How to Get People to Understand the Night Shift Lifestyle

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The impact of working the night shift is sometimes hard for friends and family to understand. Unless they have done shift work themselves, they have no real understanding that calling or visiting at noon is a real problem for those that sleep during the day. Unless they fully comprehend the differences, resentment can build on both sides.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Answering Machine
Caller ID (optional)

Step1

Explain to friends and family, clearly and concisely, that you will be unavailable during certain hours of the day, because like them, you have to sleep sometime. Let them know the hours you will be available.

Step2

Invest in an answering machine. Set the call pick-up to 1 or 2 rings.

Step3

Order call waiting from your telephone. Many people do not like talking to a machine and this will help you know the calls you missed.

Step4

Turn off the ringer on your phone when you go to bed. Unless you have a known family member who may need emergency help, there is no reason to be awakened by the ringing of the phone.

Step5

Disconnect the doorbell. If someone knocks and it wakes you, turn over and go back to sleep.

Step6

Put a note on your door saying, Sleeping Now, Please Call Again. Although some will ignore this, others may just need a reminder.

Tips & Warnings

Often, there is at least one friend or family member that just won’t ‘get it’. They are the ones that either calls continuously throughout the day or just show up on your doorstep. The best you can do, is explain the situation again and then just ignore them until you’re ready to talk or visit.
If you just can’t stand the thought of missing calls during the day, turn the ringer off but turn the answering machine up to the point you can hear it in the bedroom. Record a short message. When people begin leaving their message, then you can decide whether or not to get up and answer the phone.
Let everyone know what time you have the alarm set for, most people will respect this and not call until after that time.

Comments

favefive said

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on 11/30/2007 Good advice! I work both shifts and it is really hard for others to understand whenever I work the late nightshift. This article is helpful.

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