Look what I did Saturday

[Clay]

Was my own fault - was looking left and right as I crossed through an intersection instead of straight ahead to Jeep in front of me that was waiting on a pedestrian before he could turn into a gas station. No one was hurt, though.

On an entirely related note, has anyone else here worked 3rd shift for any sustained amount of time? I worked midnights from April 2010 to April 2011 and have been on 2nd shift since, but I still have trouble with sluggishness and delayed reaction times. I've had more close calls, run more yellow-to-red lights, hit more curbs, etc. since I started working 3rd shift than I did in my entire driving career beforehand. I had thought it would come back to me in time, but it's been four months and I still have difficulty.

And of course I've been a bit grumpy since Saturday because I was only out running errands for other people instead of being asleep like I wanted. So it goes...

[Knightdramon]

Woo, glad nobody was hurt. Got to take care while driving.

By third shift, I take it you mean...midnight to 8? Something like that? Night shift on CSI ?

If so, yes, I usually worked 22:00 to 06:00 the earliest, sometimes 'till 08:00. Slower reaction time, drunk some times, but I was still walking home.

It's only trouble until your biological clock shifts into that timezone. Even during army days when I had to wake up from a maximum of 6 hours of sleep to patrol after midnight for two hours, I was still okay after I got used to it.

Nothing a cup of coffee and a nice cigarette can't fix when the sun's coming up or in the really early morning hours.

[greenreplica]

wa
good bus
have a good mood

[Heinrad]

Back when I was working at McDonalds, they made me a manager. Admittedly in training, but it was a start. Then they drumped me onto third shift, told me how to run the computer system, then patted me on the head and wished me luck. Yes, working third will drive you completely around the bend. My system's still a little messed up from it, and I left McD's almost 3 years ago.

Moving to second shift in my new job probably didn't help.

[Sades]

Dude. That sucks. Good to know no one was hurt though.

I've worked a rotating schedule involving the occasional 3rd shift for over a year, but that was probably about 2005ish, was voluntary and was usually only on weekends. Didn't really have to adjust to it so much as put up with it occasionally so I could make a few extra bucks... it made me sluggish and tired every time but I assume that's from having to adjust a set week's sleeping pattern to accommodate the one late shift.

[Sir Auros]

I worked 3rd shift back in 2004, and I didn't really have trouble adjusting. That was with full-time classes, too. However, I've always been more of a night-owl anyway, so that's probably how it worked out so well.

Sucks about your accident, especially if you were at fault. My ankle is still hurting me from the accident we were in back in April. It was head-on for us, totalled both cars, and totally could have been avoided if the drunken shithead who swerved into our lane sideways hadn't been trying to impress the teenage boy in his passenger seat...and also probably if he weren't so drunk and stupid.

[inflatable dalek]

I've worked nights for nearly ten years. I hate all you "I did it for a week, once, it was OK" people.

[DrSpengler]

I got in a fender-bender about 3 years ago pretty much exactly the same way.

Was waiting second in line at a right turn. I looked left to wait for the last car to go by so I could turn right. Thought the dude ahead of me had already gone so I didn't look back to see if my lane was clear.

Bumped his trailer hitch, but luckily not hard enough to do any damage to my vehicle, but hard-enough to bend his trailer hitch.

Unfortunately, Geico doesn't have "accident forgiveness" so my insurance went up for a few years as punishment.


And I've never had to work the 3rd/Graveyard shift on a regular basis. Though when I worked at Blockbusters from '01 to '03, I didn't get out on the weekends until 2am. And once a month we had to take inventory, which was 1am to 8am.

I've worked jobs that have always juggled me around morning and evening shifts at random, so my internal alarm clock has gotten pretty used to living with no rhyme or reason. So long as I can get between 5 and 8 hours of sleep beforehand, I'm usually pretty good for whatever shift and whatever time.

[Summerhayes]

Well, I don't drive and as I'm always being told, no licence= no opinion.

The latest shift I ever worked was 5pm-3am. Takes a couple days to get over if you try to just get up at 8 and pretend it didn't happen.

[slartibartfast]

Although the car now has an air of "you should see the other guy". Could start a trend in esthetic damage, maybe.

I did a few years running night shift. I found it broke down my sleep cycles, I got too used to ignoring when I was tired. Also I remember that without sunlight the human body doesn`t produce enough magnesium, you could try dark chocolate to balance that out.