Do You Work The Night Shift?
By Alice Henry
@IreneVincent (15960)
United States
November 28, 2015 4:20pm CST
During my life, I have worked at many different jobs. Right out of high school and the summer before I had planned to start Nursing School, I thought I would work as a waitress at a nice restaurant. I just wanted to make some good tips and didn't want anything permanent.
Well, that didn't work out at all. Waitressing is HARD work. In the first couple days my feet were swollen so bad I could barely walk, so I spent my first tips on some nursing shoes, thinking that they would be the best for being on my feet all day and I could use them later, during school. I paid a lot for them. But, they didn't help and after only two weeks, my waitressing "career" was over. I couldn't do it.
My next job was a telephone operator and I LOVED that job, even though I had to work the NIGHT SHIFT, as a new person with no seniority. But, I even liked that, until I got married and then not so much.
But, finally I got the 1:30 - 9:30 PM shift and that was great. I've never been a morning person, so I didn't have to get up early.
Much later, as a Private Duty Nurse, I also worked the night shift.
Today, I'm retired, but still tend to stay up late and sleep later in the morning than most people do.
What about you? Are you a morning person or a night owl?
7 people like this
7 responses
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
Yes, sometimes I stay up until the wee hours of the morning and then sleep in late. Lately though, I've been getting up earlier to watch my great grandson on a couple days a month.
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
@Missmwngi I guess a lot of us are night owls. It's just so much quieter late at night. The phone doesn't ring and I can enjoy the silence.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
28 Nov 15
I work third shift. I have worked all three shifts at various jobs but I prefer the night shift over them all. Mostly for the solitude and quiet.
Even though there can be up to five others in the store with me, it is mostly quiet. I also tend to sleep better during the day then I ever did at night.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
29 Nov 15
I don't know what I'll do if I ever have to switch shifts or jobs. I am too used to the night shift. Luckily enough I'm divorced and I have
no kids. That isn't to say I don't want some one day but well that's beside the point.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
@ScribbledAdNauseum Yes, it would be difficult to work the night shift and then have to try to sleep during the day if you had children to take care of. What type of work do you do?
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
Yes, it's quieter at night usually, if you are on the night shift. I can take a nice nap in the afternoon sometimes, but I have to silence my phone.
@slund2041 (3314)
• United States
29 Nov 15
I am not a morning person. I have to have a little time alone in the mornings or I feel like I will kill someone. LOL
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
Yes, I don't function very well in the morning. It takes me a few hours to get fully awake and ready to do anything that requires a lot of thinking.
@garymarsh6 (23979)
• United Kingdom
29 Nov 15
I have worked nights in the past although have not done so for about ten years. I am an early riser but like going to bed late at night too! A few years ago I used to manage on four hours sleep a night but now I get about 6
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
I need less sleep now that I'm older but sometimes I just need a nap in the middle of the day and I have the freedom to do that now that I'm retired. I just have to turn off my phone. I was NEVER an early riser by choice.
1 person likes this
@Missmwngi (12915)
• Nairobi, Kenya
28 Nov 15
I am a night person a habit i developed for studying at night when i was in collage. It is 2AM right now i am still awake he hee
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
It's just 9 PM here in Virginia, USA. I just watched a strange movie. "The Phantom of the Opera." I like some of the music and I had never seen the movie so I enjoyed seeing it for the first time.
1 person likes this
@Missmwngi (12915)
• Nairobi, Kenya
29 Nov 15
@IreneVincent Have not watched it,i should put it in the list
@shellyjaneo (1076)
• United Kingdom
28 Nov 15
I have worked night shifts when working in Nursing and health care they are horrible and I am so bad at them, my partner on the other hand worked nights the other week and he was fine with them x
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
I did private duty nursing on the night shift for about three years, but finally gave that up.
1 person likes this
@shellyjaneo (1076)
• United Kingdom
29 Nov 15
@IreneVincent Ahh I couldn't have handled it for that long, no matter how tired I was I couldn't sleep in the day x
@FourWalls (86575)
• United States
29 Nov 15
Definitely a night owl. My mom said I used to pull my hair out as a baby to keep from going to sleep. Even today, when I have to get up at 7:30 a.m., I'm never in bed before 1 a.m. I used to work the night shift, too, when I was at the Post Office -- and I loved it.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
29 Nov 15
Yes, I always am saying: "I hate to go to bed and I hate to get up in the morning." I'm definitely a night owl. I have a friend who used to work the night shift at the P.O. She liked it too.
1 person likes this
