when days are nights and nights are days

That sums up my life for 2 months. Working as a technical support engineer for Trend Micro, an antivirus company, is the reason. Transition time happens every two months. That means we get to stay at the day shift for 2 months and 2 months for night shift. Being on the night shift has it's pros and cons.

No traffic going home to Cavite. If you are residing in Cavite and working in Manila, every single day, you will experience the gruesome bumper to bumper at Costal Road, Bacoor and Imus. And I being this weird person that I am gets to do that everyday. hahaha.

Night differential and Taxi allowance. You get more money when one is at the night shift. Night diff, which is roughly 2-2.5k additional every month, is really badly needed nowadays. Then taxi allowance which is P100/day is non-taxable. This goes directly to the bank :)

Less gastos. Why? Because one does not get to have a social life with this kind of schedule. You need to be at the office at 8 pm, can go home at around 5 am. No malls are still open by that time, meaning less gatos.

You feel like weekends are longer. You get this feeling that your weekends are longer compared to when you are at the day shift. I usually get home at 7am on saturdays, sleeps until 12 noon and then spend the remaining hours as I wish. Sundays usually starts by going to mass with the whole family, eating lunch on Tagaytay then go to the cemetery to visit Ate Malou. I can stay late because work the following day does not start until 8 pm.

Now for the CONS:

You're NOT in sync with the rest of the world. There are occasions at night that I may need to attend but can't because I have work.

Missing primetime TV. I'm a self-confessed TV addict. I loooove HBO, AXN and Studio 23 for having great sitcoms and shows. There are many TV shows that I miss because of this schedule. I don't get to watch Sex and the City every Tuesdays anymore as well as Smallville on Thursdays. Good thing most of these shows are already playing reruns. And HBO and AXN replays TV shows on the weekends.

Sleeping Habits. Sleep at night does not compare to the sleep you get in the morning till afternoon. The body clock is not normal and it's hard to adjust on weekends.

These are just of the things that I observe/experience with this kind of work. I know that every job and job schedule has it's own pros and cons. But we don't have a choice, do we? We need to earn to survive.