Shift Workers - Could you ever go back to a 9-5?

[Cheeky Monkey]

I know I couldn't, the freedom of being out of the rat race, being able to go into town and get stuff done when no one else is around, or to an empty Ovingdean Beach midweek for a swim. My hours are very decent as well, so apart from the occasional messed up weekend, it's a bloody good existence, with plenty of time off. I couldn't imagine just having weekends off/living for the weekend.

 

[wigman]

I know I couldn't, the freedom of being out of the rat race, being able to go into town and get stuff done when no one else is around, or to an empty Ovingdean Beach midweek for a swim. My hours are very decent as well, so apart from the occasional messed up weekend, it's a bloody good existence, with plenty of time off. I couldn't imagine just having weekends off/living for the weekend.

Ive done shifts for 20 years now and could not go back to 9-5.
i love the mornings off followed by the afternoons the next week.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

i love the mornings off

My alarm clock only gets set for two mornings in every ten days - bliss.

 

[Evil Edna]

I liked it when I did it, not so much the nightshift part.

 

[Smythe]

Done shifts for 10 years, never really liked the nights and although i had a well cushy shift pattern with loads of time off i always seemed to be working for Albion matches and when there were nights out planned. Got back in to the mon-fri work now,at least i can do all albion games and know ive got all evenings and weekends free!!!!!

 

[ali jenkins]

Ive worked in shift patterns for the last 4 years and I HATE them!

Ive had some good ones but I would still chose a 9-5!!

 

[csider]

i work a from 9/10am til about 1-1.30pm each day.......done shifts and 9-5...never really thought too much on it. like the hours at the mo (although money not great, commission only!!!) when it is sunny....but winter, different story!!

 

[Bluejuice]

I have recently gone back to a 9-5 coupled with an HOUR each way packed train commute.

It has been 4 weeks now and I am close to breaking point.

It is unbearably shit. You completely forget how little tmie you seem to have outside of the daily grind and my archaic office doesn't even operate a flexi time system meaning my desire to get my hours worked and out of the way is unappreciated and I still have to turn up mornings AND afternoons for five days out of seven. I know traditionally it has always been the norm but it just isn't right.

For the same money I used to work TWELVE hour shifts but the bonus was I'd only have three or four of them a week. Sometimes only two.

That was an INFINITELY better way of getting things done. Yeah I was knackered after a long shift and tended not to do an awful lot of an evening if I had an early start the next day, but at least you always knew you were only a day or two away from a decent period of rest. Whereas now I find I can't really enjoy an awful lot after a day at the office, even at this time of year where the days are at their longest, and so pretty much five nights a week are wasted. Then at the weekend I'm shattered of a Friday night and don't seem to last a night out AND on Saturday when I am finally allowed my precious lie in I find I wake up at the same time as normal as my body can't get out of this shitty routine.

I am ABSOLUTELY hating it, passionately.

If I could get a job as a baggage handler on even a fraction of the money I earn now I would jump at the chance to quit the office and the commute and the bullshit of this 9-5 drudgery.

We seem to have been conditioned to accept this is the way to work but it really isn't right. I feel like I am losing my Summer to this dreadful monotony and if nothing else it's made me realise more than ever that I need to get off my arse and do things for myself.

There's no way I'm spending my life in this HELL. And FIVE weeks holiday a year That is unbelievably paltry. I could use that up before March without even trying.

People need to fight back at this bullshit. Shift workers know the score, and people who use their flexi-time effectively have it better but the fact that in this day and age there are still millions of us forced onto overcrowded slow paced shoddy trains at exactly the same time each day as everybody else, scrabbling for seats or elbow space, fighting to get any inch of space as every pointless stop sees more depressed looking suits cram themselves in for the HOUR or so up to London in which they will have NOWHERE to sit or rest or do ANYTHING with this time that is both uncomfortable and entirely wasted... is entirely RIDICULOUS.

People need to start getting mad, fighting back, kicking off. Anyone who thinks this is just normal needs their f***ing head examined.

Don't just lie down and take it, make a point that this doesn't work. For as long as doctors, medical professionals, banks, the council and pretty much all levels of local and central government continue to operate on this ludicrous, inflexible 9-5 routine then the rest of us can't be expected to adhere too.

I have other things to do and you can f*** RIGHT OFF if you think I'm spending my precious day off queuing for HOURS in the post office with every other mug who's been forced to waste his life, just to pay in a cheque or hand a f***ing form in.

Either I'm getting a different job or I'm starting a revolution. It's about time all these bullshit buzzwords of "paperless offices", "home working" and "telecommuting" became a genuine reality for the average working man.

Jack Bauer wouldn't stand for this shit

 

[Beach Hut]

I reverted from shifts to 9 to 5 once my eldest was born and it was fine.

 

[coventrygull]

I work 14 hour shifts. Would hate to go back to 9-5

 

[Cian]

I went back. Luckily I'm in an on the road job so I get decent opportunity to get stuff done in the mornings in gaps. Do miss getting up at 12; and having a justified excuse to shopping at 4am.

 

[BrightonBiatch]

i used to work in the day but now work some days some nights which really messes you up on my days off im sleeping then at night im wide awake when i should sleep but i wouldnt change it

 

[scooter1]

I used to do nights and liked the fact that my weekend started at 7 am on a Friday morning, but equally my week started at 11.30 on a Sunday night - so lazy Sundays with a roast and a few pints in the pub soon became a no no.

I now do 8 - 4.30 and couldn't be happier - unless I was given a day off in the week that didn't affect either my weekend or my salary

 

[KNC]

I did shifts for 25 yrs (railway).There are bits I do miss. As Cheeky Monkey said, having the time to go into town, when its not mad. The quiet Undercliff walks, summer drinking on the seafront with no cockernees around, having time to do my stuff at home. I dont miss 3am alarms, going in at 11pm. What I do like is no prior organising for games, nights out, parties etc. Now I hate Mondays, get pissed off with waking at 6am, whatever day it is.

 

[itszamora]

I work 5:30am-1:30pm at the moment and am getting really tired of going to bed early and having no life in the week. 9-5 sounds good to me!

 

[beardy gull]

I have worked nights (4 on 4 off) for about the last 10 years. Would hate to go back to 9-5.

 

[Hunting 784561]

I managed to get my London-based employer to allow me to work from home about 3 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did.

I go into London just twice a week for client meetings, and the rest of the time I work from my home office, which overlooks my garden, and the sea.

I would never to back to daily commuting, even if they tried to force me , or threatened to double my salary.

 

[plymouth nige]

I had 16 years of shifts at Wrigleys and I hated it, I am now relocating to Sussex and taking up a 9 to 5 jobs and I cant wait.

 

[Evil Edna]

I work 5:30am-1:30pm at the moment and am getting really tired of going to bed early and having no life in the week. 9-5 sounds good to me!

When I work like that I would come back sleep till 8 then stay up all night then go to work. But I only did this in the winter and only lasted in that job 3 months.

 

[Questions]

Workin' 9 to 5 ? what a way to earn a living. Barely gettin' by and it's all taking and no giving. They just use your mind and they never give you credit. It's enough to drive you crazy, if you let it.