Sleeping on the job

LegacyUser

Just looking for some advice. I work with this guy and he is always falling asleep at his desk. We work shift work, so mostly he falls asleep at night when its quieter. But on a few occasions he has fallen asleep during the day (even with the boss sitting behind us, but slightly out of view).

I have asked him why he is so tired, and the reasons he has given are been out at a parties and clubs and only getting 2-3 hrs sleep. Also staying awake all night watching TV!! I have started to take down and note the times he has fallen asleep at. Its never been so busy as that I cant handle the workload, but if it was busy, i dont have any problems in waking him up. If the two of us fell asleep, we would be rightly screwed, i just cant understand why he cant stay awake and I can.

The question is, should I just ignore him and his sleeping and wait for him to get caught (which he nearly did, except I said that he is caught he is going to be royally screwed, this was during the day, with people in the office) or report him to management?

I am not the type of person to rat anyone out, but this guy has been doing it since day one and is still on probation. Its just annoying and frustrating.

Neyite

if he is not sharing the work then half the workload at the begining of the shift, do yours, leave his and document that. if he falls asleep, you wont wake him anymore or do his share for him.

i wouldnt get involved to be honest. he will get caught out sooner or later. if you report it, what then? its your word against his. you will likely get dragged in anyway once they discover him snoozing and quiz you about it. you are also highlighting if you report it, your supervisor not doing his job, so tread carefully there, it could bite you on the ass.

doolox

I fell asleep after a big lunch in a stuffy office after coming off a spell of nightshift and going back onto a dayshift to oblige the powers that be for some training course and got eaten in front of colleagues by a person not even in my department who ratted me out to my supervisor and demanded a written apology for falling asleep at work.

Lesson: Do not eat heavy meals at work.
Get your 8 hours sleep every night and do not switch shifts at short notice to do training people a favour if it means risking falling asleep at work.
If you feel tired go outside for a walk or out to the smoking room etc...even if you don't smoke...just get out of the firing line and do not expose yourself to the risk of being caught falling asleep at work.

From bitter experience I know that when he is caught he will be raked over the coals for falling asleep at work.

If you have any regard for the chap you could do no worse than to pass on this advice to him.

Even if he took a kip in the jacks it would be better than being caught asleep in the office.In modern business appearances are everything and no amount of work or talent will make up for being caught asleep.

jimoc

Step 1. Buy an airhorn.
Step 2. Wait patiently .....

LegacyUser

Thanks for the replies!

Yeah when I woke him before, I advised him to wake up or be caught (that was when he fell asleep during the day - he doesnt eat large meals so one can only assume that he doesnt go to bed until all hours.

Someone said that I should buy a four pack of red bull and some trucker pills and present them to him so he gets the message.

Yeah i think the consensus is to just ignore him. Thanks

wmpdd3

Keep a record of how much work you get done per shift. It will not go unnoticed that productivity is less when ye two work together.

LegacyUser

Hi wmpdd3, We have a system where work is tracked, but i dont think it would be a fair indication of work carried out by myself.

I expected him to be late this morning what with the time change and I wasnt surprised when he was 20 mins late, with the excuse he was out until 3am watching movies at a mates house.

I hope he gets found out soon before I lose my rag completely.

InReality

Personally I wouldn't report him or get too stressed about it unless it was seriously impacting on my own work.

Obv it can be annoying but he will get found out eventually in any case.

patwicklow

tell him to join the greens of FF there all asleep there. if that does,nt work get an ice bucket of water its unreal this guy going in to work to sleep like hes more or less robbing the wages he does,nt earn......

jimoc

Buy a set of earplugs and put in an expenses claim for it.
when asked about it just say his snoring is disturbing your work. (or keeping you awake!! )

tatli_lokma

next time he nods off, put his hand in warm water! that'll learn him!

MistyCheese

I understand the advice to ignore the issue but I would just be worried that if it did come out, if the boss stopped by and caught him sleeping on the job, would you be questioned about it and would you be asked why you didn't say anything?

universe777

I had a similar experience as the OP. I was working as a temp in a govt office, they got in another temp as it was getting busy. Just the 2 of us in the one office. He looked like Edward Scissorhands (but with a strong D4 accent) on a bad day, came in late and slept for most of the time while he was there.

I said nothing to the supervisor, hoping she would catch him asleep but she didn't. His excuse was he was up all night or out the night before.

He blamed me for letting him fall asleep, i told him where to go in some other words. He didn't come back one day..
OP, look out for yourself, don't worry if someone else isn't pulling their weight, it will be noticed down the line.

LegacyUser

Thanks for that universe.

I am not going to let it bother me anymore. Its not my place to be saying wake up. Currently on shift and he is fast asleep since just afer 6 and is snoring every now and again. He is hunched over and hasnt moved at all.

Let him off until it happens we are very busy and he wont be long waking up, or else he wont have a clue whats happening.

LegacyUser

Just to update y'all - I was able to swap with another co worker, so he no longer works directly with me.

However he does work with someone else now, who is going through the same thing. He told our boss that he wasnt working with him anymore and is getting swapped in the new year!
But he didnt say about him sleeping, just said he was impossible to work with