Night shift

[Sandy]

Okay, it's 11.20 PM in my country, and I'm currently working. Actually, I only started my shift three hours ago, and I've still got eight more to go.

Yes, I'm on a night shift. This place is a service center for the mentally ill, with 12 tenants residing here. I'm all alone in this house located in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a darkening forest. It's not my usual workplace, I only came here as a substitute for this night only (I usually do day-shifts on my summer workplace, which is a completely different building located in the nearby city).

Sounds scary, huh? Ever been on a similar situation, working throughout the night?

Well, to tell you the truth, it's not scary at all. The tenants are all asleep (heavily drugged), all the doors are locked and I've got surveillance cameras and an emergency wristlet for my protection. I don't even have to do much else but supervise, heh.

And I created this thread because frankly I'm bored. ;P

And tired.

Also, it's my birthday tomorrow, so this is certainly a new way for me to wake up to it.

[DeathKnight]

[quote name='Sandy']Ever been on a similar situation, working throughout the night?[/quote]

[color=crimson]Yeah, I'm a closer at Wendy's (fast food chain for the non-American's who don't have them in their country). Closing is primarily cleaning (the entire restaurant, dishes), putting things away (perishable food, trash cans), stocking (cups, lids, sauces and numerous other things) and closing down a couple of key machines (soft drink station, grill, Frosty machine). Tonight I'm pulling a 5PM to 2AM shift. It sounds worse than it is really. The work is not too all that physically hard, lol. Dealing with irritated customers takes more out of you than all the grunt work.

Happy early birthday, man. I hope you have a good day.[/color]

[Lady Knight]

Happy Birthday! I have story why the night shift is called the 'graveyard shift'.

Well back in the 1500's I believe people would often get drunk. Well sometimes they would get so drunk they would be out cold for a day or so. Since people at first didn't know that the person was just drunk they'd burry the person thinking they were dead.

They found out they were burying people alive when the plague struck and they would dig up coffins take the bones out and reuse the coffins. In some coffins they found scratch marks, showing that they buried the person alive.

So they came up with a solution. They would tie a piece of thread around the dead or supposedly dead person's wrist and the string would run up through the coffin all the way up to the ground. At groundlevel the string would be attached to a bell, so if the 'dead person' moved their wrist at all the bell would ring.

A person working at night in the graveyard would be on the 'graveyard shift' incase someone suddenly became conciousous and rang the bell, meaning they'd have to go dig the person up.

That is the history on the graveyard shift saying. Sorry just thought I'd share that. I heard it from my Englsih teacher.

[Sandy]

Well, it was a nice little story, thanks, Lady Knight! ;D This isn't much like a graveyard, although one woman said she was going to die this night - lucky for both me and for her she says that every night. ;P

Here I still am, just came from 3.00 PM rounds. My next task is at 4.00 PM to retrieve newspapers and get them inside. XP

I brought my PlayStation 2 along with Star Ocean: Till the End of Time to keep me awake. It has done it's job fairly well during these late hours.

It's not as morbid here as I thought it would be - more like serene. It's dawning outside already. Quite beautiful, actually.

But yaay, happy birthday to me! X)

[vegeta rocker]

The latest i really ever come to a graveyard shift is when i work 4 to 10 on fridays. Its pretty alright really, usually i just pump up the music and jam for a few hours. I work in an equipment station for video students. I am also sorrounded by labs with people.

Though usually i am all by myself.

I can work on homework at the school until 2am and i usually do, so i may as well work a night shift.

Happy Birthday!

My birthday was tuesday and i was sitting in school watching the clock strike midnight when i took a break from my homework. lol what a crazy night eh?

[Random]

[COLOR=Navy][SIZE=1]HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SANDY! Hope it's a good one!

Anyways, graveyards you ask? Heh, ya...

I work graveyards at a gas station, and have for approx. the last six months. It's not all that bad, as long as you're able to stay awake, that is. I've had some pritty crazy nights, with some even more crazy people...lemme indulge you for your reading (dis)pleasure. XD

Since I live in central Canada, I see animals...lots of animals. Considering I work in the middle of nowhere, I see more animals than I do people some nights. Everything from beavers (it is Canada, people) to foxes, moose to giant moths that look like they could eat your hand for breakfast, to some crazy drunk guy that said he turned into a warewolf during the day...wierd...I've seen alot of animals.

As for crazy people, as if the drunk-warewolf guy wasn't crazy enough, there's also all the people I work with. HAH! First is Margaret, a sixty-year-old hag...she's alright, just don't try and talk with her. Then there's Ash, the sixteen-year-old pregant girl...pritty much the same as Marg, alright 'till you try to talk to her. Don't forget about Katie, my fellow raver. She's one of my bestist friends, and we get along great. I love working with her, but she's going to be gone...tonights her last night...*sigh*

Then, of course, there's the crazy weather. Lightening storms that cut out the electricity, forcing us to close the store...with no lights on, outside seems just that much more...scary? Foggy nights, where you can't even see the gas pumps...I dislike those even more than the no-electricity. But, of course, there's the sun-rise. It's so beautiful, and makes everything seem so peaceful and relaxing...then the customers start coming.

Here's my favorite story. One night I was working with Ash, and we went out for a smoke. While outside, we where "attacked" by a "man-eating" moth, or so she called it. She started to swing a broom around in hopes of hitting it, but she continually missed. So, once it landed on the ground, she tried to spear the thing with the broom. Of course, she missed, but succeeded in pissing off the moth. It started to chase her, around and around, then landed on her arm and...bit her. That's right, it BIT her. She has the bruise to prove it!

After she cleaned it off, and alot of laughing on my part, we went outside a couple hours later for another smoke. This time, it was my turn to "deal" with Mother Nature. I was walking around the parking lot, and out of nowhere a beaver popped into view. It was H-U-G-E! At least the size of a medium-sized dog, I swear. Anywho, it started to waddle towards the highway, where logging-trucks where running constantly. I was concerned about the darn thing's safety, and Ash told me to get it away from the highway. So, smoke in hand, I ran around the thing in attempts to scare it away from the deadly road. Heh, ya. Didn't work. It got angry, bared it's teeth, and started to waddle...rather fast...in my direction. Abandoning the smoke, I ran as fast as I could towards the store, with Ash following and laughing. Once inside, we named the beaver "Chucky."

I'm glad to say Chucky never has returned...and if he did, I could care less if he went on the highway or not.

Hope you enjoy, Sandy!

~Ex[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Sandy]

My nightshift is now long over, and I've had a "good" three hour sleep after that. I gotta say, next time I get myself into a night shift, I will make sure I have nothing scheduled for the next day!

Alas, as things are, I'm about to leave - still a bit dizzy and quite tired - to my boyfriend's house, where he has organized a private b-day party for me! <3 Lots of se... erhm, [I]cake[/I] ahoy! ;P

Thanks for entertaining me during my long night, peeps!

[Raiyuu]

[font=trebuchet ms]I work as a lighting tech at my Students' Union in term-time, making all the moving light fixtures do pretty things while people dance. I usually start rigging everything at about three or four in the afternoon; the doors open at ten; the punters are kicked out at three in the morning and I'm usually in bed by about five, after striking and putting all the lights away.

It messes up my sleep patterns a little, but I can choose when I work, so I usually don't have lectures the next morning, thankfully. The only downside is I don't usually get a break for my evening meal, so I either have to cook something really filling for lunch, or order in pizza to eat while I'm operating.[/font]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]Right now I don?t work during the night, but my previous job as a truck driver had me working different hours all the time. It was a combination of pick up and deliver times that constantly shifted the time I was working. In any given week I would have at least one day shift, one swing shift and one graveyard/night shift. Most of the time the night shift was actually pretty nice since it meant you didn?t have to deal with very many four wheeler?s. (when you are a semi truck driver, any vehicle with four wheels is a four wheeler as it?s referring to actual number of wheels and not what the transmission system is)

The only drawback to that is that in the winter, night time is the most dangerous due to the drop in temperature and potential ice on the roads. Yeah drunks are an issue, but a huge percentage of your time is spent driving on the open freeway and not in towns, at least on the west coast that is, and drunks tend to stick close to where the liquor is, in town.

The rest of the year it?s a lot of fun and if possible I would plan my stops out in the middle of no where so I could enjoy the silence and gaze at the stars. There are some great rest stops in some of the mountain passes where the night sky view is fantastic. And being in a semi means you have a decent amount of comfort to go along with it.

Anyway, I no longer have to work at night, but after being a truck driver, well different schedules aren?t an issue for me. I can sleep pretty much any time or in any car for that matter. I like having a regular schedule, but part of me misses the randomness of my days. You rarely knew more than say five days ahead so it was always a surprise as to where and what you would be doing next. [/COLOR]