Graveyard Shift Trainings Anyone? Not me...

Just last night, I did something I had not done in the past two decades - namely, stay up until the morning for work. Oh yeah... I had my share of this experience early in my work life as a data encoding supervisor for the graveyard shift - specifically to help encode Voters Registration Forms for several regions of the Philippines. Back then I found it boring, and it was really a strugle to stay awake; after all, how interesting was data-encoding? Another hassle with working late was the fact that I had to get home by jeepney at the wee hours of the morning, and try to sleep of the morning - considering the temperature of the hot sun as the morning turned to noon.

Back then, I definitely empathized with vampires who - seeing the sun, seemed to have a psychological effect. Of course, to them it was more a life and death thing; to me when I saw the sun rise before I hit my bed, I felt weaker... and this was true whether the reason I stayed up was due to work or a late night out with friends.

I would always notice how it seemed to take me at least a day - or two to recover from the excess (as I would think of it back then) hours of wakefulness. Ah well... my respect for all the BPO people and contact-center agents is renewed with how I felt. I'm sure they're used to the life they lead... but I bet there was a time they were likewise experiencing the same adjustment period... and I'm not fully satisfied with the fact that their awkward lifestyle has no underlying effect on their health.

In short, its an experience I won't want to find myself in. So how'd I end up repeating the experience (one that I have to do again this coming evening, by the way) that I had forsworn not to do? Simple economics, plus the proper timing, it seems. Confusing? Not really.

The company I work in has a pool of facilitators on tap to conduct certain trainings... in economic parlance, I'd call this the supply capacity. On the other hand, we have the client - a company known to be large and still growing in its BPO and ACCS business. It has people in need of training, and again... for economics sake, I'll call them the demand side - but since they are evening-shift employees, trainings that we usually conduct in the mornings are a sacrifice for them to attend.

So the demand side has been clamoring for the needed trainings - but cannot get said trainings in the mornings when most of the supply and scheduling otions are presented. Obviosuly, there is a mismatch of needs vs. supply capacity. Our organization decides to cater to this demand, but not all facilitators in the pool - myself included, were inclined to deliver training at night. I'm not sure what others' excuse are - but mine is simple... I'm not that young, and if I had some issues two decades ago with such practice - even given the fact that I was much healthier way back when, I sure as hell will have a lot more issues now. Plus, it runs counter to my having to drive Barbie to her office every morning. But, there were facilitators willing to do the deed anyway - so no problem. I jsut had to take a bye with said experience.

However, due to some glitch in schedule mix, one particular need was unfillable by the evening team. Apparently, our scheduler asked for help and the only people capable of meeting said need were Naira (Orbeta) and I - and as circumstances had it, we were conducting said Leadeship training at that partucular moment.

Now, as I said, I don't usually accept such assignments - but the pleadings of our scheduler... and the fact that Barbie had a trip to Cebu, hence my not really having the need to bring anyone to work in the morning, all conspired to get me to say yes. After all, what's two days - or in this case, nights?

Well, let me just give a glimpse of how night one went. For starters, we survived of course... but I noticed that Naira was struggling to stay awake, and we were not in our peak; for example, I had some difficulty thinking of what to say, my thought process was slower than usual - lucky for me, this is a training I am used to conducting like the back of my hand (and it helped that Naira and I came fresh from it), it also helped that the training was activity intensive - so there was really no dull moment.

I would even say that there was a certain peacefulness in the place - one that normally teemed with activity due to the organization's seemingly constant hiring process, and training schedules.

The corridors were almost empty, with exception to our (the participants and I) traveling to and from the pantry, rest rooms and our training room. Aside from us, I just noticed our facility's guards, some maintenance people and late night (early day) workers doing repair work. But these encounters were few and far between. By the way, I would use these walks to keep myself awake.

Now, the psychological hour seems to be 4AM - and as I looked at the watch, I noticed that the night was happening with no hitch (thank God for that) beyong 4AM - but I could really feel wanting the hours to happen faster, so we could really call it a day.

Though feeling a bit disoriented, Naira and I were able to keep track of the timeliness of our conduct, by looking at it from the scheduled break's perpective... these served as our milestones inletting us know we were right on time, as far as the conduct's timeframes were concerned... again, I can attest this to Naira and my experience with said training. Guess it validated tha fact that we were comfortable with each other's capabilities - and this helped soothen any possible aprehension on our parts, in accepting the graveyard shift training to begin with.

The participants were pleasant and active, cooperative and willing to learn - and that has to be a plus. It certainly made our evening less traumatic. I also had a friend in the list - Arthur Uy, an old role playing game collegue.

I came prepared by bringing Coke zero, as I knew I'd be needing the caffeine. But as I feared, the effects still happen, and the payback time was actually after the training.

Now... I was contemplating whether to bring a car or not - I decided to bring the car, as I was not too sure of the availabilty of taxis when it cane time to leave... a false apprehension it seemed, since on my way to the car, I saw a lot of them bringing employyes to work. As I was driving home after work, I had to be extra careful I did not bump anyone or fall asleep. My usually instinctive driving skills were dulled - so I had to really be careful. I've decided not to bring the car later - don't want to tempt fate after all. I'll just have to make suer I've enough change for the cab fare.

When I got home, I had some difficulty sleeping in the morning since the room was too bright, outside noises did not help, plus my body clock was out of synch. Bubbles, our dog was also guilty of waking me up from time to time, and the aircon helped in making suer I was comfortable - but this did not lull me to dreamland.

All I could get were many short naps - so yeah, I'm still recovering from day one - and I have to prepare for day two. My stomach also seems to be rebelling a bit - but that was expected. I also did not want to take caffeine at the later time of the trainings (4 to 5 AM) because I might not be able to sleep at all... so I had to wait out the hours and do my modules - thankful for rests in between (when it was Naira's turn to control the training). I have to say that those alternating facilitator assignments are a real blessing during graveyard shifts.

I'm glad to say that I was up and about the entire time. Naira, though, was more in energy-saving mode... preferring to rest (sit or when possible slouch in her chair) whenever possible, so I can just imagine that she was having a harder time to cope... not becasue she can't, but more likely, she was a lot more tired that day than me.

Bottom line, I am reminded as to why I don't want this particular schedule. I can't function in optimum more, and I feel the effects after. I'm glad tonight is the last night, as ( another facilitator who's shown preference for conducting at night too (Jingo Zara) will finally finish his sit-in mode with Leader's Window - and be scheduled for a teachback, so he (and Alain Nicolas) can conduct Leader's Window in the evenings form now on... besides, they're at least a decade younger than me so they can hack it better. Naira is likewise glad they'll be doing it form now on.

We were doing this as a favor to the organization - but we wouldn't want to make this a regular shcedule. I'll be glad to get home tommorow morning and go through recovery again... happy with the knowledge that we're done for (and with) this particular training.

Despite the friendliness of the particpants, I will definitely not accept future graveyard shift trainings. They simply take too much energy from me - and I don't see this as a long term option.