Graveyard Shift
The graveyard shift is one I remember all too well from my younger days. It's the one most people don't want and even those that do sometimes find they would prefer not to work the late hours due to the problems it can cause them. The graveyard shift is the one that you love or hate without the room for an in between but either way you can survive the graveyard shift.
Surviving the graveyard shift means not only surviving it but learning to deal with the problems that can arise from working a true all-night over-night graveyard shift. Personal relationships sometimes suffer and your sense of time can become distorted as you're sleeping during the hours you would normally be awake. The disorientation caused by working graveyard shifts takes some getting used to since we live in a world where normal business is conducted from early morning to mid-evening.
It is the first shift that is the hardest after that it becomes much easier, at least for those willing to make the adjustments; although sleep deprivation is common among those that work the graveyard shift. Sleeping all day long is going to take some time to get used to not only for you but for your friends and family as well. They're going to miss you and you'll miss them as you begin to adjust to the life of a worker on the graveyard shift.
Making sure you get adequate sleep is one key to surviving the graveyard shift. Telling people that you work graveyard and getting them understand what that fact means are two different things. While people will tell you they understand they will often be surprised to find you sleeping during the day; turn the ringer on the phone off and put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.
While the rest of the world works in daylight and sleeps in the dark you're doing the opposite and you must make them understand that waking you in the mid-morning could very well cost you your job due to a lack of sleep. The lack of sleep can cause poor job performance. Making the room dark so you can't tell it's daylight out is one of the best ways to ensure you sleep during the daylight hours.
Scheduling appointments while working the graveyard shift leaves room for error when it comes to losing sleep or asking for the night off. Hopefully the night before the appointment is the one you have off so you get a full night sleep; if it's the night following you want to be sure that you schedule a late afternoon appointment to get some sleep in.
Surviving the graveyard shift doesn't have to be difficult but it does take some adjusting to do. There is no age limit on being able to survive the graveyard shift but there is a tolerance level required and the ability to make others understand that this is the shift you work.
