36 Long Hours

emma, first of all welcome to A2k

i worked 4-10's (fridays off) for a few months, and all i ever wanted to do on fridays was sleep all day.

couple questions --
how much of a commute do u have?
what will u be doing, and do u enjoy it?

a lot will prolly depend on how u feel about the work and how they treat you...

Everyone (about 70 of us) on the offshore platform I work on pulls twelve hour shifts. I'm on the 5/2 schedule (work five days and then get two days off), most of the Brits are on 6/3 (work every day for six weeks, and then get three weeks off), and most of the locals are on 7/3-7/4 (work seven days, then get three days off, then work seven more days and get four days off).

(Our only commuting is walking 30 meters or so across the bridge from the Accommodation Platform to the Auxiliary Platform)

It's not a lot of fun, but you do in this life what you have to.

Emma, I also want to welcome you to A2K.

I know someone else who works those hours (almost exactly) plus over-time when he can. He also works for a petrol feul corp - like Jim - at a refinery in SoCal. If I can, I'll have him pop in here. He's not a regular A2Ker.

Howdy do, I am the SoCal petrol worker. I too welcome you to A2K. My schedule is a bit different, I work rotating twelve hour shifts. I'll work a couple of days 6am to 6pm then I'll have a few days off at which time I'll work a couple of nights 6pm to 6am. Without overtime I work 7 days every two weeks.

The main thing I'd tell you is to get yourself as organized as you can. By that I mean get stuff out of the way you won't feel like doing at the end of twelve hours like cooking, cleaning or running errands. I don't know how long your commute will be but don't forget to factor that into your days. I say that because sometimes you might feel like taking on the world when you get out of work only to find by the time you actually get home you've hit the wall.

I think you'll be fine just remember to be kind to yourself. It doesn't take long to get used to have four days off in a row.

All the best to you Emma.

Thanks, Mr Daley!

I also welcome you aboard. I work a seasonal job where we work very long hours, 6 days a week for 6 weeks (between 60 and 70 hrs a week), then it slows down for 2 weeks and then we have 2 weeks off the first few weeks of July. We start back up in the middle of July and we work 45 to 50 hour weeks, 6 days a week until the middle of Dec, where we are off for 4 1/2 months.
The first 6 weeks are brutal, but that 2 weeks off in July is nice and having the whole winter off is awesome!
I know it's not the same thing, but it is about working long hours and I personally like having the time off.
I think I'd like the idea of working 12 hour days, 3 days a week, if it meant getting those 4 days off.

Best wishes, Emma :-D