Are you on call?

Oh I am not, wait a minute, I am kind of..Nothing like you though, that would annoy me not knowing that if I go to sleep or start eating or have a conversation with a friend and have to stop everything because I get a call...The only way I know about it some is I am a mother and I have 2 puppies and it's like every time I have a moment to myself, somebody wants something and I have to stop what I am doing..Even when my son goes to school next week, I still have these puppies, but I don't mind too much, I love them..

First it depends what you are on call for. And second, if you were on call everyday, you would get use to it and would learn to balance it with your life. You are wasting the opportunity of doing other things if you are going to sit by the phone for 12 hours.

The worst shift I get to do at work presently is what's known as a Split Shift..Working in a Hotel,our busiest shifts in the Restaurant are Breakfast and Dinner,so we get a couple of these in a week,where we start at 7 or 8am,working through to 12,then getting a break and having to come back for Dinner service between 6:30 to 9:30 that evening(Plus clearing up and resetting time afterwards to have the place ready for breakfast again next morning..)Now,those are bad,but I have to say they don't suck as bad as being in Limbo for 12 hours staying ready to be called in! How does that work? What response time do you have to get ready for work? Do you stay on the work premises during this time,or are you at home waiting for the call?

Do you get reduced pay on call, or full pay. I have worked on call before but never with full pay. I don't mind being on call, because I can sleep in spurts.

Of course! If I'm the one have a job like that I also constantly keep on eye on my phone.First because it is our duties responsibilities to be on call at any time.I know its annoying but for me it is one of the greatest job.

If the price is right then you shouldn't be annoyed. Being an "on-call" employee is 200% better than being on an actual shift. Just think of it as if you're the "EXPERT" or "SPECIALIST" and no one can do the job except you, and so your responsibilities make a lot of impact to the company, you are that important. But here is my real advice, actually, two pieces of advice: 1) Go buy a mobile phone. 2) Whenever you've just finished an "on-call" shift, make sure to tell your employer that you will need enough rest before you can attend to another "on-call".

Thankfully I’ve never had a job that required my to be on alert for 12hrs at a stretch…that would be too much, I guess. Also, since its not your daily routine, its all the more difficult if you have to adjust your personal time on certain days and be alert accordingly…its so frustrating if you cant go anywhere freely, be by the phone waiting for it to ring (which might not actually happen)…on the good side though, it’s a great opportunity to be on mylot to while away the time LOL

hi coffeeshot I worked from a nurses registry on call at night and the thing that is off putting is you never know where you are going , it might be just a mile away or a lot more. It is very annoying and I would never do it again. I would have been happier just working in on place for a longer period of time. Yes I did mind it and of courseat first they kept sending me to nursing homes, which I soon learned to turn those down., herein California very few nursing homes treat their patients the way they should be treated. the older the patient the worse treatment they received. I hated these so much.

i could not live like that! i have to know my plans ahead of time and knowing that i could be called in at any moment would have me sick with worry to plan anything!!

I’ve never had a job where I had to be on call but I can appreciate your frustration. It would be hard to relax in case you have to get up, get dressed and head out the door to work; you would have to change from relax mode to work mode in a split second and that would drive me nuts! I am sure that you do get used to it though and there must some advantages to it. What kind of job do you have?

Now I'm in the middle of making decision whether I should write this or that on how to respond to you about on call problem. I'm curious about what's your job, if you really can't bear it, I suggest you can simply stay away from your bed and go to spot where you can keep in touch with what made you so anxiously

I have never had a job where I have been on call. I used to work with tow truck drivers who were always on call and I never understood how they could do it. It used to interrupt their lives regularly, but they loved the thrill of it. They would go to bed with clothes laid out in the order that they needed to put them on so that they could get dressed quickly and be out the door in a minute. What sort of work do you do that requires you to be on call?

Hi coffeeshot, Being on call is very disruptive to a person normal life. You really can't do anything with certainty. If you plan to spend the day with your significant other or children, or just get some good sleeping done, those plans can be interrupted when you get a telephone call to come in to work. Jobs are so scarce that people are willing to take whatever job the are lucky enough to be offered. On call is better than no job at all, but it is not an easy life to live if you have a family or not. Your body will react negatively to this kind of unavoidable treatment. You gotta have a job. Let hope things change for the better soon Good Luck

I am never on a call shift, but I often find myself getting a call at lunch time to say that someone is ill and asking me to work. It's annoying when you know that someone is likely to jack a shift, and that you will be rung, and have pressure applied to get you into work (especially with the hours that I already work).