So here’s my day structure out in the open for all to read, now that we are doing a night shift.
- Last Tuesday, in the afternoon, we were given the information that we would be moving to an over night shift from the next day. But before we did that, there were some technical stuff to be sorted out. Thus, the technical guy and I would be staying over night to sort stuff out and do some testing. We said ok, so after we sent off the rest of the employees at 6pm, the two of us settled down for what would be a long day at work. We did some work and took turns at taking cat naps and made some test calls to the US and things were mostly settled by 5:45 am. By 6:30 I went to the bus stop and made my way back home.
- After that the real nigh shift started so, I leave home a little after 8:30 pm and catch a bus heading towards the little town where my office is located. There’s a bus headed to Chalakudy at 9pm, which takes a direct route and saves time for me, and that’s perfect for me. I reach the office by 10pm. I usually buy a 7up and a small packet of biscuits for the long ride.
- Dinner is bought along the way and I eat it at the office usually around 11 pm. I also buy biscuits or bananas and there’s coffee and tea powder for us to drink and keep ourselves awake if needed.
- At 6am we leave the office. Or usually its by 6:30 pm and I walk to the bus stop and wait for a relatively less crowded bus to take me to the Angamaly KSRTC bus stand. There’s two buses from Angamaly to the main city area of Ernakulam that I target – at 7am there’s the Angamaly-Fort Kochi orange Volvo low floor, air-conditioned bus that’s comfort on wheels. Or at 7:20 am there’s the cheaper, no air-conditioned, green Volvo Angamaly-Ernakulam bus. I reach home by 8 am or 8:20 depending on which bus I take and am having coffee at my laptop 10 minutes later.
- Breakfast and sitting at the laptop for a couple of hours later, I go to sleep at 11am and wake up at 2pm for lunch. About 20 minutes later I’m back in bed and sleeping again. I’m not sure if this is the right way to do it but I’m yet to get into a routine, a rhythm, a groove! by 5:30 pm I’m awake once again and watching Youtube videos or tv series episodes that I downloaded. By 7:45pm, I go to the toilet, take a bath and shave. I reach the bus stop by 8:30pm and await my bus.
And the cycle repeats itself.
Will you be doing a night shift permanently? I know how hard it is to get sleep patterns established and so on because one of my friends is a nurse and is always struggling with her routines. I hope it all works out for you.
I guess for a few months or so. the timing might change to 10pm till 7am and if things go right as we expect and we can expand in a couple of months, I will hire a couple of more guys and move myself to the morning shift.
Its hard to get into this shift at the age of 34. I did graveyard shifts for 7 months back in 2003 and it was easier back then. I feel I’m getting old. Sleep is rough on me during the day.