Tell your manager you aren’t available for opening shifts. Problem solved

Definitely sounds like at this point you should probably change your availability to not be an opener.

Talk to your manager about changing your availability. Maybe 8 am if that works?

One thing that might help you is to get a physical alarm clock rather than using your phone. I’ve always used one. They’re super loud and do not shut off until you physically shut them off, unlike phone alarms (can’t sleep through it unless you can sleep through super loud noises). You can set it across the room from you too so that you have to get up to turn it off, or at least far enough away from your bed so that you have to get up.

$1 is an app that makes you do memory games and math problems in order to turn off the alarm that gets progressively louder. You can adjust difficulty for both, and premium adds some useful features for those that need even more to *really* wake up (like me lol) like reading out the time while the alarm is going off and adding wake up checks after your first alarm that you have to tap on or your alarm will go off again.

Something that helps me when I want to wake up early and don't want to be tempted to hit snooze is to set my alarm across the room so I have to get out of bed. I know this doesn't help with sleeping through alarms (I've done that, too). Another thing that helps me in general is to have something in the morning that will make me look forward to getting out of bed, whether a special breakfast or fun playlist for when I shower.

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Change your availability

Throw in the towel on the morning shifts for now, I used to also be unable to wake up early but after many months of practice I can do it *under certain circumstances*. First of all, make sure you go to bed early. If you’re going to bed at 11 and expecting to wake up at 5 it’s probably not going to happen, especially if you aren’t a morning person. Make sure you’re giving yourself at least 8 hours of sleep, so figure out when you need to go to bed to make that happen. Second, I’ve found it really helps to have an incentive to get out of bed in the morning. Maybe I laid out a cute outfit the night before, I have a makeup look I want to try, just something that gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning.

And just to reiterate, change your availability for now and practice waking up early. It definitely takes work but you can get there.

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I’ve had the same problem, it’s why I don’t open anymore 😅 my body just refuses

if you’re going to stick with opening shifts, I’d definitely make an effort to wind down 8-10 hours before your shift. Avoid late meals/snacking, turn your phone on “night shift” and try to be in bed for a full nights sleep even if you’re not tired. You can also set your alarm to be a sound that you’re not used to so you’re less likely to sleep through it!

I like to set my alarm for 2 hours before my shift starts, around 3am, so I can hit snooze a few times and be up to make myself a nice breakfast. It’s an adjustment for sure, but now that I’ve made these changes and stuck with them they’ve become a habit! I believe in you!!

I did 6:30 am shifts m-f for 6 years. I just always try to get up at the same time every day. At some point your body justs adjusts to it.

set your availability to a time starting when you can be sure you’ll be able to wake up. mine is set for 11am onwards because I know I won’t be able to wake up earlier.

I normally stay up the whole night to adjust my time to opening shifts.

As a sole opener I got you. Buy the alarm clocks that have lights. Like majorly bright ones. Or get the timers that hookup to an outlet and plug a lamp into it. The lamp turns on everyday at the time you set the timer. I use it in the winter when natural light doesn’t wake me up. I also set a physical alarm clock across the room. The apps are great but you can so easily set ur phone down after and fall back asleep. Even try an alarm in a nearby room or your bathroom. I even have kept cold brew shots next to my alarm clocks before for desperate times

Change availability or do what my SSV does and stay up for the shift

Literally here i am at 4am wide awake with no alarms bc my body just wakes up at this time now

I for an app called alarmy, it makes me do tasks to turn off the alarm. I just got the premium version so I have to squat x amount of times to turn it off ☺️

I’m a HEAVY sleeper. I’ve told my boss this. Everyone knows if you want me to cover before 12pm, you’re gonna have to call at least 4 times 🤡 idk why. I got a physical bed shaking alarm. It works for me.

I HAVE to put my phone across the room. I also use a Bluetooth speaker and play white noise. So the alarm stops the noise (breaking the sound cycle) and it wakes me up. Snoozing is not allowed for me when I work opening shifts! I do have 5 alarms following,
3:00
3:05
3:10
3:30
3:45
I like having 3 for initial wake-up and the last two as my insurance that I will get up. Im a shift so being late is extremely bad for me! Hope this helps!!

Not everyone can handle waking up for these hours of the morning, it’s why I can’t be scheduled before 9AM. I’m usually a closer anyway but 9AM shifts do creep in to my schedule every few weeks, and when they happen I still need to wake up at 6AM to have a good day and get through my slow morning routine.

Before I was working at Starbucks I was actually in your exact situation, I got hired on somewhere else that wanted me for their 6AM shift, it was terrible for me. I could not physically make myself fall asleep earlier than 12-1AM most nights, I would wake up either barely on time, unprepared to have a good day, I’d wake up and stare out through my dark window, ready to cry about being sleep deprived, etc. I also had the pressure of my parents telling me I should get used to waking up at 4AM as an adult, but they were wrong.

That job told me there was no shame in changing my availability to something I could manage, if I didn’t agree to change it I would risk termination down the line etc. I agreed and it was worth it

I used to have an energy drink next to my bed to drink when my first alarm woke me up. Now I have no problem waking up with my alarm.. Maybe I'm just special 🤓

what time do you go to bed? if you're not getting enough sleep that's the first place to start.

Set your alarm on your phone, turn the volume up, leave it far enough away that you need to get out of bed to turn it off

What helps me is changing my availability to working at 8 am at the earliest. I make sure it’s known that if I’m forced to open I will be late

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