Night shift.
It sounds alright and all at first. It's a four day week, Monday through Thursday nights, 9pm 'til 6am the next morning, paid for 10 hours. And then there's the shift differential. An extra 15% for working while the rest of the world is sleeping. And if you're young and single it's probably well worth it. But if you have a family it's absolutely wreaks havoc on anything resembling normal life. You only get a few hours each evening with your family between when they get home and when you have to leave for work. And then you spend most of the weekend trying to catch up on sleep because no matter how much you sleep during the day you're still exhausted all the time.
Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to be working and the three months I spent in various grocery stores rewiring security systems while the customers were out of the store was MUCH better than being furloughed - which is how a bunch of guys at my company ended up. But it really does a number on your life. Especially since my wife and I were trying to buy a house - an incredibly stressful and crazy process to begin with!
Luckily, after three months of toughing it out, everything has seemed to work out for the best. My wife and I found a great new house (we're moving on Saturday) and I've been transferred to a dayshift job incredibly close to where I live. I have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.
Expect a more rested and talkative blogger in the future.
