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I've been offered a new job recently. It's not exactly "better" than what I do currently (in the comfort of my own home no less), but it does offer better pay. Problem is, I've been on a very fucked up sleep schedule for like 10 years (Wake up at noonish, go to sleep at around 5:00 A.M.). I'm not sure I can adjust. Not right away at least.

The new job is 7:30-4:30, and takes a little over an hour to commute. I'd have to wake up at 5:30-ish at least. Is this what "normal" people do everyday? According to them it is.

Just curious on what the average is.

Yes, that's about "normal." I work 8:30-5 p.m. every weekday, have weekends off, etc. I'm also the type of person who will sleep the hours you talk about if I don't have anywhere to be, such as on weekends. I can say with honesty that my body has never adjusted to the schedule, which isn't helped by the fact I usually stay up til midnight every work night and get up at 7 a.m. You may be just the kind of guy whose body is set to night time.

My hours are generally about 4:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.  When I worked swing shift (7 years) I had your hours and it sucked to switch over, but it can be done.  Just expect your life be "difficult" for the first two weeks or so.

My hours are 9 til 5. I have never, and will never adjust to working in the morning. It killed Descartes.

6:30a - 3:00p

Yeah, that's a pretty standard schedule for life in an office.

I work from 7-4, and my job is about 35-40 mins away, which means I wake-up around 5:15 on work days.  When I had the same schedule at a much closer firm (8 min drive) I was waking up around 6:15.

In my 20s when co-oping I'd hit the hay at around 12:30-1:30 and not have any problems getting up for work at the same time.  Recently I've noticed that I have a hell of a time getting up if I stay up much past 11:45-12.

   Notice that's still only about 5-6 hours of sleep, the same as you say you're getting now. I know I'm able to work and function normally on a lot less sleep than most of my co-workers who say they go to bed at around 10, maybe 11 so they can get in at about the same time or an hour after me. (only 2 guys get here earlier.)  It all depends on how much sleep you personally need and if you're a morning person or not. (I am.)

My standard work day is 10 to 5pm, however I also do '4 region' conference type calls (US, Asia, Europe, Japan), which I do from 11pm to about 12:30am.  I also do calls with Italy from 8am to about 9:30pm twice a week.  So I am still averaging the 40 hours per week, just more broken up. :)

Our company also has 'flex time' where I can log in and work from home about 5 to 10 hours per week if required.

7:30/8-6/7 as needed. My commute is 40 minutes driving.

Rather than give my "work hours", I'll just say when I'm in my office.  I do a lot at home and I screw off a lot while in my office.  I'm in the ivory tower of academia and work more because I'm passionate about what I do than because someone keeps track.  Here's a typical week:

M W F 6:30am - 5:30 or 6:00pm
T Th  8:30am - 5:30 or 6:00pm
Sat 9-noon (I've been taking it off about every other week)
Sun 10am - 4pm.  Longer if I'm under a deadline.

8 to 5.

Every fucking day.

Except the ones I pretend to be sick.

9-5, wake at 8.

8 to 5 here.  I've worked other odd schedules before and I prefer this one.  It was easy enough to adjust to.

I get up at 7 and am at work by about 7:55 where I do nothing until I'm damn well ready too (usually 2 cups of coffee a breakfast bar and I've run out of web sites to surf).

It helps to have a job where everyone else thinks what you do is magic and that I get in the building 30 minutes before anyone else.

6pm-2am Mon-Wed
2am-10am Sat-Sun

I rather enjoy it for the most part, nothing really goes on in the beginning of the week usually, and I have all the good weekend hours off.  Only issue is if I wanted to do something that takes all day, it would have to be thursday or friday.  And everything closes way too early here. :/

8 hours starting from whenever I get in, which is between 10 and 11:30.

I work 3rd shift, so my hours are 11pm-7am. I have had late shift jobs pretty much my entire life. I think in my 16 years of working I have only had 3 jobs with "real" hours and none of them lasted very long because I just can't handle the hours very well, so I always ended up getting there late too many times. I once had a job where I was working one 9pm-5am shift, two 5am-1pm shifts and two 1pm-9pm shifts during the week. That was a pretty fucked up schedule and I never knew if I was coming or going.

Your sleep schedule can be adjusted, but it usually takes a little while to get used to it. At first you will find yourself a little tired and discombublated because your body is used to be asleep at certain times. If you do take the job, the important thing is to strictly regulate your sleep schedule until you are used to it. So that means if you decide to go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 5:30, then don't deviate from that even during the weekends, at least for the first couple of weeks. Once you get used to the feeling of going to bed at a certain time and waking up at a certain time, you can adjust the schedule on the weekends. After a couple of months you can even adjust your schedule during the week, so you can stay up a bit later than normal every once in a while and not have it affect you very much.

Of course, like me you may be someone whose body isn't set to a normal day/night schedule. So your body feels more comfortable being up at night and sleeping during the day and you may never be able to fully adjust.

7:00 - 3:30 here, Monday through Friday.

Used to get up at 5:30 for the commute, but recently moved waaay closer. Now I can leave home at 6:50. Much nicer. You will get used to the hours eventually.

My hours are becuase I'm on the west coast and deal in sales continent wide.

I'll be on the road next month - working 25 consecutive days.

The same.
8 hours starting when I feel like showing up, which according to policy should be sometime before 9.30.
6 hours on fridays.
Some days I work home. Some weeks are longer than the 37 hours they pay me for, so others get to be shorter. It all works out in the end.

Although my hours are 9-5, I haven't shown up for work in 8 years.

What, babysitting us isn't a full time job?

8-5 M-F is supposedly my normal schedule, but in reality it's really highly variable, since a lot of our projects involve events that are on evenings or weekends.  In summer, hours are 7:30am-4:30pm, and I have no idea why the administration thinks people want to get out of bed earlier then.  I live 2 blocks away from my office, so no commute :)

Prior to that, I worked 1-9pm (the video production house did two overlapping shifts to maximize use of limited equipment).  I loved that shift, since I'm a night person.  It gave me all night to play video games, then go to bed at 5am, wake up at noon and go to work.  Wife *hated* it, though.  Well, that, and the Evercrack addiction.  Same flexibility for weird event hours.

Back when I worked in TV, I worked 10:30am-7:30pm (after the early news).  Again, events often fucked that schedule up.

For a *really* fucked up work schedule, straight out of college I worked three part-time jobs to pay the bills.  One in the mornings, one in the afternoons, and one at night.  Thank God I don't have to do that anymore *knocks on wood*, since I'm way too fucking old and decrepit to pull 20-hour days on a regular basis now.

10-7... sometimes (oftentimes?) later as deadlines require.

How on earth people actually get up before 8AM amazes me. I know more about mythological places like Atlantis and El Dorado than I do about what goes on between 4 and 7 in the morning.

Have kids, they'll teach you real quick (not to like it, though. Just to deal with it)


And Signe, let me guess: Phonesexoperator working from home... (and you're really in your sixties)

Who the heck has phone sex between 9 and 5?  Actually, I don't work anymore.  I don't want to be a tax burden on my husband.  

I do it for love.

I work about 2-3 days a week, usually 11+ hours on a regular work day. On top of that I study ethnology at the university.

To jest or somesuch: You lazy bastard Stray, take the job.

Heh, it's not that I'm lazy. I only sleep 6 hours. I'm just a night owl. I'll probably give it a try though. If there's anything tempting enough for me to change, then making more money may work.

If it doesn't, well, next try is in *looks at watch* Hmm...20 years, when I "plan" on getting married and dealing with kids. Any sooner would be the death of me.

My current position has me working 8am-3:45pm officially, but every other day it seems we have a 1-2 hour meeting at the end of my working day. Plus if someone comes to me with a problem before I knock off and it takes long enough to go over my quitting time I have to stay until it's sorted. I wake at 7am, takes me 1/2 hour to commute.

I have to say though, during holidays I revert to a 5am-noon sleeping time. This happens because one day I'll stay up all night doing something then that will lock me in the habit until I'm forced out of it because I can never seem to stay awake through the day to the next night on willpower alone.

Up at 8, at my desk by 8:40 (gotta love the 6 minute commute), lunch around 2, leave work just after 5, bed by midnight, asleep by 1am.  

If I had my way I would work 4 10s and get to sleep in an extra day a week. Maybe I should quit my job and play poker for a living =)

Hmm...I dunno. I know a guy who hasn't had a "real" job since high school: He makes a middle class living playing poker...Somewhat. He's also been divorced 2 times, has suffered a period of homelessness, lost custody of his kid, and God knows what else. All this and he's still in his 30's.

EDIT: Pathetic? No doubt. But a true gamer. Inspiring enough to finally get an avatar at least.

Yeah, but I am GOOD! =)

I would actually hate to play for a living. Being independently wealthy and/or retired and playing for pocket money, OTOH, would be fun.

I work from home as well.

My hours generally are whenever I feel motivated.  Running a somewhat international company means that if it's night time and I have a few things to do then I work at night.

My big thing is that I don't get out of bed usually before 9am.  I found that having zero commute time is a great great boon.

However, I'm on a business trip to the Mid East right now (28 days go figure), and my time schedule is all messed up.

And my stomach too, don't drink the water, coffee, or tea.  Don't eat the vegetables, or meat, or rice.

It hurts.

8-5, and unless someone else is buying, I follow the Gordon Gekko rule regarding lunch. For those not well versed in their Michael Douglas flicks, the movie is Wall Street, and the line is "lunch is for wimps".

I can get away with being late or going in business casual, but if I have to be in on time and in a shuit and tie, I'm getting up at about 6-6:30 AM. Bear in mind that I live 7 miles from my office.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

I nearly put a fist through my computer screen playing online poker tonight. I can't imagine what would happen I'd get if I had to play for my paycheck.

I work 8 hours a day, supposed to be 8-5 but I have about an hour of flex around that. Most days I either work through lunch or part of it and do about 8:30-4:30. My commute is rough. Depends on traffic it can take anywhere from a hour to about three (Toronto drivers have to relearn how to drive everytime the weather changes). Then again I'm only working at the place for four months as a co-op student so I'm not exactly in a position where I can tell them I'm not showing up till 10.

On the other hand, those of us who suffer from low blood sugar always eat lunch, or turn into complete psychotic bastards.

I should use that to get some free eats:  "Pay for my lunch now, or pay for my not having lunch later..."

7-4 with an hour lunch. About 15-20 minute drive to work.

Looks like second shift ins in the definite minority.

3:45pm - 12:15am.  2 15 minute breaks, one 30 minute lunch.  
"Don't be late, Or Else" attendance policy.

I hate call centers.

40 hours a week, between 6 a.m and 11 p.m.

I love call centers.

At the one I worked at a while back the breaks and lunch were paid time and you could take an hour for lunch if you wanted to but had to have it in your schedule.  Otherwise you were chained to your desk.  It was similar hours 4pm to midnight.

Fortunately, the job required no mental thought whatsoever.  I often played games through the entire shift while handling tech support problems over the phone.  Calls often dried up after 11pm as other call centers would come online (it was AOL)  and the last half hour was usually mostly just goofing off.

Easy work, paid well (for unskilled labor), full bennies (med, dental, eye, retirement), almost no room for advancement,  excellence or even interest.

Weekdays: 09:30 - 17:30 (with payed lunch hour...woot)

Weekends: Sat: 5pm till late
                 Sun: 12noon till 4pm.

Yes living costs in Massachusetts are a bitch. (yay for snowstorms no weekend work this week!)

I normally get to work between 11AM and 1 PM, though sometimes I get to work at 9:30-10 or as late as 2. I normally work until sometime between 6 PM and midnight. Oftentimes I go home and work some more until 2 or 3 AM, and I work weekends from home a lot too.

Basically, I can be working at any given time on any given day other than betwwen 3 AM and 9 AM.

I am a great employee in a lot of ways, I work at a startup company and without me the company would have failed for sure. (I was the first engineer hired and the only good one we had for years) So I get a lot of slack as far as work hours go. I work a ton of hours, just not in the morning.

Rolling roster 10am to 6pm/1pm to 9pm weekdays with extra shifts on weekends being 8am-4pm/3-11pm.

Being on a rolling roster sucks mind you, no one should ever complain about having to wake up the same time every day.

Yep me too. God bless the govt.

9AM - 6PM with an hour lunch I never take all of while eating at my desk. Luckily my company's perks are insane. PPO for both medical and dental, term life, 401k after one year matched up to 10%. 10 days vacation plus 6 days sick leave. 15 days after three years. Fully stocked fridge with 9 types of soft drinks for free, free coffee and tea, and free breakfast once a week.

8:30 - 5 (flexible). I telecommute on Friday.  

They have a personal savings plan, ppo, dental, eye care, stock purchase plans, 15 days off starting along with I think 4 personal choice holidays this year,  free coffee, and 25 cent sodas.

Ohh, and my laptop kicks ass.

Emergency Room RN here, I have been working the night shift for 3 years straight now :)  7pm to 7am, 3 days a week.  I like to schedule as many days in a row for the 2 week period, so schedule goes like Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, off, Tues, Wed. off for 7 days!

Those of us who work the night shift tend to be a bit crazy, but we get along pretty good, not like those day shift bitches.

1pm-9pm monday, 9am-5pm tuesday-friday, hour lunch.

I totally appreciate my hours, I've always worked lame hours. Last job (unloading trucks) was 10pm-6:30am, half-hour lunch, variable days. That totally killed what I used to call "social life", which here in buttholeville, ny starts at 10pm and ends at 2am. And then everyone bitches they have to get up early in the morning. Why people can't go 'clubbing' at like 8pm and go home at midnight is beyond me.

They do in the midwest... but then again, you have to live in the midwest.  Life's tradeoffs are funny like that.

Edit: As a musician you could appreciate this.  I used to play the Minneapolis scene and some of the surrounding states.  At that time, last call in Minneapolis was at 12:45.  So we'd finish, tear down the bear minimum on multi-day gigs and be out of there by 2am.  Made working a job or going to school doable.

If you get to the club at 8PM, it's virtually empty. Moreover, if you arrive before 10PM or so, everybody knows you didn't have anything better to do beforehand. And you can't have that.

A very small population of folks actually do the routine seen so often on Friends or Will & Grace. Namely, having dinner at a new overly pretentious restaurant with a small group of friends, then getting together with yet more friends for some random social event that doesn't extend past midnight or so. What these are, I have no idea...on TV, it often ends up including museums for some strange reason, and you know the average 20-something isn't doing that.

But what I'm getting at is that you've got a small group of people that does that sort of thing, and everyone else kind of emulates it like sheep....not wanting to get to the club "too early" and such.

It's fantastically retarded, which is why I find myself avoiding clubs, and sticking to dive bars where young people are there primarily to get piss drunk, or corner pubs where old men are there to avoid their wives and bitch about football.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

7 hours, 45 minutes from monday to Friday. Everybody has to be there from 9:30 to 3pm. Lunch break from 12:30 to 13:30.

Usually I come early (around 7 to 7:30) and go home around 3 to 4pm. Gives me the occasional free Friday afternoon.

Mine is 8-5 with an hour lunch.  However, because I am salaried and want my project to suceed, most days I get in at 7:20am, eat lunch at my desk while working, and stay late (depending on deadlines).

Family business that I get to at 9, leave at 5, and commute 10 minutes to. Some days I come in at 10, or leave at 4, depending on how busy it is. Only thing that makes it all bearable is the fact my dog comes to work with me everyday, and my boss isn't that big of a pain in the ass, since she's my mom.

And of course the realization that eventually, it'll be my business. And then I get to bring the whips and chains to work and get some goddamn productivity going.

8am-8pm most of the time, but I work 6 out of 7 nights 8pm-8am one week out of every month.

The 12 hr shifts are sometimes tough, but I only work 27 shifts in 60 days and get a week off every month to make up for the string of night shifts so I can't complain too loudly.

I am a cubite.  I work 8-5 M-F, with the always option to work over.  I have a vague understanding of where the sun is via distant windows.  The only bonus aside from the paycheck is I do have all the standard benefits and just got a new laptop.

Wow, that sounds damned familiar. Are you in the cube down the hall?

I got a new work schedule for the new year, which makes me a lucky girl.

Monday : work at home (technically 8-5)
Tuesday - Thursday : work onsite at our client (again, technically 8-5)
Friday : work at home (technically - yeah right.)

I've been leaving my work laptop connected from Friday morning through Monday evening when I pack up for the commute the next day.  I usually get to my desk around 9-ish and start packing up to leave around 4:30 so I can catch the 5:16 train home.  I justify this through the simple fact that I can and have taken calls on the train, and that I can and have worked late onsite or at home if need be.  Besides, my commute to downtown Chicago averages 2 hours one way (home-to-desk).  Yes, I spend 4 hours a day, 3 days a week commuting when I go downtown.  It's not so bad, it used to be 5 days a week.

When left to my own devices (aka the 9 months I was out of work a few years ago) I tend to fall into a pattern of going to bed at 2am-ish and getting up around 9am.  I still do that over the holidays and on vacations.  

Oh yeah, morning people need to be shot.  You are not normal.

25 paid free days per year are decreed by law around here. Capitalism is fine and dandy, but we have our upsides as well.

6:30 - 3:30 p.m.  
45 minutes commute one way
Wake: 5:00 a.m.
Sleep: 10:30 p.m.

Off days: sleep at ??? wake no earlier than 9:00 a.m.

I'm a forced morning person, but the pay makes up for it.
I get 26 days off per year AND I live in the USA *snicker*

I am also on flex time so I can adjust my schedule however I feel.  I can work from home too when necessary.

I went to bed at 2AM yesterday, so I'm dragging major ass this morning. Luckily, the boss is out of town, so I'm just going to relax. My job is good.

If those perks are insane, I'm not going to even mention mine for fear that you'd shoot yourself...

European perks aren't comparable. That's like comparing my work week to a guy working in Jamaica. Now a European to Jamaican comparison would be cool.

If we're talking about fun perks: we get massages every couple of weeks, a company train trip each fall (with private rail cars), and our break area contains a miniature theater, a pool table, ping-pong, foosball, an Asteroids cabinet, and pinball.

Our breakroom has an oven, dishwasher, a nice fridge, and a plasma 42 inch TV that we watch the news on. I'm hoping they'll pick up the ESPN package during March for the Madness.

Our old office had an oven.  I miss it.  :(  Can't make pie in a microwave.

Tech Support breakroom in our company includes Pool, Foosball, 50" TV, couches and beanbags, air hockey, PS2.

We don't even have windows in our area.

I might have to get me one of these job thingies.  I've not had a holiday in ages!

Apart from the fact that Europe and the US has more in common (like being first world market economies) and that our wages compare.

As to Samwise:
I see the massages and can probably raise you copius amounts of paid time off... but the shartered train takes the pot. That's pretty cool.
We did all go to Cannes for the weekend, though (and Barcelona the year before) but that was on a commercial airline. I still want me own train.

We don't charter the whole train, fortunately, since that'd be ludicrously expensive.  :)  There are a number of private car owners in the country that'll rent them out to you.  Instead of chartering an engine to haul the cars, they get hooked onto the back of an existing Amtrak passenger train, and you're off.  (The owner of the car usually comes along to supervise this process, frequently doubling as a bartender during the journey.)  It's not what I'd call cheap (on the order of thousands of dollars, I think), but for a company-wide trip it's pretty reasonable.