Asked to work overnights. But the thought makes me ill.

Kaleidoscope27

Googlewhacker wrote: »

is this a one off or likely to be regular? If it is just a one of then I would do it and get on with it but if it is regular and you are not comfortable then mention it in a nice way to the manager and see what happens

If I continue to be unhappy about it and don't say anything, more overnight's will crop up as we push into Christmas.

I'm going to speak to my manager about it tomorrow. Explain I'm unhappy with it and if he'd asked me first, I would've said "no." (I would put this more politely.) If he can't fix the fact I'm rota'd in 'cause it's so close, then I guess I'm sucking it up and just getting on with it. But if he knows, then at least I won't get them in future. I'll happily do any hours he likes during the day, that's never been a problem. Just nighttime isn't something I'm happy about.

paulwf wrote: »

My advice is to not rely on bags of sweets and red bull to get you through the shift otherwise you'll have a crash at around 2am. Have your dinner before the shift then have light savoury snacks and water during the shift and save the coffee and sugar until the end of the shift when you really need a boost. I'm sure you'll be fine getting through the shift, just make sure you have an easy couple of days afterwards.

Thank you. That's really useful. I'm a sugar fiend usually so I hadn't though about savoury stuff to stop me from crashing.

molerat

Working in retail with no PITA customers around, died and woke up in heaven :A

Madjock

When I worked constant nights I couldn't really avoid the pita ustomers unfortunately, i worked as an operator. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the job though. Weekends were manic till about 3am with 999 calls, when things would quieten down. It was probably a very peculiar night job to do, we would have 30 minute breaks at a time (3 for a 10 hr shift iirc) when you would get your head down in the break room for half an hr. The 9's calls were quite stressful at times, but I worked with a good bunch of people and it was a very easy going place during the night, and you heard some very funny and very awful stuff on some calls. And then there were the Americans as well to keep you entertained...

thorsoak

Do you have commitments? Do you have bills? Do you want to save for something?

Then it's a case of "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go..."

Fulfil this roster - then if you really feel that you cannot do it again, let your manager know in good time so that someone else can get the benefit.

iclayt

Ooh I used to love evening and late shifts, so quiet, and then a quiet day in bed! No customers!

But everyone is different. Give these a go and if they really aren't working have another chat with your manager and ask if he can at least give you 'fair warning' next time (whatever the two of you decide fair warning is).

Of course if it's in your contract that the job includes them...you may have to learn to adapt.

santacruz_2

Do you get paid more for working nights? If so I'd totally do it...there's no customers to deal with!

dark_lady

I used to work nights in a sex chatline office. It was a right laugh. By the way you are lucky to be getting extra pay for it. We didnt. I used to do
Mondays 5pm to 3am
Tusedays 6pm to 3am
Wednesday night off
Thursday 11pm to 3am
Friday 11pm to 3am
Saturday DAY SHIFT 10am to 6pm (nip home for dinner) then
Saturday 11pm to 3am
Sunday 6pm to 3am
I did this for two and a half years but i did drop the Friday night shift after three months because it got too much.
Also we didnt get paid any extra. We got paid the same as the day shift. And before anyone thinks we were just sitting on our bums answering phones we wernt. We were running in and out of different rooms trying to cover ten phones when there was only two of us on each shift.
It is possible to eat healthily as well. I started going to Slimming World on my night off and managed to lose ten stones.
My only gripe about working nights was the complete lack of consideration from others eg councils, housing associations or the bloody housing associations workman ringing up or expecting to come round at 9am.:mad:
I wanted to put a sign on our front door saying "Night worker sleeping. Disturb at your own risk" but my husband said that was too threatening. You will find that there is absolutely no consideration in society for people that work nights!

Googlewhacker

dark_lady wrote: »

I used to work nights in a sex chatline office. It was a right laugh. By the way you are lucky to be getting extra pay for it. We didnt. I used to do
Mondays 5pm to 3am
Tusedays 6pm to 3am
Wednesday night off
Thursday 11pm to 3am
Friday 11pm to 3am
Saturday DAY SHIFT 10am to 6pm (nip home for dinner) then
Saturday 11pm to 3am
Sunday 6pm to 3am
I did this for two and a half years but i did drop the Friday night shift after three months because it got too much.
Also we didnt get paid any extra. We got paid the same as the day shift. And before anyone thinks we were just sitting on our bums answering phones we wernt. We were running in and out of different rooms trying to cover ten phones when there was only two of us on each shift.
It is possible to eat healthily as well. I started going to Slimming World on my night off and managed to lose ten stones.
My only gripe about working nights was the complete lack of consideration from others eg councils, housing associations or the bloody housing associations workman ringing up or expecting to come round at 9am.:mad:
I wanted to put a sign on our front door saying "Night worker sleeping. Disturb at your own risk" but my husband said that was too threatening. You will find that there is absolutely no consideration in society for people that work nights!

Hows that threatening?

bigjl

As Forest Gump said, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

Think about it from your colleages point of view, they have to do them, and unless you have made an agreement to not work them, such as a flexible working arrangement, then you will have to work them.

Some people like to work nights, some don't, we all need to eat.

One option is a mutually agreed shift swap, but unless there is a clause in your contract to get out of them then by refusing you may be inbreech of your employment contract.

I think from what you have posted you already know this, but it may be time to grow up a bit, not sure what age you are, but there comes a point in life where what you want to do and what you have to do are very different.

ceridwen

Crikey...I'm wondering if I'm the only one who fully understands how O.P. feels....

O.P. - if your manager should have asked you how you feel about it - then just remind him that he has not asked you and that your response to any request is "no - I don't agree".

Once you agree to a night or two or three - then it will look like you have agreed for ever and a day and you will find yourself on the rota for more.

If you didnt agree to night work when you took the job and don't agree to it now - then point those facts out and don't do it.

If your colleagues gripe about it then find a - more or less - tactful way to say "Did you agree to it at interview or to change to it subsequently? If you did then its your choice. If you didnt = you could have stood up for yourself like I am doing. Your choice."

Hope this works out okay for you.

Are you in the Union? If not - then USDAW - the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers - is the one you need to join.

This is their website:

www.usdaw.org.uk/

Stop telling yourself that you're a wuss/shouldnt feel that way/etc/etc - that sounds to me like you are repeating OTHER peoples opinion/likely opinion of you to yourself. You are a perfectly okay person - it simply doesnt matter WHAT opinion anyone else has of you - so what? Do NOT take on board OTHER peoples opinion/possible opinion of you for goodness sake. You are doing nothing wrong by feeling the way you do about night work.

I simply cannot believe how harsh people are being to you on this thread! Well I, for one, fully sympathise with you.