| | The challenges presented by this quarter are unique and present a couple different types of problems for me, which amalgamate as one opposing entity, like some patchwork golem. The means by which I grapple with this entity are something I still need to determine.
My classes for this quarter (and the last one) are only available in afternoon slot, from noon to 4. My work shift begins at 10:45 pm and lasts until 7 am, though I need to leave my apartment at 10 to get there on time because of how far away it is and because of the off-site employee parking which makes waiting for the staff shuttle necessary. The problem here is that I work on every weekday, so I only have two short gaps in which I can get any sort of sleep: from 8 to 11 when I get out of work, or from 4 to 9 when I get home from school.
Neither of these periods offer any substantial sort of rest. I found that by attempting to break up a 6- or 7-hour sleep schedule into two parts each day, one in the morning and one in the evening, does not even come close to working out well. I did some research and determined that by sleeping for three hours at once your body goes into what is called sleep inertia, which means you enter a state of deep sleep after a few hours and when you wake up your body doesn't want to do anything but crawl back in bed. As you can imagine, when I'm at school, this can seriously fuck my shit up, as I've heard it said. I tried doing this for a few days and only really started to become conscious during the last hour of the class.
The new solution is power napping for 30 minutes after work and then sleeping a little under 5 hours after classes before getting ready for work. It's too little sleep, really. I used to get by on 5 hours of sleep when I worked at the steakhouse but the hotel work is much more intense as I'm finding, and getting enough sleep is a serious issue now. Each week is like an endurance test; I have to ride out four days on severely insufficient amounts of sleep before I hit a weekend where I can actually convalesce.
Following this, the other big problem is finding a reservoir of energy that can power me through each work day. Currently my schedule is such that I work five consecutive days followed by two days off. Now, especially in the culinary field, one will quickly learn that the best work is done under a sense of urgency. This means that tasks are completed with due speed, maximizing not only economy of movement, but physical speed as well. I've worked on a kitchen line for over a year so I know that a strong sense of urgency means an instant adrenaline rush. When it comes to production though it's not the same. You have an 8-hour timer to get all your work done for the day as opposed to getting a ticket and needing to finish within seven minutes. In both cases it's you against the clock but it's a lot harder to feel that sense of urgency when you check what time it is and see that you have five hours to finish your prep list.
Like I said before, though, the hotel work is very intense, and sometimes it's deceiving how long each task can take. The distribution phase of my job, where I sort out everything I've made for the day to give it to different departments and kitchens in the hotel, can actually take up almost an hour, even though all I have to do is organize the products that are already finished and bring them to the appropriate areas. In order to finish everything on time I need to be speedy and efficient through every step of the process. I can artificially induce an adrenaline rush in myself but I can only keep it up for about two hours before I wear down. I usually need to use this burst of energy at the first part of my shift, especially during the times I'm pulling products from the freezer, because my hands go numb in there within the first five minutes, and the longer I spend in there, the more I feel like my blood will freeze in my veins and I will die.
Anyway, I'm going to have to adapt, which is fortunately something I'm pretty good at. Because of my 3-month break to concentrate on school I have to recondition my body to accept the intense punishment I'm going to put it through at work as well my constant sleep deprivation. It'll be rough but it's good for me, I guess. I like to think of myself as a soldier, and from what I hear of soldiers, they don't give up easy.
|
| | Posted 7/12/2008 8:31 PM - 6 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
