Working graveyard
Posted By: LinK on 2008-07-15
In Reply to: Yeah, working nights would be great if - former redeye
Most people don't know how I do it. I work from 9:00 p.m. to about 4:00 and then up at 7:30 (8:30 now that it's summer). On Friday nights I don't work and I'm in bed by 8:00 p.m. And on the weekends I sleep in. My family is used to it and I've been doing it for so long I actually prefer it. No phones, no kids, no husband. I have also been known to fall asleep in the chair, but it doesn't happen too often. You'll get used to it. I'm not actually sure I even prepared in any way.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
My experiences while working graveyard were (sm)
both good and bad: Bad: During the spring/summer months, I wanted to be out catching the rays and walking the beach, but my body kept telling me, "It's time to sleep." Additionally, my diet was a little off; eating a Stouffer's dinner at 3:00 a.m. just seemed out of order. Also, I started watching those Judge shows in the afternoons, thus, not putting the lights out until about 5 p.m., leaving me only about 5 hours to sleep -- not enough for this bod. That experience taught me that I am definitely a morning person.
Need input from all you "night owls" working graveyard shift!
I am considering working nights, since it seems that's where the pay is higher. Do you go to bed in morning after your shift ends, or do you stay awake for a couple of hours, and go to bed, say 10 or 11 am. How many hours during the day do you sleep; or do you just take a nap in the morning, and go to bed around 6 or 7 p.m. and sleep until it's time for your shift to start? Input on getting a balance, and staying awake during shift. I worked that shift for a while in the past, but never could balance it out. It seems I was always sleeping and had no time to do anything else, other than sleep and work. Thanks
Graveyard cake
http://www.celebrationcorner.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?id=133724
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
I totally disagree with this study, for multiple reasons. I agree with some of the posts, stating that it would depend upon if you are getting enough sleep, whether you work the graveyard shift or not. People working regular shift often get only a couple of hours of sleep, because they are out at bars all night, drinking, etc.
However, I work the graveyard shift, usually 11 pm to 6 am. I am working, while my husband is sleeping. Right after work, I go to bed, and sleep anywhere between 10 to 12 hours. Then, when my husband comes home, we have the whole evening together!
Also, do they take into consideration that many graveyard shift workers work in factory situations where they are exposed to lots of other things, like toxic chemicals, etc.? I read about it in the paper, too, and it mentioned that the increase in the cancer effect of the graveyard shift workers began in the 1930's, with the "industrial" boom --- what about those effects on cancer, not the time of day you do it.
I also feel that I can produce more in the same time frame doing MT at nite, with less stress of all the other noises of the day, and not having the phone ringing off the hook!
Graveyard Shift
It all depends on you. I don't think there's a set rule book. I have a major sleep "situation." It isn't a problem because it's been this way all my life. I never liked to sleep, and would still rather mow the lawn or just about anything besides sleep. Obviously the rest of the world thinks that's strange, but it's just how I got wired (pardon that pun!)... Many people say they got "x" hours of sleep. I look at it as whatever I got is what I got, if any. But I know that's not the norm for most.
There have been times when I've fallen asleep typing, but very rarely. There are also times when I stay up for 2 days straight, and still fight going to sleep.
Just give it some time and decide if you can do it. It's good that we all have different time clocks embedded in our bodies!
Good luck!
More graveyard experiences
I've worked graveyard before and will be starting again tonight. I've learned a few things from past experience that can help this time.
One is bright lights at night and blackout curtains during daytime sleeping hours. Another is turning off the ringer on the phone before going to bed, arranging with a neighbor who is generally home during the day to take true emergency calls from certain people and ring my doorbell if necessary.
I try to keep in mind that a lot of other people aren't readily available during the day or able to do what they like during the day because of work, either in or out of the home. I also remember how lucky I am to be able to work from home and not have to deal with a commute, among other things.
Give myself some unwinding time after my shift and then do the best I can to adhere to regular sleep hours that least interfere with regular activities outside of work. There will be times, of course, when I'll need to be flexible on the sleep hours to take care of things that must occasionally be done during the usual sleep hours schedule.
Accept that there will be days when the rest of the world will not be tip-toeing around because I want to sleep. Watch out for sleep-deprivation crankiness, try my best not to take it out on other folks, and apologize promptly if I do. It does help to explain the situation yet not use it as a recurrent or frequent excuse.
Make use of caffeinated beverages at the beginning of my shift and limit them toward the latter portion. Remember that power naps during breaks may work for other people but that the temptation to keep hitting the snooze alarm could be overwhelming for me. It was one thing when I was an IC, but not cool as an employee. Better for me is to something semi-active during breaks and make myself get up and stretch on a periodic, regular basis.
Keep in mind that it will take a little while to get used to the new schedule and see what sleep hours seem to work best for me through trial and error. I'm lucky that I have a natural tendency toward nightowlism.
Sorry for the length of this essay and best of luck to you! Would that there were a yawning smiley face...
graveyard shift
I've found that my body just naturally adjusts over time if I work this shift consistently.
I worked graveyard before, and will now again.
This time though, I have a window of time, and can split shift, but I can tell you I am very scared about it. The last time I took graveyard, it was set hours, and I got through it, but switched back to days because I never slept, or took time for myself. But, there is not much work during the mornings, and I end up getting frustrated watching the children who are all under 10 years old, and scratching for work, and the whole situation. So, I am going to work 8 hours in 12 overnight. I am very scared but going to go for it for these reasons: 1. I am not lonely because everyone is at home but they are sleeping, so very few if any worries about anything other than working which is really less stress. 2. There will mostly always be work, so I won't have to worry about my paycheck or begging for work or worrying about the bill collectors. 3. DH is concerned too, but he knows how frustrating it is to scratch for work during the daytime when everyone else is on. He figures I work after I put the kids to bed, rest some, and then work in early morning hours. Then, I get another nap during the day when he gets home from work or during the school day when the kids are back in school. It is just this fear of mine about overnight I have to learn to get out of my head and remember, night means peaceful, quiet, work, a good paycheck, and naps during the day along with trips to the mall, or doing art or anything else during the day when the kids are back in school I can do just for me. I wish you luck. In the end do what is best for you. But if you run out of work during the day, or if you have other obligations while you are working in daytime, rethink which is really best for you. Good luck!
graveyard shift questions? HELP!! sm
for those of you who work the graveyard shift, when you initially started how did you get your sleep pattern to adjust? i did this for 2 nights and loved it!! i got sooo much work done without any interruptions and it was wonderful so i have decided that i would prefer to work at nighttime but i am having a hard time staying awake now through the night and by 1ish i am falling asleep. how did you get ahead on your sleep well enough to get you past the initial getting used to it? and do you keep that same schedule even on weekends or when you aren't working as far as sleep routine?
Kitchen appliance graveyard
In the midst of moving last weekend, I discovered my long forgotten kitchen appliance graveyard. All the cool gadgets that I thought I HAD to have at the time that have long since moved into that cabinet. I had three juicers dating back to the 80's, an ice cream maker, a sandwich maker, a George Foreman grill, a food dehydrator, and a the most recent one I got for Christmas, a smoothie maker. Oh the humanity! I have decided to resurrect some of them for fun and because I feel so guilty. How about you all ? Anyone suffer from this gadget collecting problem?
I work graveyard on weekends
I can't say there's any real way to prepare for graveyard shift other than going to bed earlier the night before, this way you are well rested for your shift.
I work day shift and evening shift Mon-Thurs, but come 3 pm on Friday, it's bedtime for me. I work graveyard shift on weekends, and I love it. I don't really have a problem adjusting my schedule, as I have massive sleep deficit accrued all week.
The problems that I do find are with:
Family not getting it through their heads that I wake/work early on weekends.
Deliveries (UPS, FedEx) normally take place during the hours I would be sleeping.
Phone usually rings during the hours I sleep.
Other than those outside factors, no problem for me adjusting back and forth between shifts.
questions for graveyard shift'ers
i'm seriously thinking of going from days to 3rd shift -- for money and to free-up daytime hours to manage other stuff better, without interfering with my job....but cannot figure when the best time would be to sleep -- do you sleep right after work, right before work, or when? How long might it take to adjust? I'm generally a morning person, early to bed, early to rise....I'd appreciate any advice at all. thanks.
Graveyard shift study results
I just had to put this here. This study came out about 2 days ago, and I did not find that anyone posted it here so I am going to comment on it. If this is redundant please excuse the double post. The other day on the news at 6 they reported that studies show that there is a new risk for developing cancer which could lead to an early grave... working the graveyard shift (punny). Anyway, they said that because it goes against our biological clock, we produce less of a certain brain chemical when we sleep at night and this chemical helps our body fend of carcinogens (I forgot the chemical). Do you know the American Cancer Society is seriously considering putting third shift workers on the list as being high risk for cancer? Can you imagine? What is this, a way for the insurance companies to have an excuse to deny us night owls insurance or to make the rates higher? I think it is hilarious because I personally never do anything risky. I work at home as an MT after all, I do not lead a risky life in the least. Now, because I work nights so I can be a mom during the day and do everything supermom should do I am going to have cancer... what next?
Is it difficult to adjust to the graveyard shift?
 What is the best way to prepar for this.
If you want the good stuff, work GRAVEYARD, or
nm
Disagree...ESLs tend to dictate graveyard shifts....nm
You get more working the evening or night shifts and working w/o benefits. And producing like a mad
,
Ditto....granted I am not working much these days, but am currently trying out a new way of working
when I do work which seems to be helping. I am timing myself and keeping a log of how long it takes to to type however many minutes. I am averaging anywhere from 13-18 minutes of dictation an hour now doing this. Granted the time fluctuates between who I am typing, and if I have to look up names, addresses, etc., just depends on the division I am doing at the time. But work that used to take me 3 hours to do is now taking me under 2 hours, I am also trying to put in more macros as I go along, which slows me down initially but pays off in the long run of course. I was working "all the time" before but took forever to get done since I was not applying myself. This new "attitude" has helped me a lot. My goal, in the Fall, is to do 90 minutes a day consistently at 6 hours, and then maybe get up to 120 minutes a day at 8 hours, still while having at least half of the day free (do 60 minutes at night, and the other 60 by Noon). Thereby doing 1200-1400 lines a day. I have never really buckled down and done more than 8000 lines per pay period, so it will be a nice change. Maybe you can do something like that and have a specific knock off time as was suggested below. 
Working holidays? Out shopping in stores where someone IS working
that holiday you refuse to work? Grocery stores, food joints & seems any store is open on holidays and you expect them to be fully staffed, so why shouldn't we?
Yes, I took off for the first time on Christmas day, in 18 years and it was great, but I worked Christmas eve and this whole past weekend.
Someone has to do it!
working IN A HOSPITAL is different than working at home.
Someone can steal you identity from the internet if they want to. Why would you go to the time and trouble to jeopardize a job that requires some level of skill to steal someone's identity or medical records? You could get a job as a retail clerk and get info easier than going through the testing required to become an MT.
Somehow working at home translates into not really working
My in-laws are the worst. Whenever they plan something last minute and my husband says that I had to work, they say, "but she works at home!". When I one time mentioned I had a "schedule" and basically punch a clock and work full time, I don't think they believed me. They will sometimes call mid-day during the week if they are in the area to see if I want to go for lunch, etc! The best is, my husband doesn't make all that much money, so where is it coming from, the money fairy? I am ready to strangle someone! So I know how you feel and I'm sorry it upset you. You are not alone.
I daydream about NOT working while I'm working.
There are so many other things I need and want to get done. I've been working way too hard lately, and summer is just slipping by again. Well, I'm outty.
Working. LOL What else? nm
..
working out
Spinning is great if you only want aerobics, but a personal trainer deals with weight training. That's for building muscle, which speeds up your metabolism. You really need both (aerobics and weight training) if you want to slim down and shape up.
In either case, make sure you drink ice water. The body's reaction is, "What the heck is this stuff?! I'm getting cold here. Turn on the shiver mechanism." That's another way to speed up your metabolism. 
Working for self
It is harder now to break in than it was 15 to 20 years ago when I started but there is still accounts out there. I got started part-time when working for a local hospital -- not even doing medical transcription. I was an Admin Ass't but had done this in the past and one of our physicians on one of our boards could not get anyone to do his transcription so I started doing it part-time. I had been a CMA, CMT, x-ray tech in the old days. But had not kept up on my certifications when I went to work in the hospital. But this started the ball rolling. Since my hubbie then was a truck driver I did it to keep me out of trouble when he was out of town. Then I started doing it full time. I get accounts from the private docs that no one really wants, larger companies, and still do tapes, printing, delivering and pick ups. I advertise and send out flyers and seem to get a bite when I need a new account. I have 2 Surgical Oncologists, 2 IM's, 1 Plastic/Hand surgeon, and 1 Psych. I have one permanent part-timer and one that helps out with overflow. I charge from 10.5 to 12.5 cents a line depending on the account. My rates are going up this month. I also work in a clinic doing electronic charts but that is as an employee. These docs are small and I keep my prices lower because I know what they get back from insurances, etc. are not that great. I am paid within 3 days of receipt of invoice (usually the next day) have never had my line count questioned, have never had a check bounce and they make me a part of their team. And yes, I am the one from six months ago that said I would bake them cookies and you know why. But all I can say is look through the County AMA directories or phone books or if your hospital has physician offices in them, see who works alone and try sending out flyers or going door to door -- never hurts to bring cookies either. But have been doing it for 15 years fulltime and make enough to support myself through a yucky divorce and pay an attorney $10,000 -- barely but did it. Good luck. Maybe if enough would do this for themselves much cheaper than the nationals we could all go back to making a good living. Am going digital here in the next six months or so, but only to pick up a new account as my docs still prefer the tapes. Trying to get them to change.
You can E-mail me for any more questions.
It will get better--just keep working..nm
nm
why because I tried working for both
I have nothing really bad to say about SS, I have had no lines stolen, I just dont understand what is being dictated I'm sort of new I have about a year's experience but in my opinion this is easier to learn in English before you go to extreme ESL work, I will say that SS gives you back all of your reports so that you can learn your accounts but they almost have to so you know what the people are saying
are you working on?
Been with another office 8 years myself. Was a top producer for many years, then got put on DocQScribe over a year ago, now cant get my line count (???) - plus HATE the account. Requested to change accounts numerous times and pretty much got told to be quiet and type. Do they ever transfer MTs to different offices?
It is working now!
I went and updated my Norton AV (but I have it set up to update automatically whenever there are new updates) and restarted my computer, logged on, and opened IE and my WW page loaded! Go figure! :D
Thanks for suggesting updating my AV but I don't understand how that would have effected just that one web site. Perhaps, it is just coincidence but then again maybe not.
In any event, thank you so much for trying so hard to help me. I really appreciate it. :)
Are you currently working on ASR?
x
Working.
dd
working
got an email from them about the horrible weekend backlog, but I also had no work - Amherst, 5 different accounts
working more than one IC job
Don't know where you got your info, but I've never been told by the IRS that I must work more than one job as an IC. I must have missed that Big Brother memo, lol.
I too like working for MQ.
I never said I didn't like working for them. The only thing I responded to was your attitude. Why do you feel the need to defend MQ? If you're happy who gives a rats rear what anyone else thinks.
Working on it.... NM
NM
where are u working for 11 cpl ??????
???????????
I am working on it.
I work at my Mom's house, but am setting up duplicate system at home. I have DSL here at Mom's, at home only dial-up.
Should be working
LOL - that is funny. Why would anyone assume a male typist is gay? I never would. Know too many that are not only straight, but have kids.
Working Too!!
Hi: No mee too...I am working! Fancy that. I am a single mom and I have to make ends meet, so well here I am typing away but I will take a few hours to be with friends in about an hour. It's ok I am ok with it. I do the best I can with what I have. God blessed me with a beautiful daughter.
When I was in NYC working 5 hr/day
I could make anywhere between $20 and $90 an hour depending on how the work flowed any particular day but the yearly average was $45 an hour before taxes. My only benefits were 2 weeks paid vacation a year and health insurance for which the company paid the complete premiums. Since they took care of my taxes, I didn't have anything else to worry about.
Actually, when I kept that job and moved to several other states (Jersey, PA, GA, AL), I continued to make the same pay but the cost of living was less in the south so my disposible income was much greater, giving me a better lifestyle.
How well can I do working for a co. as sub-c? nm
x
working as an IC
I am considering working as an IC employee. I have always been a full-time employee. I would like information on what it involves. Thanks so much.
KG
Working as an IC
Good luck to you, too! I knew there would be some expense in getting set up. I just don't know about being considered self-employed and having to keep up with the paperwork for the IRS. I know nothing about all of that. Let us know how it goes! Thanks.
See, it's all working out for you!
Jodi, I am so happy that it is working out so well for you. You are finding out that you are a lot stronger than you first thought. I'm glad you took those tears and turned them into strength! You will make it!! You have already done the hardest part....even though there will still be rough times, you have made it through the hardest part already. Nothing can stop you now. You are a strong, smart woman. Your children are blessed
I will keep you and your children in my thougths and prayers. Keep us updated - we care!
Working for MQ
Currently applied and was offered a job to work for them, then I see this page and all the nasty things that are being said about then and wonder what is going on, should I take the job or not? Please help.
anyone working for JLG
Anyone working for JLG? Could you please Email me? Thanks.
working for DBS
Anyone out there w/experience or knowledge about working for Domenichelli Business Services? Looks interesting. Trying to broaden horizons.
Why is he not working? You should be...(nt)
Thank you!! I got it working! SM
I'm so glad! I see everything now...it's all working wonderfully! Thank you for all of your help!
Sincerely,
Chickadee
not while I am working
But after....depends on the day. today? two beers and three shots of blackberry brandy. Not the usual, but eases the stress.
Not working for me either..nm
nm
|
