Falling asleep on the job

[theonlywayisup]

Have you ever done it or aware of anyone who has done it whilst at work in an office.

I ask the question after a High Court judge apologises after falling asleep.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47195605

I do recall in my first week at a new firm being in a lunchtime presentation when I suddenly heard this faint snoring that grew louder and louder. It turned out that the guy snoring was a senior manager, who had 'health issues' that meant he fell asleep a lot.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

I didn't really expect the thread to be about what I thought it'd be about when I read the title.

[Hiber-nation]

Have you ever done it or aware of anyone who has done it whilst at work in an office.

I ask the question after a High Court judge apologises after falling asleep.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47195605

I do recall in my first week at a new firm being in a lunchtime presentation when I suddenly heard this faint snoring that grew louder and louder. It turned out that the guy snoring was a senior manager, who had 'health issues' that meant he fell asleep a lot.

Wrong forum :greengrin

My boss used to fall asleep in the office some afternoons, he was a chronic alcoholic. And like your example it was the snoring....just got louder and louder, much to the amusement of some staff in other teams! Bit of a nightmare trying to wake him up, had to get him escorted off the premises eventually then he was persuaded to take early retirement.

[Bangkok Hibby]

Any meeting room/presentation scenario sends me to sleep regularly. I always ask the person next to me to give me a nudge if I drop off

[sambajustice]

I used to work with a girl that had narcolepsy. You'd be having a conversation with her and then the eyes would suddenly roll to the back of her head.

Was a bit spooky, must've been scary for her!

Had a guy in my current work that would keep falling asleep, no extenuating circumstances. He's no longer there now.

[matty_f]

I really struggle through long meetings, I will feel my eyes rolling etc - it's a nightmare (no pun intended) and even though I can have a coffee or even a Red Bull or something before it, it makes no difference. I haven't actually fallen asleep but it's a battle sometimes.

[stoneyburn hibs]

I didn't really expect the thread to be about what I thought it'd be about when I read the title.

So answer the question on what you thought it was. 😁😁

[ian cruise]

My current office has a massive temperature spike between 1 and 3 that really makes me drowsy if I'm just sitting in front of a pc.

Just happened out the blue as soon as I moved but got to the point where I've been to doctors for checks in to blood sugar, stress, narcolepsy, etc but it's not anything medical (that we can tell) seems to be environmental. I'd moved to a seat under air conditioning fan and next to a window which helped but a new manager brought in a seating plan and as soon as I moved it started again. It's a huge pain as I know I'm not as productive as I'd like to be but I'm struggling to find an alternative. Tried herbal teas, water, etc, but nothing aside from doing outside for fresh air seems to help. That's not always ideal. Looks unprofessional and it's a horrible feeling when it happens and I can't do anything about it.

[Pretty Boy]

I've never fallen asleep accidentally whilst at work.

However a few years back I worked part time in a department store. On a Sunday there was myself and 3 other guys about the same age who worked 9-6 and inevitably there was a few hangovers present. Directly next to our department was a big storage cupboard that the furniture department used to store display duvets and pillows. We had a weekly rota that allocated sleep time to each of us. So one of us would go for a nap between 9 and 11, one from 11-1, one 1 to 3 and then 3-5. The canteen also served an all day breakfast between 8 and 3 so we took it in turns to disappear there for an hour or so each. The managers office was downstairs and he was usually nursing his own hangover so never bothered us. If we did spy him, usually early afternoon, there was enough time to rouse the sleeper and for them to grab something from the cupboard to look like they had a reason to be in there. It was a great little system; unfortunately someone new started and went all Lee Wallace on us so it didn't last forever.

[Smartie]

I wasn't a particularly high achiever when I was at Uni, had fairly regular resits and there used to be a wee group of us who always seemed to have them. Some dropped back a year, some dropped out altogether and some (like me) managed to scrape through to the end unscathed.

One of my mates was in this group, and we could never quite understand him. I partied too much, some people just found the course too tough but there didn't seem to be any good reason why this guy struggled as badly as he did.

Anyway, he repeated several years and eventually crashed out without finishing the course. He had completed enough to be given some sort of qualification and after Uni, instead of doing what we all do, he has a job as a sales rep selling to the people who do what we do.

A year or so after he started he went to the doctor as his job involved a lot of driving and he kept falling asleep at the wheel. It turns out that he had sleep apnoea and it was never diagnosed when he was a student. Basically he couldn't concentrate because as soon as he reached a certain phase of his sleep he would stop breathing and wake up so he never got adequate rest. As a result, his concentration span suffered and he couldn't study properly. He had started to beat himself up about it and ended up being diagnosed with depression amongst various other conditions.

When he started to treat this, he was like a new person. There was talk of him possibly going back and finishing his Uni course but he told me that he saw how stressed and miserable we all were, thought "f that, it's a lucky escape" and has carved out a very good career for himself as a rep.



I have another mate who does my job. He was hospitalised before Christmas with extremely high blood pressure and they couldn't work out what was going on. He was also diagnosed with sleep apnoea and has been given a mask and oxygen that forces air into your lungs as you sleep. He said that after you use it for the first time it feels like the best drug you could ever take.

I'm quite interested in this stuff, and plan to read "The oxygen advantage" by Patrick McKeown soon. I reckon sleep medicine is going to be absolutely huge over the next decade or so, with links to everything from squint teeth to ADHD.

[J-C]

Being a cabbie it's something I should never do.

[Gatecrasher]

I'm so happy I'm not alone!

[hibsbollah]

I'm not sure Mrs Bollah would be particularly impressed.

[Jones28]

On the odd late night watching the grain dryer or sometimes at lunch times when we are going full pelt. Not whilst driving fortunately.

[G15 Hibs]

I felt that my boss went really over the top when this happened to me, and it really put paid to my career in surgery.