Author Topic: My last night shift (Read 344 times)

cpxxx · « **on:** July 19, 2005, 08:24:03 PM »

Tonight is my last night shift, if not ever, then definitely my last ever for Big Blue. For the last seven and half years. I worked a mix of twelve hour days and nights.
Well, no more. Next week I finish with Big Blue forever. My plant is closing and all our jobs go to Singapore and I'll walk out with a tidy five figure sum which hopefully I will translate into a nice uniform and a right hand seat for the local commuter airline. Although quite possibly, I'll end up in a different uniform and a seat at the local drive thru window.

All those night shifts that never seemed to end. But they did as will this one.

Night shifts are so unnatural. I never really got used to them. Around three in the morning you begins to lose the plot. I often remember sitting in the cafeteria at the three am break with several others having conversations which make no sense whatsoever.

They say your soul leaves your body around three am only to return around dawn. I'm not sure where it goes (probably home to bed) but it sure like something is missing at that hour of the morning.

But some funny things do happen on the night shift.

So all you night shifters out there. What mad things have happened to you around three in the morning?

Lizking · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2005, 08:32:26 PM »

All of the things that happened to me at 3:00AM were drug or alcohol induced, and the statue of limitations may not be up on all of them, so let's just say that it generally gets ugly around 3:00AM.

Dago · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2005, 08:36:46 PM »

I am sorry to hear about your job ending, but hopefully when a door closes, a window opens, and you will move on to something you enjoy and find rewarding.

Good luck,

dago

Sikboy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2005, 09:33:22 PM »

I spent 3 years working a pretty sweet 12 hour shift schedule in the Navy. 3 days on, 3 days off alternating Day shifts (6am-6PM) and mid shifts (6PM-6AM).

I liked the Mids a hell of a lot more than the days. But then I was 20 and the mids kept me in my drinking timeframe.

-Sik

Gunthr · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2005, 11:01:33 PM »

I worked 12 hour shifts, 2000 - 0800 hrs, for a decade. (2 on, 2off, 3 on, 2 off, 2on, 3 off- for 84 hrs total every two weeks) I never did adjust to it because I couldn't sleep in the daytime very well. Never knew what day it was, sometimes woke up in a panic on my day off, rushing to work in a panic when I wasn't sposed to be there.

One morning I was driving home from work at about 0830 hrs. I was driving east, into the sun. I stopped at some railroad tracks, firsrt in line, to wait for a freight train to pass. I woke up to somebody tapping on my window to wake me up and car horns honking. My car was running and in drive gear. I was really glad my foot stayed on the brake while I was dozing

g'luck with that flying job, cpxxx ...

cpxxx · « **Reply #5 on:** July 20, 2005, 12:12:20 AM »

Similar thing happened to a friend of mine only he was moving at the time. The sound of his car hitting the roadside markers woke him up just in time. Not so lucky was a relative of my wife. Finished a 12 hour night, then tried to drive 130 miles. Nearly made it too. Two hours into the drive, they think she fell asleep. Then there was a truck..........

Thank for the good wishes, Dago and Gunthr.

Mustaine · « **Reply #6 on:** July 20, 2005, 12:54:55 AM »

did a 6 month stretch for B&E ... oh wait that wasn't jail, just some horrible death of a job in a powered metal fab plant 6PM to 6AM 3 days on 3 days off;...

1 weekend you work thurs, fri, sat.... next weekend work fri, sat, sun.... next weekend work sat, sun, mon.... so on.

nevar. again.

FiLtH · « **Reply #7 on:** July 20, 2005, 01:33:20 AM »

I never worked a night shift..but Ive worked till dawn many times on commercial work as a plumber. Usually grocery stores and the like. Dunkin Donuts starts to stink at that time of night. The garlic crap and even the coffee. That time of night I either wanna be sleeping...or atleast in bed.

Nilsen · « **Reply #8 on:** July 20, 2005, 02:20:24 AM »

Best summerjob i ever had was a nightjob.

Everyone that has a boat in the local marina has to do one night of "guard" duty every season. However as you may guess, plenty of people try to get out of that and thats were I came in. For a nice sum I took those nights for them. No taxes or anything ofcourse cause im not really there.

Quiet summer nights just sitting in the clubhouse looking out at the ocean and doing the odd round was great. Its still a popular "job".

Cpxxx.. take the money, buy a tiny little island with a beach somewere and put up a lemonade stand and a sign. Add a few bungalows with webcams and sell the action on the http://www.

rpm · « **Reply #9 on:** July 20, 2005, 03:46:17 AM »

I used to drive cross country. The night was my favorite time. Less traffic, mostly trucks. You could get some great stuff DXing on the 10meter. You could really make some time after the sun went down. The hours right before and just after dawn were the hardest part.

bcee · « **Reply #10 on:** July 20, 2005, 11:54:18 AM »

Ahh the nite shift syndrome...seems it doesn`t matter how much or how good you rest, come 3 am and all systems seem to start shutting down...First started over 30 years ago working the swing shifts, migrating every 8 or 9 days to a different shift around the clock...eve..days..nites..in that order..7 days in a row before turning....
I was one the few that followed in their fathers footsteps in what was considered making a living even tho i swore when i was younger i was in store for great things...well i learned his trade of being a stationary engineer and even ended up working with him at the same steam plant for years and of course i would end up with a lot of the watermelon jobs but learned alot from him also...
Well, one of those nite shifts a few years back, i was rebuilding a split case chilled water pump, just cruising in automatic ,this part goes here, this part has a tolerance of so an so and on an on in my mind. Something distracted my attention to what i was doing ,I glanced up to see my Ol man had just passed by and was rounding a corner heading for the main control panel in the building making his rounds!
Well the funny thing was, my father had died ten years ago...guess he was just checking up on me and i passed inspection...

Westy · « **Reply #11 on:** July 20, 2005, 12:16:40 PM »

It's been ten years since I worked off shift but the only crazy thing that happened was when we overheard two bisexual woman having some serious phone sex with each other while we were monitoring a network path that had had troubles reported on it.
That and one guy came in drunk and went ballistic thowing chairs and stuff. Which wasn't as crazy as two woman with Penthouse qualities (had to have that mental image as anything less would be butch-ugly) making love long distance.
Gave new meaning to the "Reach Out and Touch Someone" ad.