Rotating shift work. No problem. Big problem. - Page 3

General » General Discussion

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rotating shift work. No problem. Big problem. (Page 3 of 3)

Posted: 5/7/2022 6:44:08 PM EST

[#1]

Quote History

Quoted:
How long have you been doing swing?

My work runs the DuPont, it took about a year to not feel like shit all the time, but now after 4-5 hours of sleep I'm good to go. the short turn around week (week 2) sucks... but it's do-able. When you start getting slammed with OT on your 7 day break is when it really gets shitty though because they'll have you working nights and days in the same week with no pattern. I have come to loathe that 7 day break, if we were properly staffed it wouldn't be as bad and I'd get half the month off.

https://newsroom.domtar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DuPont1-1024x541.jpg

View Quote

Whoever comes up with these bullshit schedules needs kicked in the fucking dick! Doing that crap is not healthy. Stick to a standard First, Second, Mid, and 3rd shift scheduling platform and be done with it.

Posted: 5/7/2022 6:55:19 PM EST

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:

I only worked them for 5 years and missed them for the next 25 years after being moved to a daylight job.

No issues sleeping. Lots of time during good days of the week to get in a few hours of fishing in the morning, get the cars inspected on week days, go shopping while the kids were at school, take the wife out to eat lunch while the kids were in school, time to mow the grass on the weekends while everyone else was trying to fish the crowded lakes on the weekends, going shooting at the range in the middle of the week when it wasn't crowded, lots of time to do lots of things for a few hours a day two or three days a week.

View Quote

Yeah I really like being able to do whatever during the week and not have to plan it out. I don't have to take time off for doctor's appointments, I get my car serviced and don't have to wait at all. When they stopped doing 24hr store openings it fucked up my routine a bit. I used to go grocery shopping at 6am after getting out and no one else was in the store.

My main joy of the schedule though is spending time with my boy in the summer, if I worked M-F I'd only get him every other weekend and a couple days a week at like 5pm when I got off work. We go fishing, or ride bikes while everyone else is working. When he has school I'm able to get all my house chores done, Christmas shopping during the middle of the week when it's less busy, any random projects I'm in the middle of get done much quicker without me sacrificing time with him or my wife, in the summer it's a bit harder but then I have him to help me with chores and projects. Dude's I work with love it during hunting season too.

Posted: 5/7/2022 7:10:41 PM EST

[#3]

When I was younger, I worked for a DoD company that was on a very tight schedule for a single project. Management decided we need to go to 24/7(which was the right decision), but they didn't want to commit a single group to the night shift. They split us all into three groups and rotated us every two weeks. First to Second to Third to First...etc

When I was on Third, I'd get off work around 8am, so it was rush hour traffic in the Twin Cities. I was so tired I couldn't keep an eye on all of the traffic. I would get on the Interstate and just focus on the rear license plate in front of me. I could see, peripherally, as my exit came up, so I'd move onto that and then grab a hold of the first car in front of me. I'd do that until I got home. And then I'd have to try to sleep during the day. Not a fun 4 months or so.

Posted: 5/7/2022 7:15:42 PM EST

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
Ambien is some fucked up shit, lot's of people have had some horrible side affect from it.

Numerous reports have described people fixing meals, having sex, and even getting into their cars and driving away in the middle of the night, with no later recollection. A few "Ambien zombies" have wrecked their cars and even killed people in accidents.

View Quote

Ambien walrus.

Posted: 5/7/2022 8:29:18 PM EST

[#5]

I worked a swing shift when I was in my 20’s. Back then, NyQuil and blacked out windows helped me sleep during the day.

It sucked when I could get by on 4 hours sleep. Now it would kill me.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:13:05 AM EST

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
I worked a swing shift when I was in my 20’s. Back then, NyQuil and blacked out windows helped me sleep during the day.

It sucked when I could get by on 4 hours sleep. Now it would kill me.

View Quote

I worked nights for 9 months in Korea, 4 deployments, and 2 and a half years as an Instructor, and I had to threaten a trip to IG to rotate to days on that last one. I hate working nights.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:17:46 AM EST

[#7]

The petrochem plants do that BS here as well. Dupont schedule or some nonsense. Made no sense to me. I bet some psychologist got paid a ton of money to develop that stupidity. I bet it can lead to plenty of on the job mishaps.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:30:31 AM EST

[#8]

Quoted:
Work rotating shifts according to the schedule or find another job.

View Quote

I've done rotating shift work for 26 years and I'm here to tell you its not worth it once you're past your mid 30s.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:43:08 AM EST

[#9]

Did weekly shift rotations on a regressing schedule, every week, you get up earlier than you did the week before.

That shit sucked, and I'm happy as fuck to be away from that place.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:45:15 AM EST

[#10]

i liked 6 weeks of days and 2 weeks of nights.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:47:40 AM EST

[#11]

Isn't this technically an ADA issue, if you went full legal on them?

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:48:03 AM EST

[#12]

hospitals here can't find people to hire. move to another hospital.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:49:51 AM EST

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
hospitals here can't find people to hire. move to another hospital.

View Quote

This. Better to stay on the graveyard than have a rotating shift. It only gets harder as you get older too.

Posted: 5/8/2022 8:55:04 AM EST

[#14]

I would quit over weekly rotating shifts.

I almost quit when the plant went from 3 8 hour shifts 5 days a week to 2 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. 2 on 2 off 3 on 2 off 2 on 3 off using 4 crews.

Staffing is still an issue when people go on vacation etc. However they did have the sense to put people on a shift and leave them there.

Fortunately I was able to find another place in the company on a normal 8 hour schedule.

Posted: 5/8/2022 9:20:37 AM EST

[#15]

I worked in a cold storage warehouse (30-40 people), and was one of two supervisors. Start time was 3am or 3pm, on weekly rotating shifts, and parts of the year it was 12 hour shifts. I hate going to bed early, and getting up early, and I overheard some of my guys saying the same thing. I called them all together for a quick meeting, and all of us agreed that straight second shift would be better.

I went to the other supervisor and told him our plan, then he asked his guys about going first shift. His guys all agreed to that, so the two of us went to the owners and I told them the agreement and how it came about, and they said that they don't care as long as the shifts flow smoothly, and they don't hear any bitching.

We never had to switch shifts again, and I loved that shift.

Posted: 5/8/2022 9:34:52 AM EST

[#16]

Ambien or not, that schedule is going to have a negative effect on your long term health, OP. I would find another job.

Posted: 5/8/2022 9:40:45 AM EST

[#17]

What is the benefit of that schedule? Sounds terrible and I work nights.

Posted: 5/8/2022 10:32:48 AM EST

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
Guess I was lucky. Worked all kinds of shifts for 25 years. 8,10,12 hours. Rotating, fixed. Never had a problem with sleep.

View Quote

It started hitting me after age 40.

Before that it was a minor annoyance.

The worst was a sleep study where they wire the snot out of you. You have to lie on your back the whole time and I don’t sleep without rolling around. By the time I got to sleep they woke me up to put a capp on me. By the time I got to sleep they woke me up to leave.

I went home and called in sick to work so i can sleep. I slept a good five ours when I got home.

Posted: 5/8/2022 10:37:43 AM EST

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

EDIT: yeah, our management’s “carrot” back then was “BBBUUTTT,, BBBUTT, you get a one week vacation each and every month!"

View Quote

yeah...fuck those guys who think your "week off every month" is actually a perk.

They'd be pissed if you kept working in a week and started drawing OT.

and...if it's so much of a "carrot" then they should drag their ass over there and work shift for a 6 month stretch and see how they like it.

dickheads.

Posted: 5/8/2022 10:45:44 AM EST

[#20]

I’d find another job. Long term lack of sleep can do all kinds of bad things, shorten your life, raise blood pressure, depression, irritability, weakened immune system.