Changing shifts so to speak

I've worked 2nd and third shift, mostly third shift, for most of my IT career. It's to the point where I'm pretty much useless in the day time so I'm hoping I can find something that lets me do mostly night driving. If I could start around 10p - midnight, get in my drive time and then knock off around 9 - 11 am get a good meal and then get 6-8 hrs of sleep I'd be happier than a pig in slop. Plus like you said there's less traffic on the roads and better truck stop parking.

There's actually a name for the thing you all are talking about. It's called "Shift Work Sleep Disorder" and it's actually recognized by OSHA. The problem is not being able to get into a consistent schedule and this can really impact job performance and in something like trucking obviously safety is the overarching concern!

Years ago I worked in a data center where the head manager got it in her head that because no one wanted to work nights ( that wasn't true ) she'd just spread the misery around and put us all on a 90-day rotating schedule so that no one was stuck on nights permanently. I got into a big argument w/ this person one day when I pointed out that there's actual research that shows definitively that such a schedule can actually reduce the job performance of the entire staff by 20% across the board plus there's a lot more mistakes, morale suffers, people call in more and turnover usually increases. This place was pretty bad for turnover as a lot of people would quit usually after two or three rotations b/c that goofy schedule was also messing up their lives outside of work. This particular manager claimed it was just b/c people were lazy and didn't want to work. I ended up quitting after about a year myself!

 

I had one manager who was such a... (USDA Choice Bad Profanity...)

Mind you this was a temp job at London Fog in Maryland near Skyesville. I did not escape the Workshop situation at the State School to sit and fold more envelopes at a large table around little girls making noises like Magpies over every little thing.

And by lunch I was not in a good temper. I learned to get a sponge from my car, a cup of water and started sponging the envelopes shut. Easy. And more important... fast.

Manager sees this. Looms over me and taps me imperiously on the shoulder and say

"We do not do letters that way, it reflects poorly on London Fog's Mission Statement for that kind of cheating on the job."

If I wanted to cheat on the job I would have grabbed Hilda over in the corner chair and found a work closet somewhere to consummate that. How would the boss feel about that? (Keep in mind I was not in a good frame of mind having been picked at by female magpies all the day...)

6 minutes after that I was on my way home in the car. Temp boss calls and asks me what happened in there?

I told her deaf people do not handle workshop tasks very well. And Dominatrixes for bosses are not welcome.

"Silence on the other end of the phone"

I don't know how to process that statement you just made Mr Temp.

I told her don't worry about it because I am finished with that crazy outfit.

Now this post may have stepped on some toes related to workplace and so on. But it was a total and absolute mistake to submit my time and trouble to something that is capable of draining your spirit and soul out of life.

If I am going to go to work, it will be at a job for which I can live for in the morning and hurry to get started already. It will be a hell of a time at work having fun doing the different tasks related to driving a Semi. Thus it is fun time not work time.

I just had a thought while writing this wondering how many of those gossipping magpies are still in that facility.

God I hope not.

 

It's tough to flip your schedule back and forth like you describe. My advice is switch to decaf coffee. It will take a while for you to feel normal. Once you are off caffeine you can initiate sleep with 1mg of Melatonin, which can take 30-60 minutes to take effect. Instead you can use the sleep version of Nyquil, like Chinatown mentioned. That usually takes about 20-30 minutes to work. On days you really have to sleep NOW, do both. There effects are fast acting. They make you drowsy pretty quick, not shut your brain down and make you oversleep or wake to heavy grogginess. The OTC sleeping pills made me feel like a dead man trying to wake up. If you try them use half the dose to reduce the "waking zombie" effect.

One warning about Melatonin, if you take it daily for very long you may find you cannot sleep without it. Also, keep the dosr as low as possible. I and others will have nightmares if the dose is too high. 1mg dose isn't as easy to find as the 5 & 10mg. If necessary use a pill cutter.

 

You can do split-breaks, or figure out when you can use them. Not going to fix the problem but it may help. Or make things harder.

Good luck.

 

A good reefer outfit like DOT or Freymiller should give you a lot of night driving.

As far as I know neither company takes student drivers but once you have a CDL should be fine.

Sounds like DOT pays better, but Freymiller probably has more comfortable trucks. I see a lot of DOT running north east and Midwest. Freymiller I don't know I see them all over not really concentrated anywhere.

I use half a unisom when I anticipate possible sleep difficulty due to a changing schedule. Havent had any issues and it works pretty good.

 

Give the load to me, i will run it no problem.... Some of u drivers would complain about a free blow job because ur 'too tired'..... I done worked 3 days last week 3 different shifts,started night shift. Afternoon shift next day. Morning shift day after.. week before same thing... this week 2 day shifts. Then switch to night run, then set up for a 2am to 1pm run today and gettin set up for an overnight run tmrw....i love it, but i aint afraid to make money

 

Some drivers can sleep on command, and for as long as they want.

I have noticed its getting easier and easier for me to be that way as time goes on. A couple of times I have done almost 24 hours sleeping... Waking up for an hour here and there.

I would prefer to just drive overnight. Truckers seem to be better drivers and more courteous during the overnight hours.

Woke up at 7am once to do some work. Wasnt driving. We got delayed due to reefer issues. Well my evening nap before my overnight drive never happened. Started driving and bout 4 hours in I found a nail in my Tandems and it was a bad leak. So took it to a TA to get fixed. 2 hour delay. Come 7AM the next morning I was so tired I was getting the Black Dog visions. So i park and wake up partner. 2 and half hours left on clock, but I was NOT safe to keep driving. Partner pissed and whined I stopped early and drive as much as I normally did. I told that kid I had been awake 24 hours. In one ear and out the other. Had I rolled the truck he would really have something to whine about.

 

If you feel that you are a danger to the other drivers on the road or getting to that point, shut down at your receiver and take 10 hours. Don't accept a load until you feel better. At that point run the way you want to run, either accept the load or don't. They will not terminate you, they need you more than you know. Stay for a year and find something local.

 

You guys are all the same. All talk until I see you upside down in a ditch or looking at your tail lights in the woods. lol

Then when everybody passes you it's graveyard quiet on the CB. Nobody talking like super truckers for the next 10 miles or so.lol