Working Graveyard

[BDBoop]

Anybody else have that experience? Got any horror stories to share?

I actually like graveyard, most of the time. Sometimes, like Thanksgiving, it comes back to bite me in the ass. I'll work 8:45 to 4:45 am, and hope to get enough sleep by noon for my daughter to pick me up for dinner. Then over to her in-laws for who knows how long, and work starts again at 8:30 Thursday night.

Other than that, I am no kind of morning person. I once worked graveyard for 7-8 years before the aerospace industry ate my job. My daughter and I were living with my folks at the time, and my mother could never seem to grasp the concept of "Me work nights? Me sleep days." So she'd call me at like 11 a.m., when I'd been asleep maybe 3-4 hours, and ask if I wanted to do lunch. Then have the nerve to act surprised when I either a) hung up on her, b) burst into tears, or c) reamed her a new one. "Oh, sure! I'll be right down. And then in I wanna say a month or so, I'll going to call you at midnight and see if YOU want to do lunch!"

 

[Pop23]

I worked 11PM to 7Am for 2 years as a police dispatcher/ jailer at a county jail. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it. I was nearly always alone(except for the prisoners).

No horror stories, sorry. It was mostly boredom.

 

[gallantwarrior]

BD, you know I work graves. I love it. I've worked graves now since 1997. I have daylight to care for my livestock. I drive the opposite direction of rush hour traffic. Most of the "suits" stay home at night. And they always have openings on grave shift. I do have the advantage of living without human companionship...just the cats and one small dog. They all sleep on my schedule.
I love graves!

 

[Bloodrock44]

I know you're familiar with Charge of Quarters. Weekdays it was 5PM to 8AM, not allowed to sleep. Weekends was 8AM to 8AM 24 hours no sleep. When I made E7 it was Brigade Staff Duty NCOIC. I usually found somewhere to catch cat naps. It was a bitch.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I was 1SG and responsible for ensuring y'all weren't sleeping. CQ could be OK. I don't envy those who have rotating shifts. At least I work graves and only graves.
BR44, cat naps were the norm. I even fell asleep once during a lab class, standing up! In the military, you learn to grab a nap when and where you can.

 

[BDBoop]

I worked 11PM to 7Am for 2 years as a police dispatcher/ jailer at a county jail. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it. I was nearly always alone(except for the prisoners).

No horror stories, sorry. It was mostly boredom.

For what I do, it's a blessing. I take insurance claims by phone. A lot of the 'pain in the ass' claims are only open during normal business hours. I can't even verbalize how relieved I was to know that I was free of some truly hair-tear-inducing clients.

Now, I mostly get calls for short-term disability, leave-of-absence, and absence/call-ins.

Bliss.

When I was working graveyard before, I was the only one in the office. If I got in trouble ever, it was for hanging in the shop, chatting with the guys. The night foreman was pretty lenient, but every once in awhile he'd look at his watch and raise an eyebrow at me. I took the hint.

 

[Pop23]

I worked 11PM to 7Am for 2 years as a police dispatcher/ jailer at a county jail. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it. I was nearly always alone(except for the prisoners).

No horror stories, sorry. It was mostly boredom.

For what I do, it's a blessing. I take insurance claims by phone. A lot of the 'pain in the ass' claims are only open during normal business hours. I can't even verbalize how relieved I was to know that I was free of some truly hair-tear-inducing clients.

Now, I mostly get calls for short-term disability, leave-of-absence, and absence/call-ins.

Bliss.

When I was working graveyard before, I was the only one in the office. If I got in trouble ever, it was for hanging in the shop, chatting with the guys. The night foreman was pretty lenient, but every once in awhile he'd look at his watch and raise an eyebrow at me. I took the hint.

I once had two murderers in the jail while they were on trial in a nearby town. After I heard of the grizzly details of their deeds it was scary doing the hourly checks. They were there 4 days, and there was always a deputy around, but damn!!!! They were pure evil

 

[BDBoop]

I worked 11PM to 7Am for 2 years as a police dispatcher/ jailer at a county jail. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it. I was nearly always alone(except for the prisoners).

No horror stories, sorry. It was mostly boredom.

For what I do, it's a blessing. I take insurance claims by phone. A lot of the 'pain in the ass' claims are only open during normal business hours. I can't even verbalize how relieved I was to know that I was free of some truly hair-tear-inducing clients.

Now, I mostly get calls for short-term disability, leave-of-absence, and absence/call-ins.

Bliss.

When I was working graveyard before, I was the only one in the office. If I got in trouble ever, it was for hanging in the shop, chatting with the guys. The night foreman was pretty lenient, but every once in awhile he'd look at his watch and raise an eyebrow at me. I took the hint.

I once had two murderers in the jail while they were on trial in a nearby town. After I heard of the grizzly details of their deeds it was scary doing the hourly checks. They were there 4 days, and there was always a deputy around, but damn!!!! They were pure evil

Oh, I can't even imagine.

What did you move on to after you left there?

 

[BDBoop]

BD, you know I work graves. I love it. I've worked graves now since 1997. I have daylight to care for my livestock. I drive the opposite direction of rush hour traffic. Most of the "suits" stay home at night. And they always have openings on grave shift. I do have the advantage of living without human companionship...just the cats and one small dog. They all sleep on my schedule.
I love graves!

Yup, the traffic thing was a blessing the first time through. These days, traffic is the three feet from my bed. I never stop being grateful for this job.

 

[Wry Catcher]

I never worked graveyard but stood the Mid-Watch in the Navy many a time, it took me at least 24-hours to recover.

I managed a jail for seveal years and our policy was to put anyone caught sleeping on duty on paid leave, pending their dismissal. Sleeping on the job was an almost certain way to get fired.

 

[BDBoop]

I never worked graveyard but stood the Mid-Watch in the Navy many a time, it took me at least 24-hours to recover.

I managed a jail for seveal years and our policy was to put anyone caught sleeping on duty on paid leave, pending their dismissal. Sleeping on the job was an almost certain way to get fired.

Oh yeah! I liken that kind of thing to being a new parent. Thirty-plus years later, and I STILL remember literally waking up in mid-air because my daughter was crying and I was on my way to her before I was actually awake.

Weird days.

 

[Pop23]

For what I do, it's a blessing. I take insurance claims by phone. A lot of the 'pain in the ass' claims are only open during normal business hours. I can't even verbalize how relieved I was to know that I was free of some truly hair-tear-inducing clients.

Now, I mostly get calls for short-term disability, leave-of-absence, and absence/call-ins.

Bliss.

When I was working graveyard before, I was the only one in the office. If I got in trouble ever, it was for hanging in the shop, chatting with the guys. The night foreman was pretty lenient, but every once in awhile he'd look at his watch and raise an eyebrow at me. I took the hint.

I once had two murderers in the jail while they were on trial in a nearby town. After I heard of the grizzly details of their deeds it was scary doing the hourly checks. They were there 4 days, and there was always a deputy around, but damn!!!! They were pure evil

Oh, I can't even imagine.

What did you move on to after you left there?

It was only a stop gap job. Thought it would only be for a few months, but the economy went in the tank and I needed the job.

Ran into an old friend in Real Estate looking for a manager and took it. That was twenty eight years ago! Still at it.

 

[BDBoop]

I once had two murderers in the jail while they were on trial in a nearby town. After I heard of the grizzly details of their deeds it was scary doing the hourly checks. They were there 4 days, and there was always a deputy around, but damn!!!! They were pure evil

Oh, I can't even imagine.

What did you move on to after you left there?

It was only a stop gap job. Thought it would only be for a few months, but the economy went in the tank and I needed the job.

Ran into an old friend in Real Estate looking for a manager and took it. That was twenty eight years ago! Still at it.

I would assume such a job would be addictive (provided you're good at it).

 

[Pop23]

Oh, I can't even imagine.

What did you move on to after you left there?

It was only a stop gap job. Thought it would only be for a few months, but the economy went in the tank and I needed the job.

Ran into an old friend in Real Estate looking for a manager and took it. That was twenty eight years ago! Still at it.

I would assume such a job would be addictive (provided you're good at it).

I think I fill a niche plus I love the people I get to interact and work with. I feel really lucky in that.

 

[BDBoop]

It was only a stop gap job. Thought it would only be for a few months, but the economy went in the tank and I needed the job.

Ran into an old friend in Real Estate looking for a manager and took it. That was twenty eight years ago! Still at it.

I would assume such a job would be addictive (provided you're good at it).

I think I fill a niche plus I love the people I get to interact and work with. I feel really lucky in that.

Yup, it's a total blessing.

 

[Jughead]

Back in my youth I had a graveyard shift (12:00am-8:00am). Luckily I had an electronic chess game at the time, otherwise I would likely have quit after a few weeks. Time just drags on when you're not busy.

 

[BDBoop]

Back in my youth I had a graveyard shift (12:00am-8:00am). Luckily I had an electronic chess game at the time, otherwise I would likely have quit after a few weeks. Time just drags on when you're not busy.

It does. Fortunately for me, most of the time this forum is busy. For a bit, it's not - so then I read on my computer, or play my game.

 

[Jughead]

Back in my youth I had a graveyard shift (12:00am-8:00am). Luckily I had an electronic chess game at the time, otherwise I would likely have quit after a few weeks. Time just drags on when you're not busy.

It does. Fortunately for me, most of the time this forum is busy. For a bit, it's not - so then I read on my computer, or play my game.

Yep, gotta stay busy. Of course if we had the internet back in my early youth, I'd be all for the graveyard shift. That was the only job that I ever worked the graveyard shift.

 

[BDBoop]

Second shift sucks for having a personal life. This way, I work while they sleep, they work while I sleep, and second shift is for socializing.

Or weekends.

 

[Darkwind]

Anybody else have that experience? Got any horror stories to share?

I actually like graveyard, most of the time. Sometimes, like Thanksgiving, it comes back to bite me in the ass. I'll work 8:45 to 4:45 am, and hope to get enough sleep by noon for my daughter to pick me up for dinner. Then over to her in-laws for who knows how long, and work starts again at 8:30 Thursday night.

Other than that, I am no kind of morning person. I once worked graveyard for 7-8 years before the aerospace industry ate my job. My daughter and I were living with my folks at the time, and my mother could never seem to grasp the concept of "Me work nights? Me sleep days." So she'd call me at like 11 a.m., when I'd been asleep maybe 3-4 hours, and ask if I wanted to do lunch. Then have the nerve to act surprised when I either a) hung up on her, b) burst into tears, or c) reamed her a new one. "Oh, sure! I'll be right down. And then in I wanna say a month or so, I'll going to call you at midnight and see if YOU want to do lunch!"

I am a morning person, but right now, I work the 11pm to 7:30 am shift until the busy season ends. I'll then go back to the 3pm to 11:30pm shift. I don't mind that one much, as I'm still on a daytime pattern sleep-wise.

I detest graveyard because I never seem to get enough sleep and I never know what day it is.