to campaign for rights and respect for shift workers?

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

Seriously. I can no longer cope.

Bloody postman just knocked and asked if I was having 'a lazy day' because I was in my pyjamas. No, dickhead. This is my night time. I didn't ask if he was having 'a lazy day' because he didn't get my post to me until almost 3pm, did I? No, I assumed he had other shit going on.

I also get it from Tesco delivery men and random gits trying to sell me various wank.

It's fucking annoying. I'm not lazy. I've been up all night watching over your loved ones.

Then there's the numerous relatives who phone me (keep my phone on in case DS needs me) while I'm sleeping despite knowing I'll be asleep and beginning the conversation with 'sorry, Joff, I know you're sleeping...'

WTAF?

And don't get me started on sales people. You tell them you can't talk, you're in bed because you're working that night. They ask if they can call tomorrow. Er, how about 'no'?



Icing on the cake was my parents who turned up randomly, got me out of bed so I could make them tea despite having just come from a fucking coffee morning, then an hour or so later calling me even though I told them I was going back to bed and then calling me again this morning because when they phoned yesterday I sounded grumpy and unenthusiastic.

FFS! I don't phone or visit people at 3am, do I? Nope!

Why do some people just not understand that to work all night, we need to sleep during the day? My dad, for example, thinks that 2 hours sleep after a night shift is ample.

We need rights. The rights to sleep. The right to wear pyjamas during the day.

We need to go on a pride march. Providing we're not working, of course.

Anyone?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Cheap phone that only DS has the number for. Big sign on the door. Just say 'no' and hang up for salespeople at all times. Earplugs, fan, eye mask, blackout blinds.

I hated nights. I used to work three 12 hour overnights in a poorly run homeless shelter in a row on the weekends. And someone always kicked off at 5.30am on the third night. I managed not to burst into tears on them when they did but other workers have been known to.

[lampshady]

I've just finished my night job. It was gruelling and only did it for six months. I agree people don't understand and I didn't when I took it. I thought I'd be able to swim, do lunch, generally have a whole of a time during the day and work at night. Not quite the reality I was hoping for.

[FaithAscending]

I put my phone on call divert except for family (who I trust not to call unless they have to). I turn off the doorbell and landline. I have a note on the door that says 'Night worker sleeping, do not disturb!'. aka sod off

My colleague has worked nights for years yet her family still ask her to do childcare in the day between her nights! I think people assume we get loads of kip because it's 'quiet' on nights hardehaha because everyone is asleep.

[ayeokthen]

My ex FIL used to do this all the time when I was on nights (6 a week) and I would get so pissed off and he's act hurt, like he couldn't understand why I was irritated. He soon got the point when I repeatedly called him at 2-3am while I was at work for a week. Point made!!!! DP works mental shifts, sometimes 16 hours but mostly 12-14 starting at odd times and when he takes us to nursery people look at him like he's got two heads because "a man should be at work". Eh, he's usually just off a shift or on his way to a shift or has a day off?????

[LetsJunglyJumpToIt]

I really don't get what is hard to understand about it. Other people work all day and sleep all night. I work all night so sleep all day. That's it.

[singme]

Argh it's so annoying.

Best friend "oh you're on nights? So you're free during the day then??"

Handyman on being told that I needed to sleep in the afternoon as I was on a night shift "it's all right for some!"

Emailed letting agent about workman letting himself into my flat when I was asleep before a night shift. Explained was just going back to sleep. Obviously their immediate response was to ring me!! That was the day I had to pull over while driving home for a sleep in a car park as I didn't feel safe to drive

Now it's aeroplane mode, earplugs, eye mask. Don't know how people who have kids that need to get home of them do it.

[singme]

And sometimes workplaces are the worst! For example putting "day off" on the rota when you come off nights, when you've worked 8 hours of said day and will feel a zombie throughout. Or sending you home at midday to come back and work a night shift at 8pm.

[HelenaDove]

Ah yes I used to work nights and the HA would insist on not giving a specific time to do the gas safety check. it was either wait all morning or wait all afternoon. because it will be a morning or afternoon call. And then they wouldnt turn up at all and expect me to repeat the performance again and again and again.


Neighbours with wood chippers angle grinders and drills at 8am.

I bet if they had to go into hospital though they would prefer not to be treated by someoneon night duty who hadnt slept all day so more forward thinking is needed.

[parallax80]

And sometimes workplaces are the worst! For example putting "day off" on the rota when you come off nights, when you've worked 8 hours of said day and will feel a zombie throughout.

This drives me bonkers. We have just persuaded our rota tyrant to list those days as "off post nights", which is a minor improvement. My current rota has me doing one night a week. It's killing me, because you don't sleep properly in the day before, you might not sleep that night at all, then you don't want to sleep too much the following day because you have to be back in on a normal day at 7am the next day IYSWIM.

[10storeylovesong]

It's horrendous! I'm constantly getting texts from friends in the morning asking me if I want to meet for coffee as they know I'm on nights so I'm free. Luckily I come from a family of shift workers so don't get much mither from them!

[plominoagain]

So with you . The worst was when I'd finish at 6.30am , and then be due back on shift at 2.30 in the afternoon , when it would be taking me an hour to get home and an hour and a half to get back . And of course knowing that I had to sleep , meant that of course I wouldn't be able to . So I'd get to sleep at 8.30 , be back up by 12 , and then do another 8 hour shift , before doing another hours trip back home again , when I'd collapse in a heap . I knew a LOT of colleagues who had serious accidents doing that rota , and one who died . Fortunately it's now not allowed under the working time directive .

[parallax80]

There's some really interesting research abt shift working and how rotas can be constructed to not screw up your natural circadian rhythms. (All of which is ignored by the NHS, of course)

[parallax80]

m.occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/1/10.full

[YelloDraw]

Cheap phone that only DS has the number for. That is a good idea.

I don't know how people manage TBH, especially when you have to switch so 4 days then 4 nights or whatever. Horrendous.

[Redglitter]

I put my mobile on Do not disturb when I'm. I'm bed. It allows calls through from 4 people and that's all. I got a BT Call Guardian phone so no more sales calls. I also have a wee sign on the door advising where to leave parcels etc and warn that knocking and asking for a signature is at the persons own risk

Then it's blinds down. Black outhe curtains closed and sleep for the day

[Perfectlypurple]

You do get used to nights. I also have day off after a night shift but only at the end of a set of shifts. We work from 0700-0700 as a day not midnight to midnight. The worst night shift for me is the last one. I sometimes try to stay up until the evening on my first day off which is really hard but worth it if I can manage it and then go to bed early and get a good sleep.

[Out2pasture]

30 years shift worker here
Agree a sign on the door "night shift worker"
Answering machine
Private cell phone/number for son
NO ONE will remember your rotation so tell everyone all the time when your next day off is.

[trufflehunterthebadger]

When people ask me or say how lucky i am to have the day off i usually give them the and say they are welcome to apply to take 999 calls from pissed up idiots at 4.30 am on a saturday. That usually shuts them up

[trufflehunterthebadger]

Purple, what do you do ? I also end my 6 day set with nights

[DisgraceToTheYChromosome]

In haulage we can start at any time. When I first worked nights it was 1800-0200, which was tolerable. Then it crept up, and up, and up. Last year I told the agency my start times were going to be 0600-1200, any a.m. finishes would automatically cancel the next shift, any communication whatsoever during rest would be reported to DVSA. My blood pressure has dropped 40 points systolic/20 diastolic, cholesterol is down, indigestion has stopped and I don't feel like shit anymore6.

[LikeDylanInTheMovies]

I often wondered this about night shift workers. Do you go straight to bed once you've finished a shift or do you stay up for a few hours? (As you would if you had a 9-5 job?) Or is it straight to bed and then have your downtime before you start the next night shift?

[GuiltyPleasure]

Going back 20 yrs I lived in a rented flat & was in the process of buying a house. Completely unaware that the flat had been re-marketed for rent, I was fast asleep in the early afternoon during a week of night shifts & was woken up by a lettings agent & prospective tenants walking into my bedroom, completely unannounced!

[Didactylos]

we should so have a demonstration
some sort of zombie shuffle at least. In dressing gowns

Any guesses why I'm up at this time - its because I'm post nightshifts and my body clock is a mess, and I have to turn it round to be ready to work in the day at the weekend
24 hr on call duty next week too
ho hum....

[Didactylos]

LikeDylan - everyone works out their own strategies to cope.
I build in a morning winddown of about an hour once I get in and eat way too many carbs - but know a few people who just go straight to bed, or who minimise their activity
Having done rotating shifts it for a long time Ive got a strategy that works for me and am reasonably used to coping with it (even this odd bed time tonight is part of it)
but its not surprising that I loved my maternity leaves and often feel better/get more rest and exercise, even with a small baby. Pregnant nightshifts are probably the worst

[hollinhurst84]

I treat it like a normal shift. Get in, eat, watch tv and relax or have a bath then head to bed and sleep. Get up, eat, shower, makeup etc and get ready for work. Basically just reverse my entire day