What is a “graveyard shift”? And would you ever work a graveyard shift?

ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249

ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249

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What hours would you consider “3rd shift” at a job? Or if your job was “24 hours always open”: What hours would be the “graveyard shift”? Or the late hours? I hear people say like 10pm-6am? Or like 12am-8am? Or maybe like 11pm-7am? Would you ever consider that option or ever want to report to work from late at night to early in the morning? What hours as far as AM/PM are considered “The Late Hours/Early Morning” graveyard hours? Thanks.
 
 
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11pm to 7am is what my mom worked when we were kids (RN at a nursing home). She'd come home at like 7:30, get us up and make us breakfast and get us out to the bus. Then she'd do a few chores around the house before heading to bed for a few hours before she got back up to make dinner. As kids, we couldn't understand why she was so grumpy when we'd come home from school and wake her up when we'd start arguing with each other. 🤷‍♂️ :unsure: In retrospect, I'm amazed she didn't kill one of us. :ROFLMAO: She took a first shift job once I got old enough to keep an eye on my younger brother for a couple hours after school. It's also how I learned to cook as well - I often started dinner for her when she was on her way home from work.
 
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Same thing with my Dad, he worked 3rd shift most of his working life. He's leave home around 10, get home around 7 when we'd get up for school. He'd sleep in the morning and try to get afew hours in before work. Once we started playing sports, he stayed on 3rds to be able to see us. To me, 3rd is better than 2nd's for a family. 2nd's you miss everything.
 
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bob22 said:
Worked it for 8 years and loved it. The key for me was keeping the same sleep schedule on weekends rather than trying to live like a first shifter for a couple days.
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That was my problem, because my social life was built around a day-shift schedule during the weekends. Paid the price for it when I went back every Sunday night.
 
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Summer 2001 worked at a stamping mill in my hometown while home from college. Sunday night through Friday morning, 10:30 pm to 6:30 am.

The biggest issue was Friday and Saturday nights I had a heck of a time with being up all night as a result of my work schedule. While everyone else in the house was asleep and all my friends were asleep I'm up trying to stay occupied.
 
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ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249 said:
What hours would you consider “3rd shift” at a job? Or if your job was “24 hours always open”: What hours would be the “graveyard shift”? Or the late hours? I hear people say like 10pm-6am? Or like 12am-8am? Or maybe like 11pm-7am? Would you ever consider that option or ever want to report to work from late at night to early in the morning? What hours as far as AM/PM are considered “The Late Hours/Early Morning” graveyard hours? Thanks.
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I've worked several "graveyard shifts" in my day. And I LUUUVE um all except in the military. 12:00-4 am, 7:00pm-8:00am, 1200 midnight-7:00am! And my ALL TIME FAV was, 36 hours straight during Christmas, 1967, in the sector below the DMZ in Vietnam, called I Corps.
 
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scbuckeye99 said:
Summer 2001 worked at a stamping mill in my hometown while home from college. Sunday night through Friday morning, 10:30 pm to 6:30 am.

The biggest issue was Friday and Saturday nights I had a heck of a time with being up all night as a result of my work schedule. While everyone else in the house was asleep and all my friends were asleep I'm up trying to stay occupied.
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Try working thirteen hours straight, from 7:00pm til 8:00am, as a shift supervisor. PLENTY of walking in a plant the size of five football fields.
 
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avnspc said:
My 3rd shift is 11pm to 7:30am there is a 1/2 hour unpaid lunch, Also pays 10% more than day shift.
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Try working eight and a half hours with NO lunch break, and NO breaks during the day. The supervisor said that since we worked at our desk, we should be able to break anytime we wanted! ***ROTFLMAO***
 
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SWGA Fan said:
Try working staggered shifts from month to month. We had two days to acclimate ourselves to the new shift.
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True. I never did regular shift changes, wouldn't enjoy that.

But my wife has you and me beat. When we got married we were both working day shift with one common day off. Three months later they abolished her bid and she took one with all three shifts each week. She'd work two nights, one day, and two 4 PM-midnite shifts, then have two days off. But her weekend would only be 48 hours long instead 60 hours. Those first two night shifts were a little tough.

Three months after that, she got day shifts with Sat-Sun off like me, and the rest was history.

Few years back I had lunch with one of my classmates, a petroleum engineer for an off-shore platform in Africa. Every two months they'd send him there (he said it took planes, trains, automobiles, and boats to get there), and work 28 days straight - 12-hour shifts, no days off. Then they'd fly him home and he'd be off for four weeks. He said that last week on the platform would drag, but he liked being home every other month.
 
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Where I retired from had 4 shifts. I have worked a handful of times overnight but couldn't work full-time overnight. Lots of younger people working overnight.
I told my wife I couldn't work weekend late (6p to 6a) or 3rd shift ( 8p to 6a) because I don't have any tattoos, nothing pierced and my hair wasn't green. Now I realize this goes on all 4 shifts but is more common at night...
 
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SWGA Fan said:
Try working thirteen hours straight, from 7:00pm til 8:00am, as a shift supervisor. PLENTY of walking in a plant the size of five football fields.
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SWGA Fan said:
Try working staggered shifts from month to month. We had two days to acclimate ourselves to the new shift.
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SWGA Fan said:
Try working eight and a half hours with NO lunch break, and NO breaks during the day. The supervisor said that since we worked at our desk, we should be able to break anytime we wanted! ***ROTFLMAO***
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There is always someone who has it worse. I have no idea what you would call what I did from 1993-1999 other than stupid. Worked 18 hours a day most days, sleeping from 3AM to 6AM, then again from 4pm to 6pm. Now that's living. Heart issues at age 40 slowed me down a bit.
 
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I did thirds for 8.5 years. The first eight no problem. I am single. No kids so I was able to do my own thing on my off time. The last six months or so were rough. My doctor kept telling me the body isn't built to work when it's dark and sleep in the day. Fortunately I had someone willing to switch places. I did seconds for a while. Hated it. Couldn't really do anything in the morning because I was always thinking about having to get ready to go to work. I am now 6a-230p and love it.
 
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soccerdad72 said:
11pm to 7am is what my mom worked when we were kids (RN at a nursing home). She'd come home at like 7:30, get us up and make us breakfast and get us out to the bus. Then she'd do a few chores around the house before heading to bed for a few hours before she got back up to make dinner. As kids, we couldn't understand why she was so grumpy when we'd come home from school and wake her up when we'd start arguing with each other. 🤷‍♂️ :unsure: In retrospect, I'm amazed she didn't kill one of us. :ROFLMAO: She took a first shift job once I got old enough to keep an eye on my younger brother for a couple hours after school. It's also how I learned to cook as well - I often started dinner for her when she was on her way home from work.
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I can relate worked 11pm - 7am at another job I had, got home in an hour took my daughter to preschool got 4 - 5 hrs. sleep and then would pick her up from preschool. I found out you really can fall asleep standing up.
 
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I worked a 3rd shift, 11:00 PM-7:00 AM, one summer and it was better than 2nd shift, 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM. 2nd shift was the entry point in this factory and those folks were always bitter when they missed family evening events. To me I liked sleeping during the day and being up at night but the folks that were 3rd shift lifers swore that being up during the day and sleeping in the later afternoon into the early evening was the way to go. Either way it motivated me to do well in school to get a day MGMT gig once I graduated. Now the huge negative for me over the course of my career is business travel, not anywhere as glamorous as they make it out to be and I missed many family events due to cancelled flights or required travel due to complex scheduling. Does allow me to post on Yappi during the day while sitting at an airport or in a hotel waiting for a late AM meeting...
 
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3rd shift is 7:30p to 6:00a or 8:30p to 7:00a 7 days on, 7 days off where I work. I work an occasional night-shift but I wouldn't want to do it full-time. Three of my night-shift colleagues have done it for many years and love it.
 
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ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249 said:
What hours would you consider “3rd shift” at a job? Or if your job was “24 hours always open”: What hours would be the “graveyard shift”? Or the late hours? I hear people say like 10pm-6am? Or like 12am-8am? Or maybe like 11pm-7am? Would you ever consider that option or ever want to report to work from late at night to early in the morning? What hours as far as AM/PM are considered “The Late Hours/Early Morning” graveyard hours? Thanks.
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MIDNIGHT. I've also worked thirty STRAIGHT hours, with a one-hour nap on the floor. And I worked graveyard shift MANY times over a four-year period. It was called the UNITED STATES NAVY! I've even worked a five on five, five off shift, which makes a thirteen-hour graveyard shift seem TAME. I also worked that thirteen-hour shift for CSX Railway as a glorified taxi driver. I also worked that shift for one of the largest printing companies in the world.
 
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limabean said:
3rd shift is 7:30p to 6:00a or 8:30p to 7:00a 7 days on, 7 days off where I work. I work an occasional night-shift but I wouldn't want to do it full-time. Three of my night-shift colleagues have done it for many years and love it.
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7 ON and 7 OFF, is MUCH better than FOUR ON, and TWO OFF!!! Me thinks that the company was REALLY getting their monies worth. It gave me a headache to figure the minuses of THAT schedule.
 
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Stirred not Shaken said:
I can relate worked 11pm - 7am at another job I had, got home in an hour took my daughter to preschool got 4 - 5 hrs. sleep and then would pick her up from preschool. I found out you really can fall asleep standing up.
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We had a guy fall asleep standing up, supposedly at his duty station. He was perched behind a status board next to the wall.
 
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scbuckeye99 said:
Been doing 13 a day on average the last 19 years as a teacher / coach. Now lets whip em out brother!!!!
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I neglected to mention that THAT was after driving an hour each way to work.

As an aside, you SOUND as though you need to be a HEAD coach, SOUTH of the NORTH? Then you wouldn't have to TEACH! And you could bring home six figures. Probably why we have head coaches from South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Indiana, and Michigan, if not more. But as the HOF coach from MEEEchigan found out last season. He wasn't IN KANSAS anymore! He lasted THREE seasons at Tift Co., of Region 1-7A. And he won TEN games, TOTAL. His parting words were, I didn't realize that EVERYBODY was GOOD in GEORGIA! NO seeming weak sisters to pad your W-L total. But at least you wouldn't hafta play the likes of Hoban, Avon, St. Eds, St. X, IGGY, Moeller, and Massillon! All WE have is thirty-seven slappy's like Milton, Roswell, Brookwood, Parkview, Walton, Marietta, Cartersville, Carrollton, Lowndes, Camden Co., Valdosta, Benedictine, Blessed Trinity, MARIST, Grayson, Newton, Norcross, Gainesville, Langston Hughes, Cedar Grove, Dutchtown, Cedartown, Warner Robins, Westlake, Northside Warner Robins, Houston Co., Buford, Mill Creek, Calhoun, Thomas Co. Central, Savannah Country Day, Savannah Christian, Greater Atlanta Christian, Wesleyan, North Cobb, North Gwinnett, Harrison, North Paulding, Eagles Landing Christian, and lil ole Colquitt Co.
 
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