Good morning everyone! I need some advice if you can help.
Have any of you ever worked third shift or know someone that has? Did you/they like it? My boss has propositioned me about going to third as the supervisor on that shift was recently promoted. My DH isn't too happy about the idea, though. I am considering it for several reasons -
It would give me the opportunity to learn something new. The supervisor job on 3rd is totally different and has more responsibilities than mine on 2nd.
I want to go back to school and the shift I work now is hard to do that. The program I am interested in is accelerated and meets one night a week. I currently work 1PM-9PM.
It would give me exposure to a different group of people. I will have twelve people under me instead of ten and three are women. Right now I supervise all men. There is a lot of drama on second because our shift overlaps with first. There's constant arguing and fighting between the hourly employees. Lately I've been really stressed out about it and I think that is why I have so much trouble sleeping. This is not the main reason for going to third. In fact, I would never take the job to simply get away from people. I know there will be stress on third, but since it's a slower paced shift and only our shift in the bldg, I think it will cut down on the drama.
As I've said, DH doesn't want me to do it. If I don't take the job, it would be for that reason. He thinks we won't get to spend any time together except on the weekends. He works 1st shift, typically 7AM-5PM. I explained to him that it would not be much different than it is now. If get home around 7:30AM and go to bed around 9, I would be awake by the time he gets home. We could eat dinner together and hang out a little before I go to work. I don't imagine being the type of third shifter that could sleep in the evenings, unless it was just a quick power nap.
I have a few concerns about 3rd shift as well. The biggest one being, what if I hate it?? Right now I like my job. What if I end up hating it simply because of the hours? What I keep telling myself though is that success sometimes means taking risks. This position could quite possibly advance my career, so this is likely a good risk. But I don't know because I've never worked third.
Another concern I have - and I plan to talk to my boss about this - if I do take the job it starts Sunday night. Well, I am scheduled to work this Saturday, at least eight hours but possibly twelve. (As a company, we always work the last Saturday of every month for inventory.) That would mean that I won't get a day off until Friday of next week. I don't know if I like that idea. But that is why I'm going to talk to the boss about it, perhaps we can compromise.
Even if you don't have any advice, thanks for letting me type this out. I feel better.