Graveyard Shift

[40oz]

I recently received an opportunity for higher income by working overnight. 11PM to 7AM. It was great at first because I was kind of a night owl to begin with, this week has been a bit of a killer though as my sleep pattern kept getting disrupted. I'm getting back in the swing of things now though.

My concern though, is that when I was working in the evening, I usually had enough energy to stay fast and productive for the entire day. I think it had to do with how demanding my job was, customers constantly forming lines, things needing to be cleaned up and maintained, co-workers needing to be directed, etc. Now that I'm working night shifts, the place is usually pretty barren, and I only work with one other coworker who already knows what she needs to do. Usually I'll come in to work and be quick to get the place all cleaned up and ready, but usually around 1AM or 2AM, when it starts to get real quiet. I start to get kinda lazy and take a half hour to do tasks that normally would take me like ten minutes. There's little time for my coworkers to extensively clean things during the day, so it's usually expected for me to do it, but I rarely make time for it because I end up taking really long to do things.

Can i get some tips on staying productive on the job? I don't use caffeine or anything, but I'm open to healthy food choices, or rearranging my eating schedule. I just need some tips to make me feel more pressed for time, during the periods of the day where it's easy to stop taking things too seriously.

[Mr. T]

Get a new job?

[chungy]

Sounds to me that your main issue is that you feel you're not active enough and you get bored and lazy in the middle of the shift. Perhaps a different schedule (is the 3pm to 11pm shift available, for example?) is all you need -- or you just need another job entirely that you can give your full effort towards.

This is just a fact of life. Nobody is cut out for every job there is or the variations of such jobs. If you can't push yourself to do it properly, you need to face it and figure out how to change it.

[Technician]

I used to take the night hours without additional pay, and was quite happy to do so. I didn't mind doing all the manual labor, as it kept me from actual customers.

You'll eventually work out a scheduled where you'll accomplish all your tasks during certain hours. What's great about the lack of dealing with customers, or people in general, is you'll soon make your chores a routine without even putting much thought into it.

But really, if you get all your tasks are done, go ahead and slack off. The job is done.

Mr. T said:

Get a new job?

I woudn't these days.

Serious note: How's employment in Japan?

[40oz]

chungy said:

Sounds to me that your main issue is that you feel you're not active enough and you get bored and lazy in the middle of the shift. Perhaps a different schedule (is the 3pm to 11pm shift available, for example?) is all you need -- or you just need another job entirely that you can give your full effort towards.

I used to work 3-11 shifts. They were great for me as a worker, but sucked for everything else. It was like my life revolved around my work. I couldn't do anything after 11PM because everything (except for bars) closes around 9PM or 10PM. I'd usually just go straight home and just kill time with checking email, facebook, doomworld, and various other unimportant things until about 4 or 5 in the morning. I can't really be running around the house doing laundry or other errands while everyone in my house is sleeping. Then I'd just go to bed and sleep in until about time to take a shower and get ready for work again.

Now that I'm working night shifts, I can spend more time with the family and the fiance, as well as do other stuff like go to the mall, watch a movie, eat at a restaurant, etc. All while getting paid more. I don't really have much of a problem with working night shifts except that I'm experiencing a change in work ethic I think. Before I rarely had any seconds of down time for the entire shift, but now I'm quick to get distracted and lose my motivation after a few hours, which makes me take longer to do things.

I think how busy and hectic my job was when I was working 3-11 was the contributing factor in my productivity, because I never had enough time to do my assigned tasks given the situation I was in. Now the roles are kinda reversed. I don't have even a fraction of as many customers I used to have to deal with. I think with that in mind, I stop being alert and my productivity goes down. I'm just wondering if there are any artificial ways to make me feel more pressed for time.

I used to make a to-do list at work, which usually helped me stay on task, but the effect is starting to wear off after a while since I've started to memorize the order in which I need to do things. And it wouldn't help me work faster. I guess I could try making new ones with more tasks stuffed in it, then I could have really unrealistic expectations of myself so that I need to work extra hard to get them all done.

[Phobus]

Personally I'd just enjoy the minimal-effort income. Then again, I am a very lazy person by nature. I get everything done that I say I'll do in a reasonable time-frame, but I certainly won't bust my balls to do it.

[Mr. T]

Technician said:

Serious note: How's employment in Japan?

Nowhere near as bad as other countries, but still facing a lot of the same problems e.g. college graduates not able to find a job. The economy seems to be (slowly) improving tho.

[Aliotroph?]

Being the guy who tells people when the train is coming doesn't have a lot of appeal for most college grads I suppose. It's weird how many jobs like that Japan seems to have.

[printz]

Aliotroph? said:

Being the guy who tells people when the train is coming doesn't have a lot of appeal for most college grads I suppose. It's weird how many jobs like that Japan seems to have.

Isn't that the job of a machine that puts female voice recordings at the speakers?

[PRIMEVAL]

Phobus said:

Personally I'd just enjoy the minimal-effort income. Then again, I am a very lazy person by nature. I get everything done that I say I'll do in a reasonable time-frame, but I certainly won't bust my balls to do it.

Seconded. While my job has no graveyard shift, if it's a very slow day, we don't really rush to get things done. Then one of those random busy days come in... x.x

[Dragonsbrethren]

Phobus said:

Personally I'd just enjoy the minimal-effort income. Then again, I am a very lazy person by nature. I get everything done that I say I'll do in a reasonable time-frame, but I certainly won't bust my balls to do it.

True to a certain extent, but days when you're literally standing there doing nothing for most of your shift suck just as bad as busy days.

[Phobus]

I know that first-hand. I do try to console myself with the knowledge that I'm being paid to do fuck-all in those situations, but I'll concede it's rarely much of a solace.

[Belial]

Phobus said:

Personally I'd just enjoy the minimal-effort income. Then again, I am a very lazy person by nature. I get everything done that I say I'll do in a reasonable time-frame, but I certainly won't bust my balls to do it.

Same here. I never have second thoughts about reading a book or browsing online news sites at work when things are going slow.

@40oz

"You are not your job."

Stop caring so much and let it go.