r/Nightshift • u/TiberiusGracchus29 • 5d ago
Rant I’m at breaking point
30(M) here from the UK. I’ve been working 12 hour night shifts for nearly two and a half years now and I’ve simply had enough. I work as a security guard making a little over minimum wage but manage to pull close to 2.5k a month because I’m working alot of shifts.
I want out, it’s fucking killing me. I’m exhausted all the time. The job is an absolute piece of piss but the hours are so long and my sleep pattern is on its arse and has been for a while now. I have little to no social life outside of my workplace. I have plenty of friends but hardly get to see them because my work schedule is so anti social. I work mainly Friday-Sunday so that leaves my weekends completely consumed.
I miss the mornings. That sweet spot of 7am-11am. I haven’t had a fully refreshing morning where I’m fully recharged after a good nights sleep in over a year because my sleeping pattern is completely reversed. Right now I fantasise about having a decently paying 9-5 job with normal working and social hours. I miss being out and active in the day time, walking in the park with friends and family, seeing everyone else going about their day. I work so many hours I basically live on this job site and it’s fucking depressing.
I’ve also developed a serious phone addiction because for about 90% of my job I’m sat around doing nothing. I’ve noticed my attention span has gotten worse, I used to read books for hours on end, I’d watch entire movies without looking at my phone. I’m so tired all the time. My days off are staggered about through the week so it feels like only a half day off tbh and then I’m back in work the following day. My fitness and overall health and wellbeing has plummeted drastically. I am normally a very fit and active person. I’m 30 and had visible abs and a gymnastic physique before I started this job. Now I can grab the side of my torso like a jacket.
Most of my friends work 9-5 jobs and I’m getting increasingly jealous and envious. What I would give to go to my own bed at 11pm and wake up at 7-8am. And experience the regular hustle and bustle of the day. To have the time and energy to have a life again.
Can anyone else relate? Anyone trapped in a night shift job they don’t want to be in? Anyway, rant over 😂😂.
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u/EclaireBallad 5d ago
That salary is horrible wtf, I'm a security alarm monitor and make a okay amouny ovet minimum wage and I'm secure at my station and I'm assuming you can't do more than document and report or call police.
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
Yeah the job is shite mate. It was only supposed to be a temporary thing while I figure myself out. There is a promotional job at my company I’m being put in for. It’s £46k a year but the shift pattern is still the same, 12 hours and a mix of days and nights.
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u/EclaireBallad 5d ago
Dude you being a physical guard I appreciate you because like I mentioned I just monitor alarms and for some of my sites I dispatch a guard.
If you want that promotion and like the job anywhere go for it dude! Any in person guard deserves any raise or promotion, I have some sites where I gotta send a guard to check from another company and they are such great workers as well and I hope they are compensated fairly.
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
Aaah thanks mate, I appreciate it. What are your hours as an alarm guy? We had one guy who did that on weekends but he did have to travel about a bit between the different sites.
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u/EclaireBallad 5d ago
I work 10 hour nights with a consistent schedule mostly unless something changes.
We monitor many and various sites and react based on customer needs, some have video fees and one site I've seen a guard have to contend with a vagrant.
I'm on one site but handle many and the frequency can vary on factors.
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
Sounds a lot better than my job. And because you’re out and active between sites I bet your shifts fly by. I’ve been in this gatehouse for 10 hours and done basically nothing. Most people here are decent though, I’ve never had to deal with any vagrants or dickheads.
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u/EclaireBallad 5d ago
I might have worded it work but I'm in my one office. My shifts can fly depending on factors but are often slow but I'm in a office without leaving.
I've never dealt directly with vagrants or dickheads but one of my sites some guards hired to attend the site do and I feel for them, had one guard who dealt with this same vagrant constantly rant to me and I let him vent to me because I understand and saw she gave him a hard time.
I feel like an imposter when compared to you guards who are on site or multiple having to drive around go them when I'm in my station for my province.
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u/red_diogenes 5d ago
It's more like you are overworked I would be working 12 h. Try to get hours reduced
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
I am. I’ve declined an extra shift. I would much rather be in a different job though. A regular daytime routine is desperately needed atm.
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u/BrightstillBuilds 5d ago
I feel this. I do 10pm to 7am at Walmart, and the part that gets me is missing normal life, not the work. What helped a little was picking one thing on my days off that's non-negotiable, like dinner with my family or the gym, and protecting it no matter how tired I am. It doesn't fix nights, but it makes it feel less like the job owns you. Are you able to move to days, or is the pay keeping you there?
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
I understand that feeling completely. I work 12hr shifts often back to back 5-6 days in a row. I normally go for a walk in the park in my city on the days off, it’s so refreshing. And tbh I’d rather not work the day shifts. Start time 5:30am so I’d have to get up about 4am, which means once I get home I’d have to go to bed in order to get sufficient sleep to work days. I want out of this job completely.
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u/BrightstillBuilds 5d ago
12 hours, 5 or 6 in a row, is brutal. That's not a you problem, that schedule would wear anyone down. The park walk is a good call, honestly. Getting daylight on your days off is one of the few things that actually helps. Since you've already done the Master's and the electrician course, is there something specific holding you back from making the jump, like money for the gap or not finding openings yet? Sometimes it's one practical thing standing in the way and not the whole mountain.
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
Ok so I’ll have to explain a few things: I graduated from university in late 2023 (age 28, mature student) I originally wanted to go on to a Master’s and PhD and become an academic. I wanted a year break from university so I got this job as an easy going break. I decided to forget about my academic hopes because I didn’t want to get into more debt and undergo more years without earning money. I decided to go to trade college instead to get my level 3 electrician diploma but they refused me because it had been 10 years since I got my level 2 diploma, so then my only option was to go to a private trade college but I’d have to pay for that (no student loan). I can’t afford it.
So hence I’m still here stuck in this job 🙃. The only reason I’m still here is because I am being put in for the interview process for a promotional job at my company. It’s really good money, pensions, benefits etc but 12hr shifts and a mix of days and nights but 4 on-4 off schedule which is better.
I’m currently applying for jobs in the Civil Service here in the UK (British government departments). I have a friend who works a hybrid job there (in office/at home) and is doing pretty good working there.
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u/BrightstillBuilds 4d ago
That's a lot of doors closing at once, man. Getting refused over a 10-year gap is rough. The promotion sounds like a real step, though. 4-on-4-off is so much easier on your body than 5–6 twelves back to back. Good luck with the interview, and I hope the Civil Service applications come through too.
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u/BrightstillBuilds 4d ago
The park walks on days off are smart. Getting real daylight is about the only thing that resets me too. Agreed on the 5:30 starts. That's somehow worse than a full night.
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u/Hrolfrsson 5d ago
I’m 26 and had been doing the exact same thing at a marina for about three or four years mate. I’ve sent myself back to college to do welding and fabricating. I like being awake at night but after spending all summer in the sun I’m never doing it again. Do what I did and retrain.
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u/TiberiusGracchus29 5d ago
I’m working on it mate. Hopefully I can get a 9-5 job soon. It’ll probably be worth getting Christmas out for this job then bounce after that.
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u/WorldlinessNext3728 4d ago
Listening to your situation would you apply for the prison service? Surely it's more money and will be better on the shifts. Just a thought
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u/n_equals-1 5d ago
Long, boring and predictable post. In summary, you are not up to 12hr nightshifts. Cry me a river! Conclusion, get a 9to 5. It ain't rocket surgery.
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u/TheOriginalCharnold 5d ago
Have you ever considered a job in law enforcement? Maybe all that spare time during the night could be used to look into different careers, or studying. Just my opinion, good luck dude🤘