No, no.  It wasn’t me who ended up staying awake all night long.  I am proud of the fact that I have yet to work all through the night in my job.  In fact, I refuse to be up all night working on something.  Even if the assignment requires an insane amount of work.  You will never see me staying awake all night long.

Instead, I wanted to recount the story of one of my co-workers who had to work all through the night. 

A Family Man

My co-worker, who is also a good friend, is a family man.  He has a wife he loves and a young toddler he adores.  He works a strict schedule so that he can leave at a decent hour and be home in time for dinner.  It’s a tough task, but he manages to do it . . . much to the disdain of the powers above us.

The Trial

My friend and I both started this job at the same time almost two years ago, and we were instantly thrust into crazy work loads and overbearing bosses.  I had a rough go the first few months, but he had it worse at the very beginning.  Much to my friend’s misfortune, within two months of starting this job, his boss put him on a trial team.  The trial for which they were preparing was set to begin in a matter of days. 

My friend’s boss is the Oracle, with whom I’ve had some interesting encounters.  I recounted one such experience not too long ago.  Suffice to say, the Oracle is a piece of work.

All Night Long

After the trial started, I witnessed the craziness that took place because my office was right next to my friend’s office.  On one particular evening, I left at around 7 p.m.  I remember seeing my friend running around doing assignment after assignment and preparing for the next day of the trial. 

The next morning, I arrived early.  I got into my office, set up my laptop, and my friend shows up in my doorway.  He was wearing the same suit from the day before.  His hair was frazzled.  He had dark, heavy bags under his eyes.  We had the following conversation:

Flimjo: “Whoah.”

Friend: “I’ve been here all night.” 

Flimjo: “I’m so sorry, man.  You were here doing stuff for the trial?”

Friend: “Yeah.  I slept maybe half an hour in a couch in a partner’s office.  I haven’t changed or showered.  I haven’t been home.  I haven’t seen my family.”

Flimjo: “You should get out of here and head home and get some sleep.”

Friend: “Well, I can’t.  The Oracle keeps e-mailing me stuff to do.  I still have to finish a few more things.”

He walked over to his office without saying anything else.  I felt horrible for him.  In fact, I promised myself that, if that ever happened to me, I would probably push myself to the edge of quitting.  That’s just no way to work.  It doesn’t make sense.

50 Hours Straight

My friend finally left around noon that day.  He told The Oracle that he had to go home because he just couldn’t function without sleep.  He told him he needed to get some rest.

A couple of weeks later, my friend recounted a conversation he had with The Oracle about that night and about his need to go home after having been awake for over 30 hours straight:

The Oracle: “So you really needed to go home, huh?  You needed to sleep?”  (He was a bit puzzled.)

Friend: ”Well, yeah.  I mean, I hit a wall.  I couldn’t function or produce any quality work after pulling an all-nighter like that.”

The Oracle: (laughing) “You know, when I was in the military, they would challenge us to see how long we could go without sleep.  One time, they made us go 50 hours without sleeping!”  (He was enthusiastic about this story.)

Friend: “Wow, that’s crazy.  That’s why I didn’t join the military.”

A Different Breed

I thought my friend’s conversation with The Oracle revealed just how unique The Oracle is.  And by ”unique,” I don’t mean anything positive.  He is a different breed altogether.

By analogizing our job to the military, it was as if he was saying, “Well, they don’t make ‘em like they used to.”  It was as if he was suggesting that this job requires something close to a physical sacrifice for us to succeed. 

I thought my friend got it right when he said that he was glad he hadn’t joined the military.  We both joined the white-collar workforce because we figured we wouldn’t have to make significant physical sacrifices . . . you know, like staying awake 50 hours straight, let alone working 30+ hours straight. 

This job is supposed to be intellectually challenging, and that’s exactly what we expected.  But an all-nighter followed by the expectation that we’re supposed to continue functioning at peak capacity the following day?

I’ll pass. 

If you like this post, please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed.  You can also subscribe by e-mail and have a copy of each new post automatically delivered to your inbox. 

If you like this post, please bookmark it: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Propeller
  • Digg
  • Technorati
  • Reddit