Nightshift workers.....

Londude

Londude

Carbonite Member
What job do you do, whats your start and finish time, and how do you stay awake?

I work security and really have to take some super strong energy drinks and pills (caffiene pills :) sometimes to keep awake.
 
DAW (ProTools) 5:30pm - 2:30am

I prefer to do post work at night, but depending on the excitement level of the program material, I may have to keep my coffee cup full or get up occasionally and walk a lap through the halls. Of course, keeping the coffee cup full also means that I have to get up occasionally to return what I've consumed, which also keeps me up and moving.

You have to be very careful with energy drinks. Those things are packed so full of harmful ingredients, and constant consumption will catch up with you faster than you think. The B vitamins are a perfect example: fine in moderation, necessary even, but too much of a good thing can be very bad. An overdose in B vitamins can cause permanent heart damage, and one of those energy drinks usually has much more than the daily dosage. I don't drink energy drinks at all.
 
Computer operator. 7:30pm-4:00am. Mindless monkey work.

Used to do security. It was really hard to stay awake. Try to move around as much as you can, rather than just sitting. If they let you have a computer and Internet (not likely), find other night workers to chat with online. The security guard where I work talks on the phone all night -- must know another night worker.
 
I used to work the overnight shift at a radio station from midnight until 8am (on weekends) and 5am (weekdays). Not only was I in school full time getting my Bachelor's Degree but I had another job. It was F*cking HELL.

On more than one occasion, I'd have to work on a film project for the ENTIRE weekend because that's when any of us could shoot. On those weekends, I would get up at 6am Friday morning, go to school, then work from 4-10pm, then drive 1 hour to the radio station, work from midnight-8amSaturday, drive to our set...lug heavy equipment around on ridiculously hot days, stand around all day doing "filmy" stuff, split by 3am, work from 4pm-10pm, drive to the radio station and work from midnight until 8amSunday, go to the set, stand around all day and do "filmy" stuff while trying not to DIE. Split at 3pm, work from 4p-10pm go to the radio station and work from midnight until 5amMonday when the weekday morning show hosts would roll in then drive an hour to get home while trying NOT to die...then sleep ALL day Monday and blow off any class that I had. It was such an absolute HELL that I still shudder to think about it.

I would literally have hallucinations on the way home some Monday mornings while driving in LA's early morning rush hour. You wanna get scared? How about being so tired that you are awoken to a horn honk from the car behind you because you dozed off during stop-and-go traffic on the 101 freeway. That'll clench your butt cheeks. You don't know whats going on! You grab the steering wheel the clutch the steering wheel, roll down the window...all in about one and a half seconds because you have no idea where the hell you are and have just woken up behind the steering wheel of a car that is in a sea of moving traffic. During this period of my life, I think I had to "change my shorts" on more than one occasion.

I stayed awake on coffee, straight adrenalin, and complete stupidity for even trying to keep that ridiculous schedule. I stayed awake because I had to. And I paid the price in severe exhaustion until Thursdays. I graduated with a very good 3.8something G.P.A. but feel like I learned nothing. I was too busy trying to survive. But, when the luster of being "on-air" began to wear off, the overnight shift began to take its toll and I would begin to steal catnaps throughout my night. It was a news station so I was responsible for doing "newsy" stuff every hour and every half hour including making calls, listening to the scanner, covering the AP wire, and going on air twice every hour, etc. But my need for sleep began to win over my need for the job.

One time in particular, I was so uncompromisingly sleepy that I kept dozing off a minute or so before my newscast. I had all the news copy in front of me, the mic was lowered to my mouth and I kept jerking my head up to stay awake. I even did that over-exaggerated EYE opening thing to keep my eyes open....like that ever works. That's about as effective as blairing the radio or rolling down the window of the car on a winter's night. 'Cause now your sleepy, deaf and freezing your ass off. Anyway, I am watching the clock on the screen (everything is timed. At EXACTLY 2:05am the station i.d. concludes and there is nothing but silence so the news-anchor (me) could, in theory, read the news.) Well, at this particular news-break, I was so tired that the last thing I recall seeing was :23seconds left until silence and I'm on-air. I woke up 20 minutes later. I sat there at the mic slumped over and sleeping with my head dangling there like an over-sized testicle. So, if anyone had the radio on at that moment and was tuned in, they would have heard dead air. Or me snoring. Who the hell knows which? After that happened a couple more times, and receiving some calls from pissed off listeners (talk about needing to get a life...oh like the local news was that interesting anyway. How many stories about strawberry festivals or fireman's fund raisers to you need to hear anyway, pal?)I realized it was time to go.

Otherwise, that gig was going to kill me or I was going to kill somebody else for that matter...
 
Last edited:
Rick Meyer said:
You wanna get scared? How about being so tired that you are awoken to a horn honk from the car behind you because you dozed off during stop-and-go traffic on the 101 freeway. That'll clench your butt cheeks. You don't know whats going on! You grab the steering wheel the clutch the steering wheel, roll down the window...all in about one and a half seconds because you have no idea where the hell you are and have just woken up behind the steering wheel of a car that is in a sea of moving traffic.
Click to expand...

Reminded me of this:

http://5secondfilms.com/watch/and_the_winner_is/
 
I worked night security in the dorms for 4 years in college. 10:30 p.m. - 6 a.m. It was pretty entertaining until about 4 a.m. (when all the college drunks had passed out).

I listened to a lot of music and did a lot of pacing back and forth in a hallway.
 
I work the night shift for a pbs affiliate 6pm-6am.

I know it's bad for you, but, RedBull and Coffee usually works for me.
 
After I graduated high school over a decade ago, I did a temp Toys R us 11pm-7am night shift for a remodeling. It was literally only me and 3 other people and 2 were asleep 90% of the time. We would be putting away toys and catalog them the entire night.

It actually turned me nocturnal because I would go to bed after breakfast and wake up for dinner. Luckily it only lasted 2 months.
 
C2V said:
DAW (ProTools) 5:30pm - 2:30am

I prefer to do post work at night, but depending on the excitement level of the program material, I may have to keep my coffee cup full or get up occasionally and walk a lap through the halls. Of course, keeping the coffee cup full also means that I have to get up occasionally to return what I've consumed, which also keeps me up and moving.

You have to be very careful with energy drinks. Those things are packed so full of harmful ingredients, and constant consumption will catch up with you faster than you think. The B vitamins are a perfect example: fine in moderation, necessary even, but too much of a good thing can be very bad. An overdose in B vitamins can cause permanent heart damage, and one of those energy drinks usually has much more than the daily dosage. I don't drink energy drinks at all.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean man, but sometimes I just HAD to buy a can of the evil stuff. Especially when I'm leaving to drive home.

I have actually fell asleep at work in the next office room twice, for about 2 hours a time and that REALLY helped. Luckily no one found out.

I sometimes drink this energy drink called NOS which has something ridiculous like 260 grams of caffeine, or whatever its measured in.

Had a fast heart rate sometimes, didn't feel too good either lol. But I was awake after that.
 
Last edited:
Rick Meyer said:
I used to work the overnight shift at a radio station from midnight until 8am (on weekends) and 5am (weekdays). Not only was I in school full time getting my Bachelor's Degree but I had another job. It was F*cking HELL.

On more than one occasion, I'd have to work on a film project for the ENTIRE weekend because that's when any of us could shoot. On those weekends, I would get up at 6am Friday morning, go to school, then work from 4-10pm, then drive 1 hour to the radio station, work from midnight-8amSaturday, drive to our set...lug heavy equipment around on ridiculously hot days, stand around all day doing "filmy" stuff, split by 3am, work from 4pm-10pm, drive to the radio station and work from midnight until 8amSunday, go to the set, stand around all day and do "filmy" stuff while trying not to DIE. Split at 3pm, work from 4p-10pm go to the radio station and work from midnight until 5amMonday when the weekday morning show hosts would roll in then drive an hour to get home while trying NOT to die...then sleep ALL day Monday and blow off any class that I had. It was such an absolute HELL that I still shudder to think about it.

I would literally have hallucinations on the way home some Monday mornings while driving in LA's early morning rush hour. You wanna get scared? How about being so tired that you are awoken to a horn honk from the car behind you because you dozed off during stop-and-go traffic on the 101 freeway. That'll clench your butt cheeks. You don't know whats going on! You grab the steering wheel the clutch the steering wheel, roll down the window...all in about one and a half seconds because you have no idea where the hell you are and have just woken up behind the steering wheel of a car that is in a sea of moving traffic. During this period of my life, I think I had to "change my shorts" on more than one occasion.

I stayed awake on coffee, straight adrenalin, and complete stupidity for even trying to keep that ridiculous schedule. I stayed awake because I had to. And I paid the price in severe exhaustion until Thursdays. I graduated with a very good 3.8something G.P.A. but feel like I learned nothing. I was too busy trying to survive. But, when the luster of being "on-air" began to wear off, the overnight shift began to take its toll and I would begin to steal catnaps throughout my night. It was a news station so I was responsible for doing "newsy" stuff every hour and every half hour including making calls, listening to the scanner, covering the AP wire, and going on air twice every hour, etc. But my need for sleep began to win over my need for the job.

One time in particular, I was so uncompromisingly sleepy that I kept dozing off a minute or so before my newscast. I had all the news copy in front of me, the mic was lowered to my mouth and I kept jerking my head up to stay awake. I even did that over-exaggerated EYE opening thing to keep my eyes open....like that ever works. That's about as effective as blairing the radio or rolling down the window of the car on a winter's night. 'Cause now your sleepy, deaf and freezing your ass off. Anyway, I am watching the clock on the screen (everything is timed. At EXACTLY 2:05am the station i.d. concludes and there is nothing but silence so the news-anchor (me) could, in theory, read the news.) Well, at this particular news-break, I was so tired that the last thing I recall seeing was :23seconds left until silence and I'm on-air. I woke up 20 minutes later. I sat there at the mic slumped over and sleeping with my head dangling there like an over-sized testicle. So, if anyone had the radio on at that moment and was tuned in, they would have heard dead air. Or me snoring. Who the hell knows which? After that happened a couple more times, and receiving some calls from pissed off listeners (talk about needing to get a life...oh like the local news was that interesting anyway. How many stories about strawberry festivals or fireman's fund raisers to you need to hear anyway, pal?)I realized it was time to go.

Otherwise, that gig was going to kill me or I was going to kill somebody else for that matter...
Click to expand...

"MUUURDER!!!"

Sorry, had to do that. Haha, you sound like you worked your arse off! Did you even get paid for the radio gig?

I have actually hallucinated driving home from work, not like seeing flying elephants etc, but you see shapes and colours that are not there and I had a really hard time convincing myself I was actually in front of a wheel driving.

I remember one time coming to a round-a-bout which I'm not sure you guys in America have much of, if any, and I assumed it was flat, and drove straight over it........It wasn't flat, and the front end of my car smashed down into the road after being bumped up in the air.

The shock INSTANTLY woke me up, and the creepy thing was I couldn't remember any of my driving before that!!!! Hahahahaha. After that I decided it really was not worth putting myself or anyone else in danger and I would pull over to catch some zzzzz'z or something like that.

Being a limey, I should of had a flask with tea in it, with lots of sugar.:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Cranky said:
3 out of 8 are security jobs. Interesting. Did all these monitors bring you into video/movie world? :)
Click to expand...

Nah but come to think of it, the shitty cameras my work has makes people on it look like pixilated characters from Monkey Island, especially when you fast forward the footage when you're looking for something dodgy etc.
 
College, many years ago- working 7 nights a week at a gas station, 11:30pm-7:30am.
Tried to stay awake having sex in my van with my girlfriend :happy:, or doing wheelies on my motorcycle if I rode it.

Oh, and the fear of being robbed (happened to the guy before me) probably helped a little too.

Tried studying, but it put me to sleeeeeeeeeeeeep...
 
Back in my young and foolish days (God! was I ever that young?) I worked a gas station from 6am to 2pm Mon - Fri; played piano for a dance school 3pm to 7pm Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat 9am to noon; and played with a band Wed through Sat, first set at 10pm, last set finished at 3am. Fortunately a roady picked me up and dropped me off at home so I could catch sleep to and from gigs. I also played the organ for the 10am service at a church on Sundays. Lots of coffee and cigarettes.

I quit the gas station after four months when the band started making money.
 
I've only worked 5PM-9AM once. It was in a film shot last year. It wasn't very exhausting but I never got to feel asleep during the shot. The problem came when I had to take my car to drive back home for 30mins with the film's AD sleeping on the copilot seat, snoring (imagine what effect has that sound on you...)....I closed the eyes for 2 seconds even though I opened them on the other lane there was no traffic so no harm done. Talk about feeling bad I though I was dying until I got home.
Anyway all that night was worth feeling bad, because I got to use a nice HUGE HMI helium balloon!
 
TV/Radio Master Control (Rec/Playback and Air live shows)
0000-0800
I just sleep days, and work nights, nothing special to stay awake.
Also I take the bus so no probs getting home alive.
 
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