Falling asleep on the job

[Mitsuki]

My co-workers and I were discussing this earlier this morning, so I figured I'd make a topic. I'm sure we've all done this a few times. In my case, more than a few times though more like being sleepy than falling asleep...

So tell us about a time when you've fallen asleep while on duty. Ever got in trouble for it?

Since I start my shift at 4 a.m, I'd sometimes feel sleepy between 5-7 a.m. Especially if my co-workers and I are quiet on some mornings - those days are the toughest. So we make it a habit to chat about random stuff while working since we're all working in one spot. At times we'll even force ourselves to talk just to keep each other awake. There comes a point when we all have to separate our ways for a few hours and go in our designated departments, and I'd nod off for a few seconds but even then, I'd feel myself lagging behind on my workload, which annoys the crap out of me. Well that and I freak out and wonder if someone saw me moving like a zombie, which tends to fully wake me up. If it's longer than a few minutes and I really can't get my shit straight, then that's when I'll stop by the break room to get a cold drink of water.

Then earlier, I was working on the ACP here...and screwed up a bunch of times because I was falling asleep. Annoyed me though, because I had to start over and find the mistakes, which took awhile because I was still screwing up while trying to find the mistakes. The site is in good hands, everyone.

 

[Paddy McGee]

When I used to work retail in "a" Dry-cleaners, I'd constantly fall asleep at the counter, just leaning over it.


I remember one day having to be prodded awake by a customer.


I was up in from 8 to 6 though... Not to mention the fun times after, so where else was I to sleep?!

 

[Twilight Sky]

I make it a point to hold myself up long enough until its lunch time and I'll take a 30min nap. But there was one time that I went to work really exhausted, and I was sluggish for the entire night at work. When it was time to do the order for my department, I fell asleep at the keyboard for about 45 minutes. Luckily for me, everyone knows it takes me at least 30 minutes to do the order on the computer before doing the other half for an hour on the sales floor. Or course, I ended up doing overtime because I still had to do the computer portion of my order XD.

 

[Shenorai]

I recall back when I used to work in an automotive air compressor factory. For an entire week, I wound up on twelve hour shifts performing perhaps the most boring job ever: Parts Loading.

All I did for about eleven hours out of each day during that week was pick up small funnel-looking parts and put them on a small conveyer belt. The part served as the base for the rotors being assembled further down the line.

Now, you know how the typical office cubicle is, yes? Well, imagine a 4ft by 4ft square, where most of the area is taken up by the first machine on the line, the conveyer belt, and a box that held the parts you loaded. I basically stood/sat in a 2ft by 2ft area while I worked.

Despite bringing a small notepad and a pencil to doodle in while the machine before me was processing parts, I couldn't help but doze off. I wasn't used to such long shifts. I was used to ten hours at the most (nine working, one hour split up into breaks). I had fallen asleep easily two or three times that week. The final time, I had apparently fallen asleep long enough for one of the supervisors to realize there weren't any parts being made.

Thankfully, since I was a temporary associate and not a full-time employee, I basically received a slap on the wrist.

 

[King Sean]

I was called in one day to unload the truck. I was so tired, but I need the money the extra hours provided. Needless to say, I wasn't used to having to get up at five in the morning, so after the truck was unpacked, I sort of took a 15 minute nap before returning to work.

It helped me keep going and nobody caught on.

 

[AddleBoy]

I used to work for a university library. They were prertty lax about keeping up with what I was doing. Normally, when I went to the stacks to retrieve books, I would take a nap between some of the shelves picking a rather thick book as a pillow. It was actually rather comfortable. It was during the summer, so there weren't that many students walking around, and the library had five floors. I was never distrubed in my little spot in the corner of one of the basement.

Sometimes, I would go up to one of the top floors after my lunch break and take a nap in one of the comfy chairs they had up there. My favorite one was in a corner next to a window. It was sort of secluded and no one could see you unless they walked over to the chair. Yeah. I slept enough that I should have been fired, but I was never caught.

 

[Artemisia]

I work at a beauty school and on several occasions I've taken a nap on one of the plinths when the students and my boss have left. I've never been caught, thank goodness! Nothing like an hour power nap after lunch to get you going again

 

[CassinoChips]

My job doesn't really lend itself to falling asleep because, well, teenagers. However I did fall asleep during my planning period a couple weeks or so ago. Football makes for long days, and it was catching up to me, apparently. I've gotten better about going on less sleep (6-ish hours), but that might just be me getting old. jtc

 

[Dionysos]

I'm public facing all of the time, so there is never an opportunity to fall asleep. I have to stand all of the time, or walk around, and talk to people all of the time.
I've fallen asleep sometimes in my lunch break, but luckily I've never overslept in it. It's only ever been a quick nod of the head, and then I force myself back awake again.

 

[Linnaete]

None of my previous jobs would have ever permitted me to rest. I was either stuck behind a counter on my feet for half the day, or carrying drinks and plates to and fro. The closest I've come to it was two weeks ago, though it's not an actual job per se. I'm an exec of a schools volunteer work project based on campus and we were having this ungodly long meeting at around 6pm. I was sitting down and had to keep the powerpoint pages moving along as my fellow exec started talking to the volunteers in possibly one of the most humid seminar rooms I have ever stepped foot in. Nearly dropped off. I found myself two slides behind before my colleague chirped at me to keep up.

 

[iSmiff]

I start the nightshift at 00:00 UK time on Monday... there is a high chance I will have something to contribute to this thread come the end of my shift (8:30)...

 

[Izanagi]

I sleep at night shifts all the time, from 4 - 6 am where no calls would come. I do power two hour naps to remain energized and it is also advised by our team leader but as always, customer always comes first and I never forget that. Some nights I remain wide awake due to the amount of hibernation I put before working and jogging. :B

 

[iSmiff]

...and it is also advised by our team leader but as always, customer always comes first and I never forget that.

I hope mine is like this!!

 

[Lirael]

Even though the students I teach are lovely, falling asleep on the job would be a very bad idea! I always make sure to get an early enough night to avoid being too tired at work. If I haven't slept for long enough, the lessons I teach will be terrible no matter how long I've spent planning and resourcing them. I'm lucky enough to have consistent hours though - I know some people end up working at all sorts of hours over a week, so it's impossible to get into a sleeping pattern. I couldn't do that. :/ I can't function without sleep.

 

[Big Casino]

Ive never fallen asleep on the job as such. Im working with machinery, welding equipment etc so itd be pretty strange to fall asleep whilst doing that.
Ive fell asleep once during a lunch break and that was only becausae i was really ill and shoulda been home at bed. Ive never really understood how people can so easily just stick their head down and catch 10 minutes of sleep. Power sleeps always make me feel worse and feeling like i wanna go to bed and sleep for another 5 hours.

 

[Ethics]

^ what Lew said

Power naps are pretty much impossible for me. I don't want to wake up, and when I do, I'm worse off than when I went to bed. Not worth it. Never fallen asleep at work, either, and have really always held people who do at a pretty low standard, but maybe that is because I'm OCD about work ethic. You do what you gotta do, because that's what you're paid to do, else you should be job searching...