Mechanics/techs and night shifters of svtp

[Dsg-shaker]

General Technician in the fleet maintenance for one of the biggest logistics company of north America and also mid-shifter 1p-midnight (4/10's and plenty of ot), alternating tri-weekly between weeknights and weekends. How do you keep from being burnt out from enjoying the hobbies like modifying cars or just from feeling burnt out in general?

 

[floodstang]

Not a night shifter but been working in a dealership for about 24 years. It's hard to stay focused on my project car after working on customer cars all day. Sometimes I let the project car sit for a little while and then I'll get the bug to work on it. Usually get a good bit done in that time because I know I might be burned out the next day after work and not want to look at another car!

 

[nofire]

Alcohol. In copious amounts.

 

[Dsg-shaker]

Not a night shifter but been working in a dealership for about 24 years. It's hard to stay focused on my project car after working on customer cars all day. Sometimes I let the project car sit for a little while and then I'll get the bug to work on it. Usually get a good bit done in that time because I know I might be burned out the next day after work and not want to look at another car!

this is how I feel most of the time about my 71'.

Alcohol. In copious amounts.

ehh, ill pass lol. Ive had problems with alcohol and tend to stay away from drinking.

 

[kevinatfms]

when I worked in the field it was copious amounts of booze. even some during work.

 

[CompOrange04GT]

I have the same issue. I work 9pm-11am.

By the time I get back to the house, shower, eat, sleep. There are maybe 2 hours left before I go back to work. Last thing I want to do is work on the car.

I'm kind of forgetting what a " hobby" is

 

[Dsg-shaker]

what have or do you guys do to help reduce stress?

 

[CompOrange04GT]

Sleep.

Cause well it's the only thing I can do that won't make it so I can't get through the night

 

[Machdup1]

Exercise, diet, coffee and continuing education. Alcohol is the opposite of motivation

 

[93stang5.0]

Seven Days Off between my night to day shifts.

 

[Dsg-shaker]

Exercise, diet, coffee and continuing education. Alcohol is the opposite of motivation

I wish my schedule wasn't erratic so that I can finish up like 6 units for my certs, I hella. Need to start hitting the gym again, I think there finally is one in town that's open all night.

 

[mikecobra01]

I work on cars monday through friday, 8 to 5. When i get home i dont even want to think about working on my own car.

I use to love cars as a kid, now I despise them.

Oh, and alcohal seems to help too.

 

[Blackness03]

I use to work on motorcycles at a dealership back in the day. I quit because turning a wrench all day made me HATE doing what I use to love doing at home. Since I quit years back, I now love doing it again and the stress is gone

 

[520Terminator]

Yep. The only thing that worked for me, was to change careers. In high school, I thought that if I made my hobby my job, I would love my job, but it just made me hate my hobby. As a professional tech, I sold my high school project car because after I got home at night, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with cars. I went back to school, am working on a degree, and working in an office. Now I work on my cars all the time, and it's fun again.

 

[mvr]

i have worked midnight-8am for the majority of my USAF career as an avionics maintainer on helicopters. during the week i wouldnt get much done other than a regular workouts. my main focus would be getting regular sleep and laundry/cleaning done. working on cars or other hobbys were done on the weekend. dating was something else that didnt work out too well. trying to stay on a regular 8-4 shift now. seems like there is so much more time for activities after work lol.

 

[testorossa1989]

I tend to find myself relaxing doing nothing on my days off. When things need to get done ill work on a project till 7am sometimes. Its a tough life and working overnights is even worse your body never really fully adjusts. Only thing i learned is keep a high mental head set and confidence.


My next employer i hope i have a somewhat typical/normal work schedule

 

[4a7191a]

Lots of bike riding and booze as well.

 

[SublimeRT]

I never worked night shift because I just worked at a Dodge/Chrylser/Jeep dealer. We were open from 7-5. It does kill the motivation to work on your own projects a little bit sometimes. Usually after having one of those weeks where you just can't seem to catch a break or get any hours. But I stayed pretty interested in my own projects simply because my own projects aren't doing a rear evaporator in a Caravan or a timing belt/water pump on a Neon/PT Cruiser. And I just plain love working on cars. It's all I've done my whole life so I don't know what else to do with myself. Though, M/W/F I do lift weights and it is great stress relief; I recommend everyone does some sort of strength training.

I'm guessing you have your own garage that you keep your cars in, right? I refused to go to a gym and pay a membership and be around other people and wait for a station and all that crap, so I built a power rack and bench and went to Academy sports and bought a cheap olympic weight set. I probably have less than $350 in my setup. I will probably build another rack and upgrade my bar soon, but the weights work just fine and I'll continue to use them. I keep this in my garage against a wall. It really doesn't take up that much space, especially when I'm not using it. Or if you REALLY don't have room in the garage make room in the house somewhere. Heck, you can even put it in your backyard. Wouldn't be the first time it's been done. Look into it. I'd avoid the alcohol too. It's not going to do any good.

 

[BladeX10]

Im a detailer at a dealership, I tried the tech thing for a bit and it fried my love for cars almost instantly. I ended up transferring over to the detailing department and find my self more relaxed and calm and not so worked up. Detailing cars is much more fun than working on other people's everyday cars day in and day out. In order for me to keep my mind in tact, I opted for part time so i can focus on my side businesses aswell so it all evens out at the end of the day.

 

[PaladinMan187]

In december I quit the parts dept in a ford/subaru dealership and moved to working nights in a data center midnight to 8am keeping an eye on servers making sure the world doesn't go down during the night. We work 5 on, 2 off like a typical work week for the 3 people who work the 3rd shift and every tuesday morning all 3 of us are on. Every 3 months we switch our days off. Jan to march I had wed/thurs off. April to june I have Sun/mon off. Next week I switch to Fri/sat off. Every time we swap its almost like starting night shift from days all over again. I'm finding lately I'm sleeping almost the entire day away and simple tasks like laundry or cleaning out the truck/car are nearly impossible tasks. Hopefuly working out will start giving me more energy soon.