for me at least, 8 hours any other time of the day is less bad than the constant awful grind of 9-5
you’re always commuting right when everyone else is commuting, you have to be up early every morning (and it always FEELS early – if you’re naturally waking up at noon but have work at 1 that doesn’t feel as much like a boot stamping on your face forever), many things are only open during those hours so there’s always a time crunch if you have errands
and it just feels worse. you feel like a depressed office worker in a movie. by 5pm the day’s already over, the sun is setting in winter. and the most insufferable of all, imo: once it’s evening, you start feeling dread for tomorrow. so it’s like you’re never truly off work because you know you have to go to bed early to be up early to go right back.
somehow these standard hours are the most offensive possible to personal autonomy and mood.
i’m extremely lucky to have a WFH at the moment where i can make my own hours; when i work approx 9-5 like that, i just feel so trapped. i don’t want to go to the store before work because i just woke up and can’t be bothered, i can’t go after because traffic is a nightmare and i’m exhausted by then. it just sucks. there’s no mystery or magic to it. working food service until 2am felt cool, it felt cool getting paid to stay up late and make pizza and have a ‘good reason’ to have a weird sleep schedule and be out super late. 9-5 makes me feel like jim from the office except less charismatic
Worked a 2-10pm shift and actually loved it. Its definitely lifestyle-dependent but it suited people who were younger and single. A group of us would go out to bars/clubs right after work and the be able to sleep in. The best part of this middle shift is that its not hard on your circadian rhythm AND you get to avoid most management presence for your shift.
Ooh I didn’t think about it like that - but then again I was a bit of a homebody even in my 20’s lol
Definitely depends on your social circle then: my group of friends were mostly 9-5 and did stuff together in the evening, so it felt like I was always missing out.
I have gone to bars in my scrubs before working evening shift at a hospital. Evening shift is absolutely great when you are in your 20’s.