5.20 /// Working Beyond Nine-to-Five at Christmas Time

Ever wondered what it's like to work in an industry that doesn't take a break for the holiday season? Join us as we explore the unique challenges and rewards of balancing work in the UK railway sector during Christmas. I share my personal story of managing the demands of shift work while juggling family obligations, especially during a particularly tough holiday season when my wife was in the hospital. Even as passenger services pause, the railway doesn't sleep, and neither do the engineers and managers tasked with keeping everything running smoothly. Discover how I navigate these festive periods, managing holiday shopping and home projects amidst the chaos.

Shift work offers its own kind of flexibility, though it often comes at the cost of disrupted sleep and unpredictable schedules. Reflecting on my role as a mobile operations manager, I recount the unexpected benefits of weekday downtime with loved ones, contrasted with the stability of a more traditional nine-to-five job. Whether it's the responsibility of responding to incidents at all hours or the satisfaction of contributing to railway infrastructure improvements, each role brings its own set of challenges and rewards. Throughout this discussion, we touch on the nuanced struggle for work-life balance across different job roles and schedules, offering insights and stories from years on the job.

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Chapters

• 0:05 Working at Christmas
• 11:19 Shift Work and Weekday Flexibility

Transcript

Stephen: 0:05

Hello and welcome to Infinite Prattle. As you can tell from the jingle, jingle bells, it's Christmas time. I'm going to turn them off. I have a boiling noise, but yeah, it's another Christmas episode. I'm going to talk about working at Christmas this year.

Stephen: 0:23

Hello and welcome to Infinite Trattle, unscrubbed, unedited prattle on everything Hosted by me, stephen, listen like, share, subscribe and enjoy the show.

Stephen: 0:44

Thank you, thank you all very much. A big welcome to you all and thank you, thank you, thank you. This is going to be, I think, the last episode of the year. Is it going to be the last episode? Is there another one due next week before we finish the year? I can't. Yes, there will be. Yes, it's like the 22nd. Is it today? I don't even know. Yes, there will be one more before the end of the year. But you know, thank you for listening anyway, and I was going to say thank you for listening all year, but I'll say that anyway as well and I'll say it next week. So, thank you very much for being a listener and if it's your first time, welcome.

Stephen: 1:16

Yeah, this episode is going to be about Christmas, but it's more going to be aimed at working at Christmas. You know, because some people don't get Christmas off. You know, some people um, uh, some industries don't shut down over Christmas. Things have to function. Still, things can't 100% shut down because of commerce and and the world, and we need electric and power and amenities and such things. So, yes, this is kind of like a bit of a, a bit of a talk through such things. So, yes, this is kind of like a bit of a bit of a talk through. Um that really, uh, because I I've been in a job for years where I have had to. I've had to work over christmas, um and it's not.

Stephen: 1:55

It's not ideal.

Stephen: 1:55

It's, it's, it, it's. I've said before I work in the rail industry. For certain anyone doesn't haven't listened before and not heard me say that I work for the railway in the UK and it's a great job, but the railway for passengers closes down, but it doesn't for maintenance and engineering works and such things. So you know my job. When I first joined the railway, um, I kind of got christmas off, ish, a little bit. I got boxing day off, I got christmas day off back in boxing day, but um, kind of forced christmas day, so it's not too bad. But I was always working probably christmas eve and boxing day, so it's not like full christmas off and new year's eve and stuff is just another day, so and new year's day is just another day. So when I first joined the railway 23 years ago, I had a couple of years where I didn't work christmas day but I worked the other days, sometimes into into the early hours of christmas day. And then when I joined the company I work for now, uh, which is network rail, um, I, I worked, I think I pretty much more. Pretty much worked every single Christmas and pretty much every single Christmas day, apart from one in a previous job and then when I became a manager, I didn't necessarily have to go in but I was on call and a couple of years ago I had a terrible on call where I think I was called out like eight times over a few days to go out and physically do stuff and it was, yeah, it wasn't the best. Terrible on call where I think I was called out like eight times over over a few days to to go out and physically do stuff and it was, yeah, it wasn't wasn't the best. Let's say, let's say that it wasn't the best. Um, but a lot of people don't know this, like office workers and stuff. They close down for a week or um, and they have a full week off at Christmas, or like four or five days off, depending when it falls as well, and, um, it can be a weird experience for for people like talking about that, like for me, talking to someone that's never, never, worked christmas is bizarre. And I suppose for people that have the other side of the coin, where they don't understand the flip side of that, um, it's weird for them that they flip side of that. It's weird for them that they have never, you know, experienced being at work. Even people do night shifts, so I did night shifts regularly for 20 years, which is crazy.

Stephen: 4:18

And I'm working this Christmas for the first time in two years because a big project of mine commissions in my area Projects I've been working on for a while and I'm gonna be pretty much working the entire Christmas period for nine days straight, pretty much one day off in halfway through, and I've got a week today off, and all the other days I'll be on call or on nights. So that'll be lovely, um, but yeah, on nights, christmas Eve, new Year's Eve, uh, the 2nd of January and, uh, a day in between as well, uh, for all the important stages of the project. Um, and I don't mind it, I don't mind. I feel more sorry for my wife because obviously she will be alone then and she's just spending some time in hospital at the moment. So we haven't even had that preparation in the run up to Christmas, so it puts a bit of pressure on me to try and get everything sorted. So I've been shopping and trying to get the house sorted.

Stephen: 5:15

We had some wardrobes built a couple of weeks ago so I'm trying to get them painted. It's taking so long. How long does it take to bloody paint wardrobes. They're pretty big, don't get me wrong. Like the room we've put in, it's all across one wall, the rooms rectangle, so it's one of the shorter walls, but it's probably still a good. Like four meters wide I would say at least like four, just under four meters wide probably and it's floor to ceiling. We live in an older house, so we have like nine foot seven ceilings and maybe a bit more, uh, so they're floor to ceiling. Um, and three large cupboards that are very tall, and then we have like a strip of cupboards across the very top as well, which we won't be able to access unless we get step ladders, and but it's for stuff to hide, like you know, winter clothes or summer clothes when we're transitioning. I think I'm hoping that's what we're going to be able to use it for.

Stephen: 6:04

Um and um, bloody watch is going off. That's Sarah texting me, um, when she's in the hospital. We ping each other memes and everything all the time, and, uh, I'm gonna have to mute that because she will just ping me and ping me and ping me. Um, it's quite funny though. Um, we have a good relationship in that way. Um, what was I saying?

Stephen: 6:26

Oh, yeah, these wardrobes are bloody ridiculously large and I was hoping that I'd probably be able to prime them in a couple of days and then give, then give them a top coat and um, I made up mdf. Really, really nice. Uh guys, done a good job on them. Um and um, yeah, it's taking me hours and hours, and hours and I've got one coat on the majority of it. I've still not painted some of it and give it a coat yet and I've started to do the second coat on some bits, but I've noticed I haven't even done the primer yet and it's been days. It's just taking so long, it's so faffy. Um, yeah, it's ridiculous really. So I'm hoping that I can get there, I can get a bit more done today and then hopefully next week I can do bits and bobs on it and then hopefully get it, get it sorted. Yeah, it's just, it's just absolutely ridiculous. It's just. Yeah, it's just ridiculous. To be fair, yeah, but I've been doing that.

Stephen: 7:20

I'm trying to get ready for the house ready. I'm only just putting up the Christmas decorations. Today it's the 22nd of December. I'm only just putting the Christmas decorations up. That's just not like us at all. Sometimes you put them a bit later, but they're normally up at least a week, week two, week, week two, week or two, normally the start of December, though, but with Sarah being in hospital, it's not been a priority for me, as you can't see it, and I don't mind doing it. If I'm honest with you, I like them when they're up, but I hate getting them down from the attic and and sorting them all out and putting them up. It's just the lights are the worst thing. I think I don't mind putting baubles on, it's just getting the tree up, then stringing all the bloody lights up.

Stephen: 8:01

If someone could invent like string lights that you know, um, are just easy to handle and just clip on or whatever, I don't know. I mean, can I get pre-lit trees kind of stuff? But I don't know, um, and it's a big tree as well, I don't. I don't like how big the tree is. I wish we had a smaller tree, if I'm honest with you, um, anyway, I'll be at work and when I'm not at work I'll be on call and doing, and still kind of working as well. I've still got stuff to do in the background, I've still got a few documents and stuff to sort out and and I've got to drive over to the signal boxes, I'll be moved into it into another location in Manchester, so I'll be driving between Crewe and Manchester over the Christmas period as well. So, yeah, it's just, it's just a lot. It's just a lot, it's just a lot um to deal with really.

Stephen: 8:57

Um, but working in general over Christmas has never really bothered me. Um, I I saw it as kind of like something that you know it, it gives you a little bit of extra pay, uh, and I I don't have kids and I still don't have kids. Annoyingly. Another episode on IVF is probably coming soon. There's a little update for you all. But it never really bothered me to work over Christmas because you know you get a little bit more money for it and you know, as an adult, it's just another day, I think, if you've got kids or you know close family and stuff. But but my brother used my brother was living in shrewsbury and my mom lives in ireland and my dad lives. My dad lives, like still in crew, but he's not really a fan of christmas neither.

Stephen: 9:38

So, um, I just kind of chose to work, to be honest, and uh, it's kind of a different job being a signaler anyway, when I, when I was a signaler, you know, controlling the trains and stuff. Um, there's never normally a lot of trains anyway on the day. Um, it's engineering trains, but you don't really have any have any part in that on the big side. You're just there as a a gatekeeper kind of thing if anyone uses torts here or anyone needs to extend or reduce the possession limits and stuff like that. So you kind of just sat there waiting for something to happen, um, and maybe operating some equipment occasionally and checking that the indications are correct. So, um, it's kind of, in general, easy.

Stephen: 10:21

Um, yeah, so I I I used to, I used to volunteer for christmas, but yeah, this year I'm back in and I've not done nights for a while like proper night shifts. So we'll see how that goes. I think Sarah thinks they're going to hit me hard, but I feel like I get into it, I think I'll be fine. The first one's always the worst. I think the thing that will be bad is when I used to do a week of nights. The first one's always the worst and then you have to ease into it and your body gets used to it. It goes all right, I'm on nights now my right, fair enough. The problem with this will be is I'll be on nights for christmas eve and nights four days later, then nights three days later, then nights two days after that, so it's not like they're all like one after the other, and which I think is the worst part of it, um, but it is what it is.

Stephen: 11:10

It is what it is, you know, um, I it is, you know, and I I'll cope with it and it'll be a nice paycheck in January. I don't want to get that. You know. I'm not doing it for the money. It's part of my job. The money, the little bit of incentive money-wise is it's just a bit of a bonus For the, you know, for the inconvenience of having to work over christmas, because the railway has to shut down over christmas and it's about the only time that we can do big engineering works and such things. So, um, but yeah, I think, I think people don't don't work over christmas or don't have a job where they work unsociable hours, um, it can be quite hard for them to understand how it feels to do them on social hours, because, even though you might not be asked about it, I've never bothered about doing shifts. It's almost like you make your bed, you lie in it, kind of thing, but it does get to you sometimes, like I've been.

Stephen: 12:03

When I was a relief, one of the jobs I had was called a mobile operations manager and that job is to go around and and respond to incidents etc on the railway network. Great job, great job, um, and that job, um. I was a relief person, so I didn't have a set. I had a shift where I set day to work but never knew which shift I was going to be, whether it was going to be mornings, noons or nights, and then when we shifted to 12 hour shifts, whether it was gonna be a day shift or a night shift. So I knew so. So for, for example, on a Monday, I knew that I was working a Monday. But if someone said to me, do you want to come out Monday night? I'd be like I don't know Cause I might be working. Or if someone said, oh, do you want to meet me Tuesday morning? I'd be like I don't know Cause I might have been on nights. And you know you come in at 7 o'clock in the morning and you need to go to bed for a bit, so you're not getting up before lunch at least, um. So yeah, I think.

Stephen: 13:03

I think people don't don't see that and, uh, you do get used to it. You do get used to it, um, but you do have bad weeks sometimes. I mean, you have weeks sometimes that you just can't sleep. And it could be because you know your neighbours are doing stuff, diy, building work, etc. Or it can be just because your brain's unsettled. You just can't get into it that week, or you've eaten the wrong foods, or you may have gone beyond that sleep boundary and it's really hard for your brain to switch off Because you're constantly trying to keep yourself awake but then when you go to bed you want to sleep.

Stephen: 13:40

It's a really hard balance, but shift work is is just in general, an inconvenience in some sense. But but the biggest thing I liked about it is Especially when we went to 12-hour shifts. We used to do three days on three days off and then every so often you do four days on three days off because the sundays were accounted for. He did two sundays every month, so when he had a sunday at the start, at the end of a shift pattern, that give you the four days, but then you get seven days off every every month as well, because at some point the shifts would move around, that you'd get a three days off into a four days off and, uh, that was ace. Like you know, a week off every month, technically, and 12 hour shifts are hard. They are really really hard, especially on the job that I was doing at the time responding to incidents because you could be stood on the track in the wind and rain. You know, dealing with very high-level stuff, having to keep your attention for 12 hours, tough stuff.

Stephen: 14:36

But what was I saying? I don't even know what I'm saying now. Um, I lost my train of thought. Train of thought who put intended? Um, but yeah, I, I just I just think that, uh, oh, yeah, sorry, yeah, so, three days on, four days off, so I loved having days off during the week.

Stephen: 14:54

Like I've gone to, like office work now, um, which I like for the benefit of like it's nine to five. You know where you're at. I don't manage staff anymore, which I'm kind of sad about and kind of good glad about, because it's it's like one of the best and worst things about being a manager. Um, I loved it. But then sometimes it does give you stress because you either want to help the person or you know policies, etc. I'm not going to get into it, but sometimes it's it's quite stressful managing people, especially if you know them. Um, so, yeah, I moved to a job where it was kind of more responsibility for, more responsibility from the sense of, like I help design the railway now when I sign off on things that are going to make changes to the railway or um, inform, inform their design, which is kind of scary, but I love it.

Stephen: 15:41

And by that nine to five kind of weekday thing means that like, it's very hard to do such during the week unless you take a day off and everyone's off on a weekend. So in my previous job and then all the previous previous jobs, so to say, because I would have like Monday, tuesday, wednesday off, me and Sarah could go, I don't know, like a stately you know, go and visit someone like a stately home, like National Trust Place, or we could go shopping in a week and it'd be quiet. Or we could just go for a coffee on a Wednesday morning or something and it'd be nice and quiet. I do miss that. I do miss that luxury of just popping out during the week. Um, I, I would kind of exchange one of my days now if I could. I would kind of exchange like a saturday for a weekday or something, just because I would enjoy the flexibility of being able to have a day in the week where I didn't have to see people as much as there's nothing worse. I think that sounds terrible of me, but I'm a really social, social person.

Stephen: 16:45

But when it comes to, um, like busy places, I don't like it that much. Like if I'm going to go for a coffee, I'd much prefer to be quiet. Uh, I don't mind a little bit hustle and bustle when it's really really busy and there's queues out the door and stuff. It kind of really puts me off. And the same with shopping. Like I don't mind shopping if it's quiet and I can meet you around. But people are rude and I've said this before, like even today I was shopping today and this guy was just leaning over me and I could not help but say something. And I do come across very Harsh sometimes and I might come across like a dickhead, but I can't help but say something like if you, why would you, why would you lean over me and don't touch me? Like just say, excuse me if you need something from the shelf, like it's really really bizarre, I think. I think it gets me I'm not going to go into a rant, honestly, but I think it gets me that people are shocked when you say something to them.

Stephen: 17:34

Um, so, days off during the week would be lovely, but but this Christmas is going to be weird. This Christmas is going to be weird. It's going to be a very stop-start. Uh, hopefully Sarah's coming home tomorrow, so that's nice, so. But the Christmas dinner kind of situation is I'm trying to simplify it um, after I've recorded this podcast, I'm going to go make some stuffing. Uh, we're cooking the turkey a day early. So basically, christmasmas day, when I wake up off my night shift, we can, I can have a little bit of breakfast, and then literally everything the only thing needs to be done is uh, with sarah is, um, basically why is?

Stephen: 18:07

my freaking watch dinging again. I put on do not disturb. Oh my god, that was michael. Oh yeah, shout out to michael, because michael's broke his ankle quite badly. So he's a constant listener of this show and he's my brother-in-law and is that right, brother-in-law? Yes, brother-in-law. I always get brother-in-law and stepbrothers mixed up. I don't know why. He's my brother-in-law and he's an avid listener. And feedback. That's not even right, is it? He gives me feedback on the show, so get well soon, mike. I know it's going to be a while. It's going to be. It's going to be a while, but you know, keep getting Gail to bring you cups of tea. Yeah, bloody, do not disturb.

Stephen: 18:54

My watch has dinged so much on this show I should just take it off. I'll probably phone and do not there, but I've turned on silent. Doesn't do it though, does it? You've got an Apple watch on. Let me get rid of some. I don't think when I renew this Apple watch, it doesn't do me any favors. It's just a distraction. It really is. It really is.

Stephen: 19:17

I'd love to go back. I'm not gonna try and dig out of a drawer actually, one of my old watches that I had when I was at school and I got it for like doing well in some mock exams, I think it was, and it's like a I think it may be a Casio, it may be a oh, it may be a Timex, which were made by Casio, I want to say, but it vibrated. It was like the first vibrating watch. Um, I loved it and a lot of the paint, paintwork and stuff rubbed off. It was like chrome when I first got it, but a lot of it rubbed off so you can see, like the grey plastic underneath. But it was a cracking watch and I still got it somewhere because I remember finding it and it still was going. The battery was still operational in it. So, um, I need to dig that out because I might just start wearing a watch like that go old school again.

Stephen: 20:02

Um, anyway, I don't know how I got into watches. Uh, oh, dings, wasn't it? Yeah, dings, um, yeah, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna make some stuff in and then, while the, while the american football's on, I'm going to finish decorating the Christmas tree and there'll probably be a lot of swearing and hopefully it's acceptable for when Sarah gets home tomorrow. Um, fingers crossed, I'm not. I'm not very careful. I try my best, but it's the lights they do my head in, um, I went quite kind of everywhere on that one didn't. I'm sorry about that.

Stephen: 20:39

Well, you know it's called infinite prattle, so you know I don't edit anything, I don't script anything, so you get what you get. All right, you get what you get, uh. Thank you very much for listening. Enjoy your christmas. I hope you get everything you want and you, you're able to see family and friends and it's just a lovely time for you. And I hope you're not working.

Stephen: 20:57

Think of me, uh, while I'm doing my night shifts. I know you won't, um, but you know, let me know in the comments and and let me know you know, if you, if you work night shifts and if you do, uh, christmas shifts and stuff, and not even what your friends think is, is it something that they can't get the head round or is it just something you're used to now? And do you like the extra money if you get paid extra? And if you don't get paid extra? That's wrong. You should. You should get a little bit of compensation for working christmas. Anyway, I'm gonna leave it there. Thank you very much for listening. Check out my instagram, which is at infinite prattle, and check out my website. I've not updated it for ages, so I apologize, but I will get to it. Uh, probably in the break I'm gonna revamp it. I might even change your hosts etc. But that's not for you to worry about. I'm going to manage that in the background. Thank you very much for listening. Take care of yourselves.

Stephen: 21:41

Remember to keep on prattling you've been listening to infinite drattle. Thanks for listening. If you like this episode, go back and listen to some others and please continue to listening. Your support is much appreciated. Please like, share, comment and subscribe and I'll speak to you all again soon. Take care, thank you.