night shift and forklift

Post Reply New Topic

been working at the home depot 17 miles from my house, for just over five years. five days a week, 10am to 5pm. bus and train.

lot attendant, 42 years old, chinese, born female, 24-26 and 26-42 took testosterone shots to transition to male. autism and clinical depression diagnosed 21. 5'3 & 110#.

sleeping has always been hard. past couple months, upon waking up 1 to 3am, it takes often over one hour to fall back to sleep. and sometimes get so restless that it's easier to get up than keep trying to sleep. and sometimes fail to fall back to sleep despite "do(ing) your best".

litterboxing has been hard since before working @ home depot. litterboxing is now like frequency intensity duration.

bus schedule changed 3 months ago. one of the buses, now scheduled once every 30 min instead of 12.

been getting physically and mentally and emotionally, weaker and slower. and was never that great to begin with.

class "c" driver's license, no car, do not earn enough $$ for a car

last week, went to the home depot 2 miles from my house and asked if i could transfer there. it said that it would contact my current store and tell the current store to send some information.

the website said that the store 2 miles from my house has job openings: sales and recovery.

the website said that the store 10 miles from my house has job openings: pro sales and Receiving.

i do not have a preference between sales and pro sales.

recovery and receiving both work @ night. due to the bus schedule, if i could only work @ night @ the home depot 2 miles from my house.

i don't have any other occupational prospects.

i really do not wanna drive a forklift b/c i am afraid of overturning the forklift b/c i am clumsy. i really do not wanna work @ night, b/c that's unnatural and goes against circadian rhythm. and then i have to walk to work in the dark, cold and rain. and struggle to stay awake constantly. and then on days off, it's too inconvenient to do anything during daylight hours (bus, library, even grocery store), b/c things are open in the day and closed at night.

what kind of shift work have you done? night shifts? rotating schedule?
what was your job title?
how long did it take to get used to your schedule?
what strategies made it easier to get used to your schedule?
how well did you sleep? what did you do to change your sleep schedule?

besides class "c", what else have you driven?
what kind of crashes have you gotten into?
how hard was it to drive?
do you enjoy driving or just tolerate it?

A class C license here is another level of commercial driver's license (A, B, & C). I assume you mean a regular ole driver's license instead?

Would avoid night shift personally 2 years , Computer Operator night shift . Class A commercial Truck and trailer with doubles, and 16 passenger mini bus license for commercial transport,Shortly thereafter . Known a female forklift operators 20 year, Owens Corning plant . Knew her equipment after awhile. her hubby worked there too. Personally 2 severe accidents,never on the job commercially .When operating other peoples/companies equipment .You just do not take chances, Even if told to rush. It is not your equipment ! . Even if you start/ run your own business. Your vehicle, belongs to your own business.
No longer your own. Just a small glimpse of types of Work ,have done. Plenty of Working experience. Girl friend seems to like her rotating shift as a airport passenger bus driver, part time supervisor at night. Think she has paid the price
though, weight gain and some new health issues ,she has been doing it over 4 years . (But as written before getting a forlift operator certification, may put you in a good position with another company later imho.)
Sleep aides to get to bed earlier..did not enjoy going to work at night, several months to adjust . Naps when needed but never at work. Kept my mind busy at work to help keep awake.Driving forced focus . No issue there.

My first was job was being a dish-washer at IHOP. I was scheduled from 4pm to 9pm Monday through Friday. Both my parents worked & I cant drive partly because of a low vision disorder & my area did not have a viable public transportation system so my mom brought me to my work after she got home from hers. I quit after I got hired at WalMart & a major reason why I wanted to quit working at IHOP was because the dish-washer working after me was very unreliable & came in late a bit & management was kind of forcing me to stay later than I was scheduled. My dad picked me up from work & went to bed shortly after getting home so me staying later was problematic.

My second job was doing custodial stuff at WalMart & my title was floor-care/floor-maintenance. It was a super WalMart that was open 24 hours. I was scheduled from 9pm to 6am & got an hour off for lunch. I was part-time for my first year & scheduled 4 days a week Statuary through Tuesday. When I was allowed to work extra as a part-timer I usually stayed till around 7:30 in addition to coming in on one or two of my off nights depending on how needed I felt. After I became full-time I was scheduled Saturday through Wednesday & when allowed to work extra I came in on one of my off nights in addition to staying till 7:30. However there were various days I stayed a little later than 7:30 because there was something going on & picking me up from work later was not problematic for my parents like on weekends or holidays & such. There was also some days when I came in an hour earlier at 8pm because there was something going on in addition to me staying till 7:30. My dad brought me to work & he usually brought me home on weekday mornings as well. My mom didn't like driving at night. She was a teacher & she didn't have time to bring me to work on school mornings either. My supervisor would have allowed me to change my schedule if other days off would have worked better; management determined how many days I had to be scheduled for(4 as part-time & 5 as full-time) & that I had to be scheduled for 8 hours not counting my required hour for lunch.

My third job was doing custodial stuff at a sporing goods store while the store was open. A contract crew came in at night & cleaned the floors. There was one other person in my department but there should have been a third at least someone working part-time in addition to me & the other guy(me & him were both full-time). My days off & the days & time I came in fluctuated a lot. I sometimes went to work in the morning & went home in the early afternoon but other times I went to work around noon & stayed till late afternoon or early night. My two days off were back to back but they varied every week. I knew my schedule a couple weeks in advance though. I was scheduled between 6 & 8 hours a day not counting my lunch break but I only had to take a lunch break when working more than 6 hours. I sometimes was allowed to work extra. Before I started working there my mom found out about a bus to bring disabled people to & from work or to medical appointments. The bus would not go to our house but it went to my grandparents who lived a five minute car ride away. The bus needed to be scheduled a couple days in advance & would not operate on weekends, late evenings, or holidays. My mom dropped me off at my grandparents before going to school on school days so that meant I had to leave home at 7am on school days even if my shift didn't start till around noon. Mom picked me up at my grandparents or at work when it was not nighttime.

I got used to my schedules very fast at my first & second job. However I couldn't really get used the the schedules at my third job because they varied so much & I disliked waiting around a few hours at my grandparents. I liked the schedule at my second job the best because I'm more of a night person & I wanted to work more. I usually fell asleep fast when I went to bed & slept till I needed to get ready for work. I slept more on my off days.

I took driver's ed during my senior year of high-school after getting my vision diagnosed & seeing a low vision specialist who said he would certify for me to drive if I failed the required vision test at the DMV. I very quickly realized that my mental focus & processing speed is not equipped for driving even if I would have had normal 20/20 eyesight. I got my learner's permit & drove a couple brief moments on weekends with my dad & never drove again. After the learner's permit expired I got a state ID. I have not had any other kind of driver's license & having a regular car license is required before being able to get any other driving licenses. The only other kind of driving I've done has been in video-games, the most being in GTA IV & V

then i have to walk to work in the dark, cold, and rain, b/c the bus doesn't run at that time.

i'm so clumsy i'm afraid that if i try to drive a forklift, the forklift will overturn or whatever. it's a disaseter waiting to keep happening. but, if i work Receiving, i have to drive a forklift.

and then on days off, i will be sleeping during the daytime. (circadian rhythm) and make it inconvenciet to do anything liek the bank, the post office, the bus, the library, grocery store. the most basic things.