early or late shift?

[The Notorious LOL]

so my job has the option of working a standard day shift starting between 7:30 and 9:30 AM or an afternoon shift starting between 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM. The shifts switch on a weekly basis, so for example this week I start at 8 but next week its 8:30. I have been working the day shift for the past year. I am debating changing shifts but I am on the fence about it.

Pros of Late Shift:

Shift pay works out to be roughly $2 more an hour
More lax, less supervisors
Wouldnt have to wake up early

Cons:

Wouldnt see the lady as often (although she says we can deal with this)
Starting at 2 would pretty much guarantee my evenings shot, especially on Fridays
Starting at 11:30 would guarantee I cant accomplish much during the day on the weeks I work it.

Every third week I work a weekend, and this wouldnt change. I would still have the occasional free weekday to accomplish stuff I need to get done. Im torn on this.

[Kid Presentable]

Go the late. If your girl can deal, absence always makes the heart grow fonder. Plus the money and shit and shit

[hitmonlee]

i voted early, but that was before i read $2 extra per hour.
so late.

[RobMoney$]

Are you really going to factor this poll into your decision?

[The Notorious LOL]

who knows. Ive asked friends as well what they think and get the standard question dodging answer of "whatever works for you".

[Kid Presentable]

Apt cliche: change is as good as a holiday

[ericlee]

so what time would you get off work on a late shift? 8 or 9? That's not a bad time to get off at all.

Just small things like taking care of personal business is different. Alot of places will be closed before you get off.

I work from 3pm-11pm and I'm quite happy with it, still have plenty of time to see the wife.

[Tzar]

i do 7am - 4pm monday to friday. they're pretty much the best hours at my work. earlish start (not extreme like 4/5am) and i finish before everyone else....and i dont work saturdays. when i move jobs i'd like early starts+early finishes for sure.

[ms.peachy]

My personal preference (even if I leave out all the hassle of childcare and whatnot) would be for earlies. I didn't used to be a morning person but then a brief time few years ago I had a job where I had to be at work as early as 6 sometimes, and I found I really loved those early, quiet hours of the day and overall was much much more productive, both in and out of work. I could finish up work by mid afternoon, go to the gym when hardly anyone else was there, fix a nice dinner and eat out on the patio while it was still light out much of the year... For me I would not find the extra $2 an hour to be worth it.

[AceFace]

my husband worked the late shift for 9 years. in at 2:00, off at 11PM. it worked great for us! of course it was pretty much i had my own life without him and then a life with him on the weekends.

it all changed a few months ago when he got a promotion and now he's on early shift. it sucks realizing that you don't know each other that well and have to get to know each other all over again.

of course now we have more sex so that's yay!

i'd say if you go with the later shift, make sure to switch it every so often, or you may be sacrificing closeness with your girl for an extra $2 an hour.

[ScarySquirrel]

I'd say stick with the early shift. Having evenings destroyed kind of sucks a lot.

[Documad]

I worked evenings and then nights for about a year and a half in my 20s because I made 25% more. If this is a M-F job, you would at least still have Saturday nights. If you're a night owl, then getting off late wouldn't be a huge problem because you would probably have a couple of hours to yourself in the evenings even with the later shift.

You already identified the problem I had with the late shift -- you wind up staying up until 2-3 a.m. and then sleeping in, and unless you're really dedicated to setting alarms and forcing yourself to do stuff, you wind up becoming a slug who does nothing but work and sleep and putter around at home. (No matter how late I work, I cannot go to bed right when I get home. I need an hour or so of puttering time to decompress. Maybe it would be different for you.)

I really liked the night shift. I liked my co-workers more. I liked the aspect of less direct supervision, but it had a downside when it came time for a performance review because when your supervisor works a different shift from you you're more likely to get an "average" rather than an "outstanding" review. (I ultimately quit my night job because I got an average review/raise. :p)

This also might not be an issue for you because you are not single, but the people in my family who worked nights tended to go out drinking with co-workers after work.

[abcdefz]

One thing about working a night shift is you really have to commit to it. Like ericlee said, you're not on "the world's" hours anymore, so, yeah
-- stores may be closed, you're working while others are going to a concert, etc.

Another thing to factor in is how well you would sleep while the sun is shining and the world goes about its business. You have more leeway
for complaint if your neighbor is using his table saw in the driveway at 3:00 a.m. than you do at, say, 3:00 p.m.

Etc.

[ericlee]

my husband worked the late shift for 9 years. in at 2:00, off at 11PM.

No paid lunch hour?

[Documad]

I used to get really angry when people would mow their lawns at 10 a.m.

[Dorothy Wood]

I work 11-7, and it's fine. I probably wouldn't want to work later than that though. I chose the late shift for you because $2 extra an hour is like an extra 300 bucks a month.

my friend just started working at a new job at a juvenile detention center from 1-9pm, tues-sat. It's already screwing up her social life, but they pay her heaps of money.

maybe just try out the late shift, and if you don't like it, go back to early?

[Freebasser]

Early.

[abcdefz]

The flip side of this is that if you work off hours, it COMPLETELY changes what experience you have with traffic.

That can be very, very cool.

[jabumbo]

when you said late shift, i thought you were looking more like the situation i had....


because working 6pm to 6am really sucks ass



but this "late shift" you speak of isnt really too bad sounding. i think its worth trying out, but i would be sure to set an alarm for myself so you have a couple of hours before you work to do some things and actually see people

[Lyman Zerga]

the thread would be more interesting if it said shit


BUT i think time passes so much faster at night

[taquitos]

L8

[The Notorious LOL]

I commute city to suburbs so even at rush hour, there is no traffic for me.

The extra pay would be nice, and could help me pay off some bills sooner. I think about the only thing I like about the day shift is being done between 4 and 6 PM depending on the week. I guess its which do I like more, sleeping in later or getting done earlier?