To be pissed with messages after nightshift

[Alwaysoutofreach]

I have just finished night 4 of 6 nightshifts,
I am an absolute mess, im getting max 3hrs sleep a day, im SE London, its been absolutely scorching since Thursday last week 30s+, hard enough to sleep in at night, let alone during the day, with the added noise of daily life and people enjoying the weather.

This morning, I had been asleep for maybe an hour, 4hrs after my shift had finished (and I stayed late) and my phone starts going off.

Its my manager, informing me, and my team about a meeting on Thursday just after noon, wanting responses from everyone, so of course, new group, no notifications set up, everyone replying, I'm awake, my phone rarely goes off, my family know when im at work, and I woke in a panic that something had happened and now, im sat here, my rooms absolutely baking, 2 ceiling fans going, windows open wide, curtains open for the light breeze, door open, sleep is not happening, I could fry an egg in here!!

Im furious, the more I sit here not sleeping, the more annoyed I get.

Not only because my manager has woken me up (gr?) but also that I now have to try and be present for a meeting after day 6 of nightshift 7hrs after my shift finishes.

I want to message her back (privately away from the group) to make a point of this, it isn't the first time, and frankly, I've had enough, im sleep deprived, hot and bothered, and feeling stupidly fragile, but all my messages are sounding PA or rude.

Any magic sleeping in heatwave recipes? 😭

Poor you. It sounds awful. You're working really hard and then not getting enough sleep. I think your boss is unreasonable.

My phone goes in dnd 10pm to 7am automatically. Mum, DH, DSx2 and MIL are the only exceptions. Android phone.

I keep my phone out of the bedroom, for this reason.

I think you would be reasonable to decline the meeting. And your manager unreasonable to expect you to attend.

@Alwaysoutofreach

I have just finished night 4 of 6 nightshifts, I am an absolute mess, im getting max 3hrs sleep a day, im SE London, its been absolutely scorching since Thursday last week 30s+, hard enough to sleep in at night, let alone during the day, with the added noise of daily life and people enjoying the weather.

This morning, I had been asleep for maybe an hour, 4hrs after my shift had finished (and I stayed late) and my phone starts going off.

Its my manager, informing me, and my team about a meeting on Thursday just after noon, wanting responses from everyone, so of course, new group, no notifications set up, everyone replying, I'm awake, my phone rarely goes off, my family know when im at work, and I woke in a panic that something had happened and now, im sat here, my rooms absolutely baking, 2 ceiling fans going, windows open wide, curtains open for the light breeze, door open, sleep is not happening, I could fry an egg in here!!

Im furious, the more I sit here not sleeping, the more annoyed I get.

Not only because my manager has woken me up (gr?) but also that I now have to try and be present for a meeting after day 6 of nightshift 7hrs after my shift finishes.

I want to message her back (privately away from the group) to make a point of this, it isn't the first time, and frankly, I've had enough, im sleep deprived, hot and bothered, and feeling stupidly fragile, but all my messages are sounding PA or rude.

Any magic sleeping in heatwave recipes? 😭

You need to turn off your phone when asleep. No one really has any idea if you are awake, asleep or swimming the channel. Messages are just that - to be read when you are awake.

YABU because presumably there is never a time when this wouldn’t happen to someone on the night shift. But waking them and making them attend the meeting. It is your responsibility to switch your phone off or leave it downstairs/away from your bedroom.

Fellow night shift worker here. I have my phone next to me in case the school calls. I have an app called Nightkeeper. You just set (different) times to not be disturbed. I have it set that if the school calls, the phone will ring (you select.who can call you). I also have it so that if anyone rings 3 times, it will also ring audibly. That way I know it's an emergency call. I have everything else, messages, notifications etc set to silent. The only thing that overrides it is my alarm.

For sleeping in weather like this, I just wish you the best of British! Keep windows and curtains drawn at all times and a fan. If you wake up, you are doomed! It's impossible to get back to sleep as soon as you realise how warm it it. Hope you sleep better tomorrow (and as for the meeting, tell your manager to sod off!)

So I managed to get about 2hrs sleep before I left for work, it involved barely any clothes, damp flannels, fans, almost getting hypothermia with the hose and white noise rain and thunder playing really loud.

With a cool flannel covering my eyes, I think I passed out pretty quickly and woke feeling a lot better than I was.

Now im flaking, another 4hrs to go ugh

I have kids so I can’t turn the phone to silent, I do turn the txt alert off. I sleep while kids are at school and it’s just me so need to be contactable. One of our managers used to call anytime regardless of night shifts. She soon learned that doesn’t go down well. All our other managers and roster admin are much more thoughtful.

I feel your pain. Not quite the same but one of my dc has a medical condition and until surgery miraculously fix them, I spent most nights awake making sure they were ok. I slept during the day when they were at school, but had to keep my phone on for (frequent) emergencies. I would be furious If I got unnecessary random texts or calls that woke me.

But, what I want to know from those who switch their phones off, what kind of alarm do you use? I use my phone as I can’t stand having anything that ticks or projects light like a digital clock. Is there something I’m missing?

Oh I feel for you, I work nights and live in a hot country and summer is awful, it’s so so hard to sleep.

Interesting to hear of people leaving their phones downstairs - I suppose that explains why sometimes I have to call and call and call and still can’t get through to tell someone that their loved one is in ICU or has deteriorated. It’s always surprising to those of us in healthcare who daily see evidence that the worst can happen whilst you’re asleep.

When I work night shift I set my phone to no Notifications at all and turn the Sound and vibrate off too just in case. You need to create a good sleeping environment, but a portable air con unit or something, use ear plugs, put up blackout curtains.

DH is a bit useless when it comes to passing on messages, someone could have a serious issue, and when I ask him why he didn't tell me, he will say, I thought you were sleeping. Can't win with him

My mum's motto is always 'Let them sleep, bad news can wait until morning'. In your case it would be 'until she wakes up.

Do you have to sort out other people's emergencies for them? Can your wide awake DH not help people?

I dont have issues with people calling me though, my last incoming calls were 04/08 a delivery driver for my new bed, I was awake and 30/07 DH, very few calls, all family/friend chat is through WhatsApp, my phone isn't usually an issue.

My sleeping environment works for me, I have blackout blinds, aircon unit is 'offline' right now, ive been looking at ordering a new one, unless someone makes a WhatsApp group and adds me to it.

My youngest DC has a medical condition too, surgery as a toddler, maybe that's why I'm conditioned to have phone on, I couls never completely switch it off.

Either way, it sucks to be woken up, day or night, if I called someone in the middle of the night, id be cursed, but someone can call me in the middle of my night and its ok, because its daytime.. Mysteries of a night worker

You are being unreasonable because you’re adamant you don’t want to be woken by your phone disturbing you, but also adamant your phone cannot be switched to DND.

As pp have pointed out, it’s perfectly possibly to change your settings to allow calls from certain people through if you are worried about people not being able to contact you.

Not adamant about anything!?

Pissed off at the time, that I was woken by a work related message in my down time, ive already explained that my phone is virtually on DND, I just dont use actually use DND, but notifications settings, which can be personalised, just like DND and VIP apparently.

But im not repeating myself over and over, im about to have another day of shitty sleep in hell like temps, yay

@Gazelda message is perfect

Do you have a landline OP? If so, surely in an emergency you could be called on that and your phone goes on silent when you're asleep? If you don't want to mess with your settings just put your phone on a soft surface, like a pillow, away from you and the vibration will be less of an issue.

When you go to bed if you go into settings, then WhatsApp then notifications you can turn them off. That’s the process for iPhone, I assume there is similar process for Android

Hope you manage to get some decent sleep today. From this thread you seem like me, a right grumpy bugger without sleep

Sweet dreams op

I completely understand how you feel about not wanting to completely turn your phone off whilst you're sleeping.

Could you perhaps get a cheap phone to separate work and personal?? That way you can mute work phone but still be available on personal if need be.

It sounds like such a faff I know but decent sleep is crucial and something needs to be done.

I hope you get better sleep after your shift.

Use one of the above suggestions to silence WhatsApp while sleeping and also use the ‘silence for a year’ function for the work group. That way you just check it when you want to.
I also dislike my personal number being added to work groups, and have been woken by work group spam when sleeping off a night shift, but I know it would go down like a lead balloon if I protested.

@AllTheUserNamesAreTaken you would be absolutely correct, I am an absolute miserable cow with sleep haha

go sit in a bath of cold water - I had to do that last night to cool off found it really helped me get off to slep although I warmed up later and woke early still

@makingmammaries same, I told them before did not want to be part of any work whatsapp groups, and removed myself from the last one.
This one is only needed until November, then I will remove myself from it again.

To the PP who asked about a landline, I have one, but I dont have a phone, that blooming thing rang all the time for PPI etc.

Its goodnight from me.

Can everyone do thunder, lightning and rain dances at some point, thanks 😊

1 more night to goooo!!

Fellow night shift worker. Always set your phone to DND before going to sleep. Inform those who might NEED to contact you that ringing 3* in 1 minute will get through, otherwise you don't even get a vibrate alert.

As for the meeting? Fuck that. You're entitled to 12 hours rest.

For goodness sake turn your phone off completely and stop wasting precious sleeping time posting on here.