How Work Works
Friends of mine know what I do for a living, and I don't want to talk about that here. What I do want to talk about is my hours, and how they affect my life through the week.
I have two kinds of shift, which I will call the "sit-down" and "stand-up" shifts. I'm on a five week cycle where I do four weeks of sit-down and one of stand-up. They both start in the early morning - sit-down at 8:30am, stand-up at 7:30am. I used to start both shifts at 7:30, but that got too brutal. I just can't handle getting up that early. I wasn't able to get any work done because I'd be tired all day, every day. They will let you change sit-down hours somewhat, but the stand-up shift is not negotiable.
Some elaboration on what these shifts mean: both require me to focus my attention very sharply all day, studying and evaluating a lot of minor details. The sit-down shift has me doing this in a stationary position, essentially all day. Movement is minimal, which makes it very easy to get sleepy on that shift. That's bad news, because one fuckup at my job could cost someone their life (and on a lesser note, cost me my career).
The stand-up shift requires just as much attention, and I'm that much more tired doing it because of the earlier start time. Fortunately, this shift requires me to be on my feet all day, moving around a fair bit and doing (ridiculously light) manual labour. That sort of thing wakes you up a little, so I can be considerably more tired for that shift and still be effective.
If I'm going to go out or do any socializing after 11pm, it should be during the stand-up week. I'll feel shittier the next day, but being physically active will allow me to work through it. In a sit-down week fatigue is more distracting, so I have to work more slowly to feel confident in my results, and thus, get less done.
I guess the purpose of this entry is to point out the irony that the early shift is the one better suited to working tired. Actually, maybe that isn't ironic. Hm...
I have two kinds of shift, which I will call the "sit-down" and "stand-up" shifts. I'm on a five week cycle where I do four weeks of sit-down and one of stand-up. They both start in the early morning - sit-down at 8:30am, stand-up at 7:30am. I used to start both shifts at 7:30, but that got too brutal. I just can't handle getting up that early. I wasn't able to get any work done because I'd be tired all day, every day. They will let you change sit-down hours somewhat, but the stand-up shift is not negotiable.
Some elaboration on what these shifts mean: both require me to focus my attention very sharply all day, studying and evaluating a lot of minor details. The sit-down shift has me doing this in a stationary position, essentially all day. Movement is minimal, which makes it very easy to get sleepy on that shift. That's bad news, because one fuckup at my job could cost someone their life (and on a lesser note, cost me my career).
The stand-up shift requires just as much attention, and I'm that much more tired doing it because of the earlier start time. Fortunately, this shift requires me to be on my feet all day, moving around a fair bit and doing (ridiculously light) manual labour. That sort of thing wakes you up a little, so I can be considerably more tired for that shift and still be effective.
If I'm going to go out or do any socializing after 11pm, it should be during the stand-up week. I'll feel shittier the next day, but being physically active will allow me to work through it. In a sit-down week fatigue is more distracting, so I have to work more slowly to feel confident in my results, and thus, get less done.
I guess the purpose of this entry is to point out the irony that the early shift is the one better suited to working tired. Actually, maybe that isn't ironic. Hm...
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 4:20 PM
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