Late last year, we got a visit from our grand-boss. For only the second time since taking responsibility for our group, he actually made it out for a visit, and this time, made himself available for questions, as well as for private one-on-ones, which a lot of people declined, but I took, so that I could correct some huge misconceptions that he had about our group.
One of the things that was decided upon during this visit was that we would do away with our UK support answering the phones from 5 to 7am pacific time, and that the Sunnyvale support center would take care of it. We'd been getting huge numbers of complaints from our clients about the support folks out there, along with budget reasons, and all that other fun stuff.
Anyway, the long and short of that was, as of December 26th (yes, the day after Christmas), the Sunnyvale team would start at 5am. I volunteered for this at first--I had plans that I thought would be better suited by working the early schedule, and I liked the idea of getting off at 2pm, so I dealt with the schedule adjustment and plowed on.
When it started, we never really talked about replacement, or rotating the schedule, or anything else like that. After awhile, the getting up early becomes a little easier to get used to, though it seriously cuts into other things...like time with loved ones, for instance.
There are other issues, too, though, and ultimately, I went to my boss yesterday to request that I be taken off the 5am shift. I don't see very much of Brett anymore, which bothers me. I like getting off early, but the sacrifices are rapidly getting to the point where it's just not worth it. I'll stick with it til the end of the month, I said, but after that, I don't want to be back on the early shift until at least after September. I realize that puts my boss between a rock and a hard place, as there are only five other people on the team, and one of them has been on the 5am shift with me, but the plan and simple fact is...five months. Five whole months. Talk to me again when everyone else has done that, too.
As of June 1, I am moving off the 5am shift, yay. This means I am less likely to be in the phone queue (save for busy days or after 2pm), and though it'll get me home later, I think I'll ultimately end up happier about it. No more getting home and going straight to bed, not seeing Brett until the next evening (which, ugh, may happen tonight because I am just freaking exhausted), no more fucked up sleep schedule over the weekends...
Bliss.
Posted by Liz at May 7, 2003 05:11 PM