Third shift workers

[RD]

Anyone work nights for a big store/corporation?

I've been having a rough time getting a job but there's a possibility of a third shift position at a walmart. Not ideal, but it's work. I've been a daytime worker for most of my life so this will be a pretty big change for me.

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect? lol

 

[Kaydee]

It depends on alot of factors
Are you more a night person than day person? If a party or even TV show runs to 2 or 3am are you still awake?

Can you get at least a solid 5-7 hours of sleep during the day without outside noises or people-roomates/kids/phone calls bothering you?

Are you under 40 or so? Usually being younger makes you more physically flexible to wacky hours. I used to work midnights with diet Coke, donuts and a pack of smokes no problem. Now I turn into a pumpkin at 2am, it would be much more difficult.

The night shift usually pays more and frees your daytime hours sometimes. I'd say give it a whirl. You'll feel like a vampire for a few weeks till you get used to it, but it's not bad.

 

[Shai]

I know people who've done it for decades and like it and people who don't really care for it but choose it for the extra $ or because their other option is 2nd and then they'd never see their school-age kids. In every successful case it seems like the person adheres to a schedule pretty well.

I've done it twice, both for about 6 months at a time. I don't do well on 3rd...I survive but I'm always a little loopy lol. I wouldn't choose it for myself if there was another option but I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I had no other employment option. Easier to find a job if you have a job, and all that.

 

[Grab]

Not at a store, but I did work third shift in a residential facility. I liked it quite a lot *shrug*. But then, I can get by for days on not a ton of sleep and then catch up on my day off with nary an issue. So I was always able to still do all of the fun day and evening things I wanted. Working first shift now, I'm way more limited in things I can get done.

 

[joce]

My dad and my cousin both do it and love it. My cousin will some days sleep right after work but others she will just go out and ride for hours and get all kinds of things done and just sleep before work. I really think they get more done than I ever do! But its unhealthier supposedly long term.

I have only ever stayed till three am occasionally when someone calls in sick. I can do that. But around 4 or 5am I just can't do it anymore. If I had started right after my party days maybe lol!

 

[JessLough]

My mom works nights, usually 7pm-5am or so. 5 days a week, not always together. She started probably 6 years ago now, though before that she did do a switch of nights/days part time.

I don't think it's all that hard on her, she just has to sleep during the day it means, and some days she leaves for work as she wakes up. The only really hard part she finds, is when she only has one day off at a time, cause she doesn't really feel like it was a day off, since she had to work the night before so she slept through the day anyway.

 

[Beanie]

I didn't regularly work overnights when I was at Target, but I did work them a few times. Especially right before the Christmas season, they would put out a call for volunteers because they needed about double the staff.
Wal-Mart will be a bit different because you'll still have guests in the store. We worked when the store was closed and empty so it was nice, we got TONS done and nobody was around to bug us and ask us where the hairdryers were...
I will say that while I liked plenty of the people who worked overnights and was friends with several of them (some of them were people who worked other shifts during their time at Target so I did work with them other times), many of them were weird individuals for lack of a better word. One of my current co-workers is actually married to one of my Target co-workers and she agrees with me but it's hard to explain. There's just something about them... their social skills aren't very good. They were not pleasant to be around. Several of them were just flat out rude. I worked with a few other people who were like that, but it mattered less in overnights since they didn't have guests to be rude to, so they didn't get fired. =P It just tends to just be a different culture.

I would never want to do it long term honestly, but if that was the only option I had, I would do it in a heartbeat. It wasn't unpleasant, not the worst job I've ever had, just different. And like I said, I was friends with many of the people who worked overnights. It can be hard for your social life because you kind of live on an opposite schedule of everybody else, but depending on what you're comfortable with as far as your sleep schedule goes, it's not like you CAN'T be social and go out with friends and stuff.

 

[LindaJD]

I worked 10pm to 6 am at Kohls for a few years, then they stopped the night shift. I liked it. I was home sleeping when everybody else was at work/school. I also didn't have to deal with customers in the store. Kohls was not the best company to work for, they cut everyones hours in half and then hired more people so they can pay them less. I feel bad whenever I go shopping there, all the part timers hours were severely cut and over the loud speaker every 20 minutes they announce they are hiring.

 

[Kaydee]

Walmart especially tends to put the loud scary "alternative" folks on overnight...bye the bye...as a company in relation to the help, WallyWorld is a Communist state...a job is a job is a job, especially in this economy...but jus sayin

 

[poodlesmom]

My husband worked a swing shift for years in a papermill where he'd be 1 week days, next week afternoons and third week midnights. His all time favorite shift was midnights (11-7). He said the big bosses weren't around and he got so much more done on his off hours. He'd come home and have something to eat and do some chores and then lay down for a couple of hours. Then he'd spend the afternoons doing whatever he wanted or needed to do and lay down again around 5 and get up at 10 to go to get ready for work. He absolutely hated days! lol

 

[RD]

I am a night person and I think that while I'm good at customer service, I am probably better at getting a lot of work done when the place isn't swarming with people. I am going to take the job if th interview goes well.