for me at least, 8 hours any other time of the day is less bad than the constant awful grind of 9-5
you’re always commuting right when everyone else is commuting, you have to be up early every morning (and it always FEELS early – if you’re naturally waking up at noon but have work at 1 that doesn’t feel as much like a boot stamping on your face forever), many things are only open during those hours so there’s always a time crunch if you have errands
and it just feels worse. you feel like a depressed office worker in a movie. by 5pm the day’s already over, the sun is setting in winter. and the most insufferable of all, imo: once it’s evening, you start feeling dread for tomorrow. so it’s like you’re never truly off work because you know you have to go to bed early to be up early to go right back.
somehow these standard hours are the most offensive possible to personal autonomy and mood.
i’m extremely lucky to have a WFH at the moment where i can make my own hours; when i work approx 9-5 like that, i just feel so trapped. i don’t want to go to the store before work because i just woke up and can’t be bothered, i can’t go after because traffic is a nightmare and i’m exhausted by then. it just sucks. there’s no mystery or magic to it. working food service until 2am felt cool, it felt cool getting paid to stay up late and make pizza and have a ‘good reason’ to have a weird sleep schedule and be out super late. 9-5 makes me feel like jim from the office except less charismatic
I consider second shift to be worse - I worked 3-11 for awhile and its just depressing. You wake up and can do things, but you’re just waiting to go to work. When you get out, it’s pretty late and most people are going to bed.
9-5 allows me to have my relaxation time at the end of the day, along with everyone else. Any other shift feels lonely, and like you’re off-sync from the rest of society.
Worked a 2-10pm shift and actually loved it. Its definitely lifestyle-dependent but it suited people who were younger and single. A group of us would go out to bars/clubs right after work and the be able to sleep in. The best part of this middle shift is that its not hard on your circadian rhythm AND you get to avoid most management presence for your shift.
Ooh I didn’t think about it like that - but then again I was a bit of a homebody even in my 20’s lol
Definitely depends on your social circle then: my group of friends were mostly 9-5 and did stuff together in the evening, so it felt like I was always missing out.
I have gone to bars in my scrubs before working evening shift at a hospital. Evening shift is absolutely great when you are in your 20’s.
When I worked retail I liked 3am to 12pm-1ish depending on the day. While it had me going to bed earlier than most people, it did allow me to feel like I still had some day left to get other things done.
Now I work for myself and while I do have to be willing to work when/where the work is, I have a lot more freedom and am working towards getting that same schedule back if I can.
I liked nights as well! I used to work 11-7 for some shifts, and while it was still a little lonely to go to work while people were heading to bed, I still had the whole day to do things if needed. It got me into the bad habit of just staying up for 24 hours if I wanted to do things in the evening though
I didn’t like night’s as much. Probably because the way my townhouse was facing my room was lit up by the setting sun reflecting off the building across the street. Even with black out curtains. Plus with that shift, even if you want to go do something with others on the same schedule, nothing is open besides waffle house and a couple of other restaurants.
2am-11am (idk what shift that is) is even worse. I drove to work without a seat belt hoping a drunk driver would hit me.
Graveyard shift
Oh, duh. My brain was stuck on 1st, 2nd, etc.
I feel you. I actually liked nights, but the burnout is real. I’d have trouble sleeping during the day, and had a horrible sleep schedule trying to keep up my personal life and still work nights