Night Shift Survival Training

[Koliedrus]

When I was a kid, I anticipated weekends and summer vacations because it meant I could stay up late. To quote B.O.C.:

I love the night.
The day is okay and the sun can be fun
But I live to see those rays
Slip away.

At night, not only is the bright-blue drapery pulled back to expose the universe beyond, the people who set and enforce limits on a child's imagination are mostly asleep.

At night, children can literally experience what it's like to be on a "different" planet.


As years sculpted me into a productive citizen, I was faced (at one point) with a request to give up my day position for nights. It began with these words:

UM: Let me buy you a cup of coffee.

Two decades later, I took the first day job that opened up. I had my reasons.


Night Shift was fun! It felt "normal" to me. I eventually became a crew chief. And oh, the stories that write themselves after the sun goes down.


As you might imagine, I have several stored up from those twenty-odd years of being awake as the Zenith crosses the outer Solar System.

I'd like to hear yours as I share mine.


Pull up a chair, prop up your feet, sip or chug your favorite beverage and let it fly.




As a rule of thumb, though, it's in your best interest to keep details to a minimum. Anyone and EVERYONE can read what gets posted here. Hopefully the mods will be on their toes should a flurry of memory turn into a dreadful miscalculation of judgement.

Show me yours. I'll show you mine.

[Koliedrus]

Paperclips and Kibble

I'll start.

One of the viral vids that's been making the rounds regards an office worker being pelted by paperclips.

Here's one version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3KIxzCqYqM

Years before, the same thing happened but it involved chunks of dry dog food as the projectile of choice. The retaliation, however was "different".


Two workers in separate aisles worked their assigned sections expertly and with pride. As time passed, one found a chink in the armor of the other. A non-work related issue developed between them and one found it necessary to exploit the weakness he'd discovered.

After several shifts of being pelted by Gravy Train at random times, the peltee decided to implement a plan he'd been devising.


The shift began normally. Hours later,screams were heard.

After the two were safely separated, the peltee was interviewed.


He had prepared a container of charcoal lighter fluid by dumping most of the contents and replacing it with water. He left just enough lighter fluid for aroma.

Once the kibble started flying, he scrambled up the shelves, ripped the cap off of the container with his teeth, dumped the contents on his nemesis, held the flame of a cigarette lighter over his head and proclaimed, "that's it".

Both eventually went on to other jobs but they left as friends.

I'm sure there's a moral here somewhere.

[April]

I love night shift so far. Just started monday. 10 PM-6Am. I come home and sleep u ntil noonish, with a nap around 7 PM.

I work at a Diversion Center. Essentially, what that is, is it's a place for those who are in jail (or in some cases, federal prison) for various criminal activites can apply to be sent to my facility to finish out thier sentances.

we've got a bit of everything, from some (segregated) sex offenders, domestic violence situations, weapons or drug charges, evading arrest, some driving offenses (like DUI's, or multiple driving without a license charges) and in one case, practicing real estate without a license.

The difference between jail and my facility is freedom, essentially. while they don't get to come and go as they please, they CAN get permision to work, or go off grounds to visit people. They can go in and out of thier rooms as they please, etc etc.

I get to play "adult" babysitter.

[myswtghst]

I've been on second shift for a few months now, and I love it, most of the time. I am not a morning person at all, so working 3-midnight, Sunday through Thursday works out quite well for me--and I still get my weekends.

I work in a tech dispatch call center, so the biggest thing about working night shift is dealing with real emergencies, and seperating out the fake emergencies, as some of our customers have a tendency to overreact.

The funniest thing that has happened so far was actually quite recent. While I've gotten my share of strange and inappropriate calls in my 2+ years here, this was a new one. It started with a call on Sunday night, in which a shop owner we'll call W called in to tear my call center and an associated call center (that monitors the equipment) a new one. The following Sunday, he one-upped himself by calling in *DRUNK* to tear everyone a new one. The funniest moment was conferencing him on the with the Manager who approves his contracts and basically pays him, so she could hear just how lovely he was being.

[ForestDragon]

I work graveyard at the airport, as I think I've mentioned elsewhere. Anyway, last week we had one that amused me. I was going from here to there ("there" being the place I had chosen to perch and read during my break) when I saw a woman following a small light-brown animal down the concourse. Sez I to myself, "That's either a very small dog or a very big rat."

Since I have a weakness for just about anything small and furry, I decided to go check it out. I had thought that the dog, as it turned out to be, was on one of those extendible leashes and I hadn't seen the line against the dark carpet, but as it happened, the dog (puppy, actually) was loose and she was trying to catch it!

Being basically a Good Samaritan where animals are concerned, I decided to help out and joined the low-speed pursuit. The little bugger went into one of the gates' waiting areas and under several rows of seats. Mind you, he wasn't trying to run away, he was just so into all the new sights, sounds and above all, smells! Up and down the rows we went, round and round the pillars. Finally, I observed the pup's movement - he thought we were playing, from the way he was bouncing around. "Okay," thinks I, "I could probably work with that. Time for a little puppy psychology."

I dropped down on my knees and reached over - he danced away, of course. I scratched the carpet with my nails, and he bounded over a couple of feet - not quite far enough. (Mental comment: "C'mere, you little shit.") Scratch scratch again - oh, she must be playin' with me! Bound, bound, GRAB! Not hard enough to hurt, just firm enough to hold him still until I could get my other hand on him and pick him up.

When he wasn't being exasperating, he was a cute little thing. (Sorry, I got no pictures.) He was a Chihuahua cross of some sort, brown-eyed, golden-tan fur, and his name was Pirate. The woman was almost pathetically grateful; she must've been chasing him for awhile. Turned out they had just gotten off the plane where he'd been boxed up for four or five hours: she had taken him out so he could stretch his legs and run around a bit and he got away from her.

I had a pleasant little conversation with her about dogs while I stood there with Pirate in my arms petting him while he attempted to clean my chin and nose. After a bit I handed him over and she went on her way and I went on my break. All in all, a bit of a high point of the night for me.

[BookstoreEscapee]

The only times I've worked nights have been Inventory and the occasional late-night event (like, say, Harry Potter...). I'm actually a night person but I'm not sure I'd want to do it on a regulary basis...