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Graveyard shift: the empire I built
11 years ago
General
I've been working graveyard shift at my current job for seven years. A lot has happened in that time. Everything about the job has changed, some things changed so often I stopped keeping track. But I still know my job like the back of my hand and nobody does it as well as I do, nor with as much style (if I do say so myself).
In seven years, I've accumulated a lot of extra powers and roles in my job. I do the schedule for myself and my team (within reason). I am the primary trainer for everyone coming into the team. I even have a hand in HR decisions concerning my team. No other person on my level has that sort of authority.
But it's still graveyard shift. And there's hundreds of problems with working night shift, and probably hundreds more that you don't immediately think of. I know I've run into problems that surprised me. Which is why I've been petitioning my boss to get out of night shift for almost five years now.
So I should be happier now that my boss tells me he's finally getting me out of there? He was almost giddy when he told me. He's hired people to take my spot, I'm to train them as best I can within the next three months. Then, he's demoting two people on the day shifts to put me in their spot.
It's what I wanted, more or less, right? Why don't I feel happier about it? Maybe it's because I'll be taken out of my comfort zone and forced to learn an entirely different set of tasks to accomplish. Maybe it's because I'll lose those personal connections I've forged with my team over the past years. Maybe it's because I'm technically losing a bunch of the privileges I've worked so hard to get.
Everything is going to change. Even if it is for the better, I still feel that I'm losing something for this. I tell myself I'll finally be able to have a social life, visit people, take real vacation time, and exist in normal society again. But it doesn't help that much. I'm sure I'll be happier once it is all said and done, and I'm past the "change" phase and into my groove again. But right now I'm not giddy. I'm sitting with quiet contemplation, wondering what is next to come.
But I don't like ending on a downer note. I should have another journal up sometime soon talking about something at AC that made me quite happy.
In seven years, I've accumulated a lot of extra powers and roles in my job. I do the schedule for myself and my team (within reason). I am the primary trainer for everyone coming into the team. I even have a hand in HR decisions concerning my team. No other person on my level has that sort of authority.
But it's still graveyard shift. And there's hundreds of problems with working night shift, and probably hundreds more that you don't immediately think of. I know I've run into problems that surprised me. Which is why I've been petitioning my boss to get out of night shift for almost five years now.
So I should be happier now that my boss tells me he's finally getting me out of there? He was almost giddy when he told me. He's hired people to take my spot, I'm to train them as best I can within the next three months. Then, he's demoting two people on the day shifts to put me in their spot.
It's what I wanted, more or less, right? Why don't I feel happier about it? Maybe it's because I'll be taken out of my comfort zone and forced to learn an entirely different set of tasks to accomplish. Maybe it's because I'll lose those personal connections I've forged with my team over the past years. Maybe it's because I'm technically losing a bunch of the privileges I've worked so hard to get.
Everything is going to change. Even if it is for the better, I still feel that I'm losing something for this. I tell myself I'll finally be able to have a social life, visit people, take real vacation time, and exist in normal society again. But it doesn't help that much. I'm sure I'll be happier once it is all said and done, and I'm past the "change" phase and into my groove again. But right now I'm not giddy. I'm sitting with quiet contemplation, wondering what is next to come.
But I don't like ending on a downer note. I should have another journal up sometime soon talking about something at AC that made me quite happy.
LaurenRivers
~laurenrivers
Well, I hope it works out for you. I know the feeling, change can be terrifying. You want something new but you don't want to mess yourself up.
zidders
~zidders
The odds are you'll do fine it's just going to take awhile to adjust. It's always stressful going from what you know to something new. I wish you the best, and hope things work out.
Rockness
~rockness
Humans are creatures of habit, and change is something that never comes without some sort of resistance. I HATED my job. I was on medication for anxiety and stress because of it, and when I put in my 2 weeks to quit for my new job (which was 110% better anyway), I still had that resistence there lingering. It just takes you out of your norm, and scrambles things up for a bit. It'll be a change for sure, but it's something you'll be able to do.
Zoomaster
~zoomaster
At least we will be able to do stuff in the daytime. And there won't be any complaining about taking too long at the gym, and missing your beauty sleep. OOO... we can start hiking again.
Scotty_the_Minotaur
~scottytheminotaur
You seem introspective. A good quality to have. Maybe even sensitive. Diffenately smart. So I get the impression you've a good bead on things at work, and I'm certain you'll do fine, being taken out of your comfort zone. Maybe you'll get more challenges and responsibilities/privelidges in the new position. The coveted day shift!
changes like that, where you're kicked out of your comfort zone, do take some getting used to. but that extra authority and such that you've earned? given time again you'll work back up to it, because you have the seniority and the experience others look to. I never made it to management at my old job, but i was trusted with tasks that other departments were supposed to do, but didn't do right, so i did them. Training new hires, working departments that are not my own, that was things that the team leads usually had to do, but since i knew how to do it, i did it.
