Night Auditors get no respect, I tell ya...no respect. *fidgets with tie*

[MercenaryMuffin]

Nice to meet you, MercenaryMuffin. That nick sounds like a combination of pleasant and dangerous

Nice to meet you too, MadBassist. I like your avatar, it's freakin' metal
My name actually comes from the power metal band Mercenary (I freakin' love power metal, lol), and, um...a muffin. Because I like muffins

Actually, my name always makes me think of a muffin decked out in belts of ammo and wielding a machine gun. That would be awesome...

My boss likes to say it takes a special kind of person to be an auditor. I say having no life helps too, heh heh. If it wasn't for the fact the owner is too cheap to get us real health insurance, I'd say it's a perfect job

Same here. Owner is too cheap to give us ANY coverage, the bastard. Since I'm a nerdy shut-in for 99% of the time, Night Audit works very well for me. I get to avoid the vast majority of the people in the hotel, and I only have to be "hospitable" for three or four hours out of my shift.

I get to lock the lobby doors after 10:00, crank up the music, and do the bookwork while keeping an eye on the cameras.

That must be nice. I have to stay at the front desk...no music for me
We have a back office with a TV set up to show the camera feed, so I wouldn't miss anyone that comes by anyway, but meh, management wants me to be up here all night. The only thing keeping me from dying of boredom is this site, and my obsessive planning for what I'm going to do when I get home and hop on Eve Online.

The night starts with Coast to Coast AM, and if the guest is too wacky, it's either music, or my latest addiction: Penn Jillette's radio show (pennfans.net - I highly recommend it!)

Ah, Coast to Coast AM. A haven for weirdos, conspiracy theorists, and the insane. At least it's entertaining for most of the time. Some people, though...too weird for me, lol. Haven't really listened to it much since Art Bell stopped hosting, but George Noory is entertaining enough.
I could literally feel my brain dying when I heard someone claim that a reported UFO in the clouds over Chicago was the ghost of Saddam Hussein...coming back for vengeance on the Bush family and their ties with the Illuminati. Sigh. Cue the tinfoil hat.

I'm a big fan of Penn Jillette. I have every episode of "Bullsh!t" on DVD, and I love that he's a skeptic and a critical thinker. I've never listened to his radio show, though...I'll have to give it a listen.

My keys to survival:
1) Melatonin: the greatest sleep aid since cats
2) Air conditioning
3) Keeping the schedule through the weekend, which makes for a weird social life. Netflix and wireless headphones help too.

Haha, I agree. My keys to survival:
1) Iced tea. Lots and lots of iced tea.
2) EVEN MORE AIR CONDITIONING, especially since it gets 115 in the summer here.
3) This forum! Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster I found this website, it has let me vent so much

Try as I might, I can't keep to a schedule on my days off. I want to make my days off last as long as possible, which means I usually end up screwing up my sleep habits...

I think Night Auditor is the best position to have in a hotel, and the larger the better. I hear the small places make auditors do the laundry. Since my current place is stuck in the 20th century, I have the fun of filling out the spreadsheets in pencil every night.

Our hotel only has 134 rooms, so we're not that big. I haven't heard of Auditors doing laundry, thank goodness. I refuse to do that.
Our system is pretty up-to-date, if ass-backwards. The entire audit process takes me less than an hour. That leaves me 9 hours to keep myself from dying of boredom and/or falling asleep.

[MrSmiley]

But man, going from falling asleep at 11pm or later on my days off, to going to sleep at 3pm on my work days...it's hard on ya. Fortunately, the two relationships I've had in the past year have been understanding, even though they didn't work the same hours I did.

What works for me is DON'T CHANGE YOUR HOURS when you're not working. Now obviously that doesn't work for everybody, I have a co-worker who juggles 3 different jobs and is able to work any shift. I'm not that guy. If I'm working 9-5 and waking up at 7 then I want to be waking up at 7 even on my days off. If I'm working nights 11 to 7, then when I'm not working I want to be awake at 11 to 7.

I don't think I look tired at all... but no relationship right now either so maybe I'm doing it all wrong after all

[infinitemonkies]

I been doing graveyards for almost a year now, and I mostly worked evening/closing shifts in restaurants before that.

Mornings and I are passing acquaintances at best.

I actually find I'm sleeping better than I have in years now that I'm 100% a daysleeper, (btw, daysleeper by REM is an awesome song.)

I've always been somewhat asocial, so I find being up nights and sleeping days is a perk, not a hindrance. And, since most of the "people" I deal with are drunk and/or various flavors of crazy, I don't need to restrain myself nearly as much.
As an added bonus, when I go shopping, it's always first thing in the morning when the store opens, no crowds, no lines.

[MercenaryMuffin]

Well I'm horrible at going to bed on time, tend to stay up at least 24 hours straight for one of my days off because there's so much to do and not enough time to do it (read: NEED MOAR VIDEO GAMES).

And yeah, being there when a store opens is nice

[Geek King]

And yeah, being there when a store opens is nice

That, or grocery shopping at 3AM in a 24-hour store. Nothing but me, the floor wax machine, and maybe 1-2 other nightowls. One of the few things I miss about the 8am-8pm shift.

[WhiteRose]

I have orientation this friday...can't wait...only thing is, if i ride with Nate i can't make him drive all the way here when he gets off his shift (at 7) and drive me there (by 9) since it takes about 45 min's to get there one way...that'd be cruel...if i go with him when he goes to work and just ride back with him after i'm done my orientation he'll have to sleep in the parking lot and i'll have 11 hours to kill before the orientation...hmm...any suggestions?

[infinitemonkies]

I wanna put together a regular all-night-auditor poker game.

Get together every other wednesday <or whenever> morning at 8am for booze, bbq and cards!

[WhiteRose]

i'd be all in except that i live way too far away...