I worked as a medic on the North Slope for 26 years. Started 7 on/7 off (which was really 8/6 due to travel), then went to 10/11/11/10 on a 3 week rotation, and ended up at 14/14. I liked the 10/11 schedule the best.
When working 14/14 I learned that I was productive for 10 days and then developed the 1000 yard stare. It took 2-3 days after I got home before I was pleasant to be around.
You don’t realize how stressful these schedules are until you quit. I’ve been offered similar jobs since and turned them down. Sleeping in your own bed every night is worth a lot.
On my 8/2 WK schedule I once agreed to work 11 straight weeks to accommodate some desired schedule R&R by others. I quit 3 times during that stretch but got talked out of leaving before we could get a flight scheduled. Really tough at 5 weeks when I realized I had a full rotation left to go.
I guess everyone sees it differently. 28/28 is the best job ever. It is really 30/26 with travel most of the time.
When you work you work. When you are off you are off and home. Time for six mini-vacations a year, time for real projects around the house, time to savor a coffee and conversation with the wife.
A well run staff house can be very comfortable. People who like to complain can always find something wrong. Every staff house I have run was a mess because nobody managed it. I have two primary rules in the house.... I tell the head man the only smells I want are Clorox and good food. I tell the troops if you don’l like the food bring some recipes from home and we’ll get them cooked. Nobody plans menus so we do that once a week. It helps the cook a lot and keeps down the grumbling about food. If we don’t have good beds we import them from the States. Everybody gets a room with his opposite and a lockable locker and the normal in-room entertainment plus the same in the common area. We give the staff Sunday off and eat out for dinner and free range for other meals on that day.
Working in the office, not so much. Weekends are for recovery. The commute can take half as much time as working. The office for engineers and many others in the oilfield has never been 8 to 5. More like 6A to 6, 7, or 8P. You get home in time to eat visit with the kids a bit and go to bed exhausted so you can get up and do it all again. I have gone weeks without seeing my home in the daylight except on the weekend. Weekends in drilling while in the office often go by without notice. There is either a problem or weekend duty and if not that the constant intrusion of phone or email for problems.
No, thanks, I’d rather have the rotation job than being a prisoner exiled from my own home that just becomes a place to sleep and eat a bit.
I’d rather live in my truck than a trailer as this guy describes. I’d figure out how to make that so before living in a pig sty like that. I hate camp jobs done off the cuff like he describes. They are nothing but a liability. You treat men like animals and they will work the same way. Sounds like he gets just what I describe.