back to the daytime
I’ve worked night shift at my job for almost a year. I work 7PM-8AM, four nights in a row and then have four nights in a row off. I have worked night shift before, but it was only for six months and the hours were much less taxing. This time, I had a really hard time adjusting to the schedule. I felt tired literally all the time and could never sleep. Looking back on it, depression probably played a factor in those first months because I had a difficult time being surrounded by all the crazy employees (more on that in a moment) and I didn’t think the year would ever end. I was finally able to adjust. I was able to sleep in the mornings after work if and only if I physically exhausted myself while at work. On my days off, I found I did best just sleeping when I was tired, which usually meant sleeping for about 5 hours, up for about 10 or 12 hours, then back to sleep for 5 more hours.
I was just informed that next Saturday I will being going back to normal hours- which, for me, is 7AM-8PM, three days working then three days off. In most ways I am overjoyed- no more thugs stealing things right in front of my face! Less insane employees to deal with! Regular sleep! I am excited about being able to do things during the day on my days off without suddenly feeling like I have got to take a nap RIGHT THEN, which has been a major problem. I would be driving, shopping, at a restaurant, at a friend’s house, and suddenly just felt like I HAD to go to sleep right then. Usually in the early evening. I am also soooo excited about eating regular meals. Coffee and cereal in the morning, sandwich at lunch, regular dinner. I know that’s funny, but for the past year I just ate whatever I have, whenever I want, because the time of day was really irrelevant.
As far as the employees……. I am really convinced that working night shift for a few years makes you crazier than you were to begin with. That, or night shift attracts all the crazy people. Here are some of the things I have had to put up with:
1. A girl with no front teeth who looked like a skeleton, she was so emaciated. She also wore a Neo-esque leather trench coat, and when I fired her (less than a month after her hire date- thanks to whoever hired her!) I kind of thought she might stab me, so I made my assistant “borrow” her boxcutter first. Upon her termination, she ran out of the store yelling “THEY FUCKIN’ FIRED ME!!!!!!!”
2. Frozen food stocker who always had to leave when his boyfriend called him with some random drama happening in his life/their house/their neighboorhood. The best? When he told me he had to go home because a man on a bicycle had fired shots into his house, and his boyfriend was hysterically upset. A bicycling gunman? Really?
3. An employee who had an abortion because she did not know which of two other employees had fathered it
4. A female employee announced her divorce and maybe three days later was inseperable and living with another employee, who is 23 years her junior (I looked it up).
5. One of my employees was put in jail for assault charges. His wife called to tell me…….. then his girlfriend called to tell me the same thing…….. then his OTHER girlfriend. May I mention this employee has several gold teeth and a very noticeable limp.
I could list a hundred things here. The drama is unbelieveable simply because the work is so routine, the people are used to working together, taking their breaks together……. they just HAVE to gossip to each other, including me, even though I don’t want to hear it. I will not miss this.
The one thing I will miss is being up and doing what needs to be done while the rest of the world sleeps. When I go out during the daytime now, everything seems so disorganized and chaotic. Everything is so peaceful at night. No traffic, nobody else shopping, nobody else on the street (well, maybe a couple of questionable people). I will also miss the fact that my boss is not around, so I can pretty much do what I want. It’s not like that during the day; he is pretty much glued to my side. I am a rather independent person and I also don’t like him that much, so this presents a problem.
Overall though I am very excited to get back to the normal world!
