Early or Late?

SRyle

Grumbler
Joined
May 26, 2004
Posts
27
Loc
Brandon, MS
Business
Brown’s Framing & Fine Art
This is strictly a personal preference question. Knowing you need to work more than the usual 9 hour days, do you prefer to go into work extra early or burn the midnight oils?

We are short staffed & drowning in jobs, large & small. I have gone into work early every day this past week, and stayed late on several nights. I work 6 days a week and look forward to every Sunday like its Christmas. I'm torn with guilt because I'm not at work right now, but I just can't seem to do it. I've got so much I need to do around the house.

Sigh. . . Just wondering about others :)
 
The older I get, the more of a morning person I am.

I'm a ball-of-fire from about 5:30 a.m. until mid-afternoon, at which time I crash and burn. Now that I'm not driving kids to school, I would probably be in the shop by 6 or 6:30 except that my dog won't get up that early to go for a walk.

When I was younger, and childless, I would sleep until about 9 a.m., get up and shower and open my shop at 10. If I had work to do until 2 a.m., that was okay.

Young Grumblers: expect changes.
 
LOL -- I'm only 27 but feel ancient sometimes. I've always prefered to get up early intead of late. Even when I was in school, I'd get up early to homework or study. I don't have children so my schedule isn't restricted. I just prefer to have my time in the evenings. I'm in bed by 10:30 on average.
 
SRyle,

For someone of your tender years, your punctuation and capitalization are surprisingly good.

I was in bed last night (Saturday night) at 8. I DID watch TV until 9, but regretted it it later.
 
Man, if I get to sleep before 11:30, I feel like I'm doing great! Then we get up about 5:00am. Sometimes I get another hour in after my husband leaves and before our son needs to get up for school, but lying back down just means I get to be miserable twice!

As for work, I usually work or study at home until about 10:00 or so and then go in to work. I may work until 6:00 or 7:00 at night (unless I have a class).

I usually try to wind down by about 9:30-10:00 and read/study until either I can't keep my eyes open any longer, or I feel guilty that Joe is trying to sleep and I've got the light on...

(in the words of Andy Griffith) "all in all, it's a fun time..."

Betty

PS SRyle must be female - we always think about what needs to be done at home when we're at work, and about what needs to be done at work when we're at home!
 
For me it’s gotta be mornings! The doughnuts ain’t fresh in the evening.

Besides, my wife works twelve hour days and my poor doggie is crossing her legs and eyeing the oriental rug if I don’t get home on time.
 
Originally posted by SRyle:
I just prefer to have my time in the evenings. I'm in bed by 10:30 on average.
As Charles has taught me to say, This here don't go with that there.

By my definition, evening doesn't start until 10:30. When I'm not working I usually go to bed around 3 or 4 and sleep until 10. I like the wee hours; they feel like I've got the world to myself.

Recently I demonstrated that I'm capable to attending and 8 am FACTS meeting - but I was cranky about it.

Kit
 
I am the early riser in the family and will go in early. Roger is the night owl, and will stay late. The advantage of staying late is that there are more hours left to be late in (6pm-midnight = 6 extra hours. In order to get 6 extra hours I would have to go in at 3am, and that begins to look like late night rather than early morning. But we are what we are...
 
I will get up even earlier than usual out of a sense of urgency. If I wake up at 4 a.m. and remember something that really needs to be done, I'm likely to get up and do it.

I will NEVER stay up late at night to work. The only possible reason to stay up past 10:30 is to have fun. And, since I'm still going to wake up at 5:30, it had better be a LOT of fun.
 
Given the season and excuse, I'm in the shop at 5am. I can do more in that first 6 hours of quiet then a full day 10-5. If I need to do the 14s & 16s like last xmas, I grab a bite [out] and go back to work till 10-11, 6 blocks home to bed, 4:30 the cat wakes me, shower, shave [that isn't a problem with you] towel the hair, same as you and run to the shop.
Why? Was there a problem? Football season, my wife yells at the TV, xmas season, they are on their own for dinners.

baer
 
I used to turn up the music and dance as I cut mats after hours. Computer mat cutters have ruined the dancing.

When I was new in business it was so challenging and exciting, I never wanted to go home, BUT being a wife and mother, I had to. It's best to keep a balance because sooner or later you burn out if you don't.

I was so impressed by Kit's smiling....well almost smiling face at the FACTS meeting. Even offered to get her coffee.
 
I appreciated the gesture, Nona. Even though I realize the offer was motivated more by self defense than kindness.

Kit
 
When I first started in this business (Helping Kassandra with fitting during Christmas rush) it was late nites - I seem to remember a couple 3am's. Nowadays it's all early mornings and weekends. Went is early every day this week and she's planning 5 a.m. tomorrow.

Ellen's right, though about more late hours than early hours - maybe we could try that instead.
 
Thank you Ron
Correct grammer (written, but not necessarily spoken) has always been a pet peeve(sp?) of mine.

Betty -- you're good
My feminine mind never stops :(

My biggest problem with working late is visitors. And we have a LOT of them. I love our customers (and apparently they love me since they always ask for me), but I'm the only one on production full time.

We've just let go our other full time production person and our part time girl went back to school. I've tried hiring other time help, but can't seem to find quite the right person :(

Ok, enough grumping. Good night all.

Shannon
 
ok shannon, we gots a problem here...i am also 27...i think? but they keep saying how great your grmmar is and how you get up early and stuff and like it...ok you got to stop darling.
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it is screwing up the rest of the younger folks in here. so start typing incorrectly and staying up later and you will do us all a favor
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d
 
Shannon, 'peeve' is correct. Captain English appreciates your attention to correct usage.

Dennniss, not to worry. I'm not so hide-bound that I can't enjoy your free wheeling style and sense of humor. Consider this your dispensation from the Captain to continue to neglect all the rules. The letter (suitable for framing) which makes it official is in the mail.

CE
 
hey that is cool, i gotz me a pass from the captain...now who can i get to put a handsome frame on it????

i sort of feel like the kid in the corner in elementary school. he was not bad, just different enough that you did not want the other kids to think he was the norm. so put him just out of the way enough.

see what art school will get ya?
d
 
Originally posted by AWG:
Ellen's right, though about more late hours than early hours
The problem with the late hours is the getting up the next day.

When you start at 5 or 6am, then the customers come in and it's a natural progression through the day, and then you knock off.

When you work late, you crank up the music, down another double tall breve mocha, and the hours just fly by.
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But! It's easy to forget to remember when to stop. When I was 20, I used to have a cot upstairs, and a neighbor who would see my bike and wake me up for breakfast aroun 6am. So I would crank the music and go till 2-3-4 in the morning. All Christmas long.

But I was 20. And at Christmas, I had no life. It was to cold to date with the trike.
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Now I'm 6 blocks from the shop, and it's suppossed to be a "Part time" job. Then rep for four companies in OR & WA, write, make furniture and go home and cook the dinner.

Nope. Give me the 5am watch so the customers can tell me when to stop and go home.
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baer
 
Y'all are hilarious!!! Yes Captain, "y'all" is proper grammer in the South.

d -- my dear, the most briliant men can't spell and have the grammer of a parrot.


I would love to work late sometimes instead of going in early. I've always love sleeping until noon. However, I have a husband at home who misses me and constantly reminds me that I work too much. I agree, but I still have to "Get'er Dun".

Shannon
 
I used to be a morning person, but then married a night owl. Now I get up early, work all day and half the night. We're no longer married and I can't seem to break the late night routine and often work 14 to 18 hour days.

At night I crank up the music...Phantom of the Opera, Led Zepplin, Stones, Nora Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy...whatever works to rejuvenate me.

I'd rather listen to great tunes and make frames than watch some dumb sitcom. Being a one-man operation, I seldom get much production done during the day and count on undisturbed time to get the work out.

Dave Makielski
 
I stayed up until 2am, not at the shop, but a home fussing with a cantankerous scanner. I haven't had to come in early/stay late in some time. I don't think I did it even during last xmas--it wasn't much busier for us than the norm (which at this point means slow)
 
A word of warning about staying late.

A few Christmas's ago, my brother was helping me finish up all those last minute orders. It was 2:30am on Christmas eve when we knocked off. My brother then asked me if I had finshed all my christmas shopping. Of course, I still had a few people left to buy for, so we headed off to our local 24 hour Wal-Mart. Now shopping at Wal-Mart at 3:00am is a blast. We played with the toys, got into a rubberband fight, no crowds, no lines at the checkout, we had a great time. Then I drove home.

I pulled into my driveway at 4:00am and noticed every light in the house was on. I sat there for several minutes and said to myself "I don't want to go there, I don't want to go in there, I know I don't want to go in there!" I went in anyway. My wife and 3 year-old son are sitting up in my bed, the lights are on and there are no sheets on the bed. My red-headed wife asked threw clenched teeth "Where have you've been?". "Shopping", I say. We imediately get into an arguement about about shopping at 3:00am as she is convinced my brother had taken me to a certain nightclub where the entertainment only costs a dollar. She had been calling the shop for the last 1 1/2 hours to tell me my son was sick with the flu, had thrown up twice in his bed,(which is why he was now in my bed), he had just thrown up in my bed (which is why my bed had no sheets either), she was getting sick too, and the dog had thrown up on the carpet. "Merry Christmas, Honey."

I've been forbiden to shop past midnight from now on. The next year for Christmas, we got mobile phones.
 
My husband takes the morning shift, I take the night shift and the dog takes both!

I just LOVE working late because I'm in control of my time - no phone calls, no interrupions. I listen to Larry King, Jay Leno, Phantom of the Opera or Manheim Steamroller - among other eclectic choices. It's BLISS!

And you are right - the morning after can be real tough so I try to be somewhat 'controlled'!
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no phone calls, no interrupions
You would think so, wouldn't you?

Pre-children, pre-Dogzilla and pre-caller ID, my wife was working pm shifts at the hospital, so I'd frequently work late in the shop.

Sometimes at, say, 11 pm on a Sunday night the phone would ring and I'd figure, "This has got to be a serious family emergency." It was like getting a telegram.

So I'd answer, of course, and hear, "How late are you open tonight?"
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Not a morning person. Unh, unh. Opening at 10 can sometimes be a challenge - but alot of days I am here alot earlier than that.

I find my energy level increases around 3 p.m. (unless I had too many carbs for lunch!).. and then you can't stop me... but I still stop at a reasonable hour so I can go home have some personal time and get to bed before 11:30 and get up and start all over again. This goes on for 6 days, and Sryle, I too look forward to Sundays as if they are a extended vacation!! (which I am in desperate need of! But will settle for a 2 1/2 day weekend, this weekend!)..

Zzzzzzzzzz - still waking up!
 
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