I’m trying to write about stuff not related to Dota 2, so here’s something short and sweet about work.

It’s not uncommon for help/service desks to have different shifts based on who they support. Since all of our customers are based in Australia, we’re lucky that only means supporting people on AEST and whatever timezone Perth uses. Due to the retail nature of the majority of our customers, that also means supporting late-night trade and weekends.

Normal — 8:30 AM to 5 PM

Everyone likes the normal shift. “Normals”, as they’re referred to, are you run-of-the-mill, standard working day. You start work when everyone else in the office does, and depending on what season it is, might even get to go home when it’s still light. Not particularly special, but I guess that’s why we call them normal.

Early — 7:30 AM to 4 PM (7 AM to 3:30 PM during daylight savings)

Everyone seems to like the early shift, but I’m not so sure. It means a super early start in the morning, and while going home earlier than everyone else is cool and all, by the time dinner rolls around it’s hard not to face-plant your bed and sleep until whenever you have to get up and do it all over again, let alone make dinner and attempt to be productive with your evening. Getting to work before everyone seems good, until you realise that you can’t fix the super-broken stuff because you’re the only one in the IT department. Similarly, being on “earlies” means first lunch break privileges, which is great until you realise this means you’re going to lunch before noon and consequently feel hungrier before whatever your usual dinner time is. Brisbane not having daylight savings means a half-hour earlier start, which just exacerbate the issues I just outlined.

Lates — 9:30 AM to 6 PM (10:30 AM to 7 PM on Thursdays/Fridays)

Now we’re talking. Being on lates means you get a minor sleep-in in the morning, and the later finishing time isn’t a big deal as you get to stay up late anyway. This shift mostly exists because of people in WA needing support after regular Brisbane office hours, as well as stores who have late-night trading. The constantly-changing times irks me a little — I’d prefer it if the shift was either always 9:30 AM to 6 PM, or always 10:30 AM to 7 PM, but that’s a discussion that’s probably a little above my pay grade.

There’s also a shift that isn’t really a shift, except when it is, which brings us to…

Weekends — Saturday and Sunday

Thanks to the wonders of retail, weekend support is a necessary evil. Once upon a time we had a third-party company doing our weekend support (or so I’m told), but now we just rotate the weekend shift between ourselves. It’s not all bad, as it means you get a day off during the week (usually the Monday before you work the weekend shift), and while you have to be in the office on Saturday, Sunday you can be on-call from the comfort of your own home, or whatever you may be doing at the time. Being on-call on the Sunday means on-call rates, which are about the only upside to sacrificing your weekend. I make it sound pretty awful, but the weekend shift is fine.

Hope you enjoyed this insight into the different shifts I work!