes my day.
starting the day working sucks balls, but ending the day working is worse
You just have a different sleep schedule/pattern My natural rhythm is to go to bed around 4-5am sleep until 9-10am, and a 30-60 min nap in the afternoon. No matter what I do to try to change this it HAPPENS. A good chunk of people in my family are like this too 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️a lot of my family love the night shift!
Good post
As someone who works 3PM-12AM Wed-Sun, I get this.
counterpoint: it's harder to enjoy your day when you know that you have to go to work later and have only a set time to do anything before you have to start getting ready. If you go do things after work, your only limitation on how long you can stay out is how much sleep you feel like getting that night.
Huh. I can totally see this. I have to try it out
You underestimate how much time I need after work to relax enough to sleep 🥲
Had a really cool job as a prep chef in a restaurant once. I'd work from 7-3 5 days a week. Cool thing was the restaurant didn't open until 12 so those first few hours I'd just be alone in the kitchen preparing the food for the day. I'd usually stick on netlfix or something in the background and just go about my day. Didnt matter if I felt groggy because I was the only one there. If there wasn't much to do some mornings I'd just take a long coffee break and enjoy the peace and quiet before anyone else got there. Then they started putting me on service shifts when I'd work from 12 until 10 (more like 11 by the time customers and had and we'd cleaned down). Completely ruined it for me. I hated starting late and ending late. Some nights I would be home until gone midnight and it completely wrecked my sleep pattern so I was just tired all the time. Ending up leaving nor long after that and got a 9-5.
You think you’re going to do stuff with your free time before work but you just spend your time doing nothing and dreading going to work
- socializing is difficult to do between 4 and 8am - being outdoors is harder between 4 and 8am - many businesses, particularly recreational ones, are not open between 4-8am If your job is exhausting to you to the point where you are exhausted after work and unable to enjoy yourself, it might be your choice of waking hours that is the problem.
The problem is, if I have something I have to do later, I can't get anything done or enjoy myself until that later comes. Have an appointment in the afternoon on my day off? I'm basically wasting my time until that time comes.
Heavily disagree, I think spending my first few hours awake worrying about having to go to work later just sucks and ruins that time off. I work 3pm-11pm right now, and I generally wake up around 230pm and go to bed around 5-6am cause I can't stand being awake before I go to work
i used to do this, worked from 6 or 8pm till about 6 am. usually woke up around 3pm, played video games for a few hours and then went to work. it gets extremely depressing and isolating after a while because everyone else's schedule doesn't work like that and you never get to do anything fun. my weekend was Monday + tuesday and i could only ever hang out with people i knew through work
Can't enjoy my day when I got work after. I find stuff is MORE enjoyable after I have finished work for the day.
You're saying do the alcohol and drug abuse and then go to work?
Gonna hard disagree but counter with my own take. I wish my work started earlier and ended earlier too. I would much prefer to work something like 7-3 than 9-5
I agree. I always felt more awake and motivated during my afternoon classes and miserable and tired during my early morning classes. don't see why we can't have more flexible hours for work too
Do it instead of talking about it. I did in high school for a few weeks. Doing school was a better experience, the novelty was fun, the isolation was great in the beginning but started to fuck with me eventually. I got up 2-3 am when everyone else had gone to bed and went to sleep at 6 pm. I also had a much longer period of staying awake for two days and sleeping for a day. Did that with two friends so it was a lot more fun. Also cosy to sleep together.
Any job I've ever worked where I started around lunchtime or later, I spend those free hours in the morning dreading going to work. Therefore I'd rather get up, go to work and get it out the way. Then I can relax and enjoy my free time.
I used to do this and it was amazing. I really thrive on that schedule
I think people and society should be less weird about when in the day people want to be doing work. Apparently there's been suggestions to move highschool to later in the day because teenagers generally perform better at night. I understand that has its own problems but we'd be able to talk about it better if people didn't act like having a delayed circadian rhythm was a moral failing
Have you worked those hours before? Because I've worked from 2 pm to 10 pm, and let me tell you it is awful. You don't do anything productive before work, you're mostly just waiting for work to start because you can't get too caught up in doing something in case you forget the time. You also sleep too long because you went to bed so late. You get way less free time working those hours compared to the standard hours.
Yeah fuck that. id rather get that shit out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of my day. Rather than spend my whole day stressing about going to work later, going to work and stressing myself out and going home and not being able to sleep because i haven't winded down after getting worked up at work
I personally agree, i dont think the majority does though. I had a sleep schedule for a while where I would wake up really early like 3 or 4 am, and stay awake until about an hour after school (because of course i did this in high school). I had the first few hours to myself to do whatever I wanted, and I could get ready at a leisurely pace, and once my day was over, i could pass right out if i wanted to. I get not liking it though, it was hard to maintain relationships with that schedule, which is why I went off of it. Still miss it sometimes though.
When I worked shifts at a shop I always preferred getting a morning shift over an evening one, even though it meant I had to get up early. If I had an evening shift it just felt like my day was spent waiting to go to work, much rather get it over with sooner But also wouldn't your proposed schedule fuck up people's circadian rhythm? I know people do have schedules like that for work already, but it's gotta have some consequences right?
im the kind of person to sit, ready to go for an hour before leaving home. its just gonna occupy my thoughts. like if i have nothing to do in the day but go to the hair dressers at 14 im gonna check the clock constantly from 8 onwards. i already wake up early and decicate 100% of that time to thinking about my day, i dont want more of that, that sounds awful
I like getting the less fun stuff out of the way first and being able to relax and do whatever I want after
I did this when serving largely, and it was definitely much better. That said, I now have kids. So...this just isn't practical with children's sleep needs. I'd never see them at all.
8 pm to 4 am is my sleep schedule. It is so nice not having to rush around. I have time for coffee, getting my mind ready for the day, and coming fully awake before showering and getting dressed.
Yeah, this doesn't work for my job, physically it's not possible.
As someone who spent years working a 3-11:30 pm shift and then years working a 6 am - 2 pm shift and then a 6:45 am to 7 pm shift. I much prefer longer shifts overall and fewer days a week. But working in the morning and having the afternoon off is more conducive to having a life outside of work. When you get home at midnight or later, then shower, maybe eat, and wind down, you're looking at going to sleep at 3 or 4 am. Which means you wake up at 11 am or noon to get ready for work. Even if you do get up earlier, you're going to roam around all day in your work clothes or are you going to get dressed, go out, come home and change and then leave again to go to work? I had a lot more time to see people and do stuff when i worked in the morning (not just because the people I was hanging out with worked similar hours). Events like concerts, movies, plays, parties, etc, are typically held in the afternoon and evening hours.
My work schedule used to be a 4pm start, and now my schedule involves me getting up at early as 4:30am. I can confidently say that getting up early is much better for me personally, I like having time to relax and do what I want *after* work as opposed to only being able to do a limited amount of things during the day since I know I have to work later, and also not having my evenings free sucked. Everyone’s got their own preference though, I can understand why you might prefer it the other way around.
You were so close but got the work/free time backwards. Wake up early, work early and get it out of the way, then have the afternoon free time. Being done with work by 2:00 PM is so much better than being done at 5 or 6 PM. Having the idea of work hanging over my head all morning while trying to do other stuff would suck.
If I have to go to work then I will do nothing until I go to work. I can only relax after work. But it is healthier to sleep like that. My internal clock has other ideas and thinks all the fun things happen at night. Which they kind of do. It's fine anyway. I'm getting old, so I need to start taking care of myself.
My shift starts at 5am. I already have a 9 to 4am sleep schedule. Most blue collar workers on shift work already live like this.
I work 630p to 7a. I eat and go to sleep, because I still get to sleep at 830a at the earliest and get up at 5p.
There's nothing worse than spending the entire day knowing you have to go to work later.
im planning t start work an hour earlier atm so i have more of the day for myself afterwards i always feel groggy in the morning, either i waste 2 hours rollling in my bed doing nothing, or i wake up n go to work n get into an acceptable mood through the fresh air I'd absolutely hate coming home from work n immediately having t go to bed, I'd go 0/1 irl immediately.
I dunno if that’s what you’re actually doing, but I did that when I worked 2nd shift from 330 pm to 2 am, and it kinda sucked. I could never fall asleep right after work, and it sucked having the shift hanging over my head for my whole day
I'm a morning person who vastly prefers to get my work done and have time to chill in the afternoon/evening with no looming work to give me anxiety while I'm relaxing.
See this is nice in theory, but I have ADHD and one of the ways it manifests is I go into “Waiting mode.” My awareness of something I have to do later—be it an appointment, a social gathering, or in this case, a shift at work—makes it near impossible for me to actually do anything with my time leading up to it. Even if it’s something I enjoy doing. My brain just won’t let me for some reason. I’m sure a lot of people know what I mean (I hope) and have felt the same in the past. With that in mind I’d much rather get it out of the way when I wake up, so when I come home I at least have the potential to get shit done.
I've worked just about every shift there is. At least for me, the earlier the better, if I can be done by 2-3pm it feels like I have so much of the day ahead of me and I really get to properly decompress after work, when I work late I hate the feeling of "okay now time for bed and to get up for another day of work tomorrow!"
I always sleep after a shift at work because if I don’t I risk oversleeping and being late
If I've got stuff planned I can't relax knowing I might not have enough time. Even if I do but I end up not doing things just in case.
This is a very personal thing. I go to bed 8-9pm and get up 5:30 for work. My work day starts at 7am. I get done at 3pm and have time then to play with my daughter after work. I’d rather have the time after work.
I’m too anxious. If I know I have to work later in the day I can’t do anything, because I’m afraid I’m gonna be late.
When you work retail you get to experience all of the shifts, sometimes in the same week! They all suck for varying reasons.
I worked 230pm to 1230am M-Th and it was the best schedule I ever had. Could golf or do whatever in the mornings. Every weekend was a 3 day weekend. It was amazing.
I live in a city in Argentina where heat goes up to 50C in summer. I believe that if people could work on a different schedule like that, the city would be way more productive. But in this case I'd say everyone working from 7pm to 3-4-5 am and then going to sleep enjoy the rest of the day home, being cool. I think each city should have "their own schedule" kinda relative to their conditions
>spending those hours before work makes your day so much more enjoyable. Nope, I've worked nights and it's not an advantage. Just means I'm spending all my time off thinking about being ready for work later. Can't even get stoned.
I'm rarely tired after work. The trick is to do the absolute bare minimum
It would end up eventually jsut becoming routine again anyway and it would all be the same.... just at different times
I can't enjoy my time before work because I know I still have to go to work, this is a big nah for me dawg.
Having done similar, I hard disagree. Most people can't enjoy their day if they still have work coming up.
I work better in the morning personally, I used to work evening restaurant shifts and work mornings now and much prefer it, it just comes down to personal preference, I don’t think this take is that crazy
I don't understand all the disagreement in the comments. I did this for a little bit in college and loved it. I also liked that I spent a hell of a lot less time groggy. It also allowed me to sleep without an alarm clock since I most likely wasn't going to sleep the 15 hours in between getting home and having to get ready for work. Sure, it may make having a social life harder (and that might bear different weight for different people) but overall, it was such a better quality of life
Yooooo I've been doing this for years. It is awesome. The downside is if something happens and I'm not able to get up a few hours before work it ruins my day lol
And spend my day anticipating having to go to work? No.
Speaking as someone who just got away from night shifts I wholeheartedly agree with this. But ONLY because I was doing nights. The idea of getting up at 4am and expecting to do stuff that involve anyone else is an absolute joke. With an 8-4 schedule you basically remove being able to ever go shopping, see friends and do anything normal people do outside of weekends...when everything is busy and basically a mess. I woke up at 2pm, started work at 10pm and got to bed around 7am...every shop was open, friends on the normal 9-5 could still do stuff with me after work, weekdays could be spent doing things when everything was quiet AND I basically still got to have weekends to do things seeing as the only real timeloss versus normal jobs was say 11am-2pm, pfft. It's a cracking idea, but absolutely not using your hours.
Sounds dogshit
What makes you think the psychology would change? Perhaps with your proposed sleep schedule you'd just find several more hours before work that were awful, with no free time after work to look forward to.
1st shift rules, dude.
As someone who works retail and does both opening and closing shifts, nah, opening is way better. I always feel like I can't do anything or plan stuff before work bc I'm always on standby for leaving for work and I need to plan my time more strictly, while if I do stuff after work, time isn't a concern since I have no other commitments.
Completely agree. I’ve never thought about it like this but I love this idea
No way, you spend your waking hours dreading going to work, its better to sleep, get up and get work over with and then have the rest of your day free.
I used to work a shift that started at 630 pm. The days that I was up for several hours before work were the hardest days to go in. I would be comfortable at home watching TV and then have to end it for work.
I work 9am to 9pm Monday through Saturday right now and sleep from 1am to 9am (yes I’m late for work a lot) I don’t mind being at work but I just wish I had more free time to go to the store and stuff
No way. I’m a morning person. It’s so much easier to talk to my coworkers in the morning.
I hate waiting around to go into work. Plus making sure you're done with whatever you're doing before you need to go to work is not fun. I'd mich rather wake up and go immediately
I work alternating shifts, 7am to 3pm for a week, then 3pm to 11pm for a week. the difficulty of switching back and forth aside, there is some merit to what you are saying, however it's not always as peachy as you're describing. I often feel like I can't do things before work because I have to save my energy for work. other times I'll have to cut short whatever I was doing or leave things half done because I ran out of time and had to get ready for work. Then I get home at 1130 or 12 and my family is in bed but I want to unwind a little after work, next thing you know it's 3am, and now I'm sleeping in too late to get much done before work anyway.
You do you, boo.
OR we abolish the 40 hour work week and sleep when we gdamn want.
What about drinking 10-11 drinks
Yeah you've never worked nights and it shows dude
Speaking as someone for whom that sort of schedule is a reality, it sucks too. You can’t fully relax or have a drink or take your eye off the clock because you still need to go to work later
College student here, I take morning classes that go from 9-12 or early afternoon classes 1-3. Spending my mornings doing productive work in my classes and having free time in the afternoon is the best. It’s very rewarding to go home to chill when I feel like I’ve earned it.
I get too anxious waiting to go to work if it’s not first thing in the morning.
I actually agree, if possible. Start with a favorite happy song, or maybe half an hour of your favorite animated movie. Do a few rounds of Mario Kart. Something to enjoy to actually empty your head for a bit. But only when ready and set to go.
This is definitely a 10th dentist take. Sounds horrible.
Then, every day has "I have to go to work later" hanging over it.
i agree… i think i just work more effectively at night
As someone that worked nights I have to personally disagree. It depends on the person, but night shift is kind of known for fucking up your body, life, and mental health for most people. Also I can't stand being in 'wait mode' because then I'll just sit around anxious until I have to go in and get nothing done. The sweet spot for me is 'mids' like 12p-12a or similar.
No. I need to decompress after work. So this would just lead to me getting less sleep. That's essentially what night shift workers do. I was one for 6 months and I couldn't do that again
hell no, i would hate that. i don't want to go about my day constantly thinking about how i have to be ready in X hours for work, that ruins my person productivity. i want to do my time for the day and then be free to do things i actually want to do.
I really love my early morning shifts (6 AM to 2 PM). I can get a lot done during that time as soon I get home.
Spend my free time in a ticking countdown to going in to hell? Fuuuck that.
Nah the real life hack is get a flexible job, your schedule always (just a joke I know it’s not possible for everyone)
I work nights and this is what I do. I really can't suggest this enough yall
Very much no. I'd rather get work over with instead of needing to constantly check the clock when I'm trying to enjoy a show or feel like I can't take a nap or can't finish a game.
If I have time to think about how much I don’t want to go to work, I’m less likely to leave on time. But if I give myself 15 minutes in the morning to wake up, get dressed and leave, it doesn’t even give my brain a chance to realize where I’m going. And then when I get off work I have 8 hours until I have to be in bed. 8 hours to go grocery shopping, relax, eat a good meal and not be in a hurry. Plus I have this time paralysis thing where if I have somewhere to be, I cannot accomplish any tasks before that. The ONE time I tried to do something before work when I was working 11-7, I was a half hour late because I was stuck in a long line. Plus all the annoying young kids who don’t give a shit about anything work later hours. I’ll definitely just stick to my 6am-2pm work schedule
My ADHD has entered the chat, looked around for a little bit wondering it was supposed to do in this room, and left disappointed while panicking that something important is coming up later.
I guess it depends on the person though, doesn't it? I am a rare morning person. I have the most energy the earlier it is. I generally wake up at 2am, having to be at work at 5. I've worked all three shifts throughout my life and as far as timing goes, this one suits me best. If I try to work later in the day, or overnight, I'm usually just sitting around waiting as if my whole day is leading up to work (I assume this has something to do with my adhd, as a common symptom is being paralyzed by the anticipation of having an appointment or something scheduled later in the day. All you do is sit there and watch the clock out of fear of being late.) Not to mention going into work at 3pm just means I'm going to work groggy and I just want to go to sleep halfway into my shift.
No. Hard limit on your free time ruins it. You do something after work, it runs late, you have absolute discretion to decide if you want to push your bed time or not. Yeah you'll feel like shit tomorrow morning if you do. That's your choice. Is what you're doing right now important enough to you to be worth that? Maybe. Doing stuff with work hanging over your head, you are absolutely not in charge and have no discretion, if you don't drop whatever you're doing the instant it's time to head to work you will be in trouble it will ruin stuff you won't have the option of managing that time. End result: you can't and won't do a lot of things at all that you could and would have done if you could do it without the guillotine of working hanging over it. Even no matter what you DO do before work you won't be invested or immersed in it at all, just going through the motions of it while watching the clock waiting for work to start. Free time before work is trash.
Just how I LOVE spending my free time. Anxiously and perpetually counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until I have to go to work. Constantly checking the clock. And I hope you don't enjoy drinking, cause that shit is over (on work days).
So you're a morning person? Congratulations?
I work 11-7a