Quandry

[KatieK]

Help needed please. I have recently been offered a guard position and am slightly worried.

I must say I was initially attracted to the salary and am giving up a job I enjoy but does not pay as well. My question is regarding the 1 weekend off in 3 shifts. Does social life outside of work merely have to revolve around 1 weekend off per 3 weeks or is it possible to have a life on the weekend when working shifts ie earlies and afternoons......I realise not possible on the later shifts.

I have also read that many people apply for this position for the money and my other concern is does the conductors role become boring as for me, job satisfaction and being busy in a job is very important. For example does the time fly by.

Although the wage is important, it is not the sole reason I applied. I would like to think the job is not mundane and my social life is not too highly affected although I do realise it will alter.

Many thanks.

 

[Tomnick]

I'm not a guard, but I do find that railway shiftwork actually suits me really well, generally. My long weekend is, by far, the best chance to socialise with non-railway friends, but the other weekends aren't too bad either if it's an early turn on Saturday - at worst, it'll be followed by a Sunday turn which is generally a later start, which might mean going steady with the drinks and maybe a slightly earlier night.

On the other hand, there's loads of opportunity to get stuff done in the week when the rest of the world is at work. If you have (or make) friends at work on the same rest day pattern, you can go out with them then. I prefer midweek afternoon drinking anyway!

 

[grumblingalong]

There's no better job for satisfaction than Guard if you want it, there's always something you can do if you want to and no two days are ever the same, time off overall compensates for the weekends, but that's why you'll find many socialise internally.

Nothing better than getting well intoxicated in a spoons on a Tuesday night, no que for the loos or the bar!!

 

[Bellbell]

It does impact on your social life, no point denying it. It'll be very tricky for you to commit to Tuesday night darts, or whatever. It gets annoying have to use your annual leave for all the occasions which happen on weekends, particularly when none of your friends with normal working hours ever volunteer to take time off in the week for a catch up.

As for the one weekend in three thing, well I've just gone from an early Sat into a very late Sun, so it depends a little on how the rotas work at your place. It also depends on Sundays in general - if they are committed but outside the working week you can often get someone to work them for you, which frees up more weekend time. It's not guaranteed, of course.

As for the job itself, it's fine. The shifts suit me, it's great being able to get stuff done during the week as it's so much quicker. That said, the shift work can be a pain - if you finish very late then your next day is impacted by that, and if you start very early after a rest day then that also obviously affects what you can do with that rest day. The job is great in that you don't take work home with you, literally or figuratively. Once you're done, you're done. It will, however, probably change how you view the general public, and make you more jaded than before you started. It's just a job to me, I value the downtime, the work life balance etc but it's still just a job.