What is it Like to Work a Night Shift Job?

Our Girl Scout troop (troop 82544, a group of 7th-8th grade Cadettes from Waltham) is earning the Night Owl Badge. An activity in this badge is interviewing people about their night jobs. We interviewed 3 people about their night jobs (Scott O’Neil; a computer programmer, M. Susan Duthie; a nurse/nurse supervisor, and Andrea Parent; a switchboard operator). We have collected some information to share with you that explains what happens during night jobs!

Everyone has to eat sometime. So when do and where do people working at night find time and go to eat?

Just like a day time job night workers are given breaks, on these breaks they would eat. Susan Duthie said that she would eat around 12am and have a snack at 4am, she would usually bring her own food because the cafeteria wasn't open at night. Andrea Parent said that working nights was how she started drinking coffee. There was a Dunkin’ donuts shop at her work, her favorite Dunkin’ treat was Halloween munchkins. Scott O’Neil would get food from Lena’s (a Waltham sandwich shop) and Stop and Shop. He said that it was hard to manage eating timing.

Just like eating, sleeping is a basic need. So when is time to sleep available to people with the night shift?

Some people would sleep in the morning right after their shift, and have the afternoon for themselves, then have their shift at night. When waking up, it would be harder because of the unusual sleep schedules. As their shifts changed, so did their sleep schedules throughout the week if they had differently timed shifts on different days. Others would sleep right before work in the afternoon, then have the morning for themselves. It would be hard for them to stay up through the shift, so they would walk around and eat on their break when they were tired, as well as make conversation with other people as much as possible. Occasionally, someone would fall asleep on the job, but it wouldn’t happen often. At one of Scott O’Neil’s jobs, there was a man who would sleep with his eyes open, leaning against a printer!

Everyone has favorite things about their job. So what are the perks and most favorite things of the people with night jobs?

One perk of working at night is having extra time to do homework or other tasks during slow times. The pay is also better compared to a daytime job. You have more time during the day, which can be helpful if you have kids. There is almost no traffic during the commute. Susan Duthie, a nurse, enjoyed interactions with patients and teaching them about their illness and medications. Scott O’Neil, a computer programmer, enjoyed working by himself and not having to interact directly with his boss.

On a more negative note, people also have least favorite things. So what are some of the downsides to having a night job?

Since people usually sleep at night, working then can be kind of difficult. Having to deal with grumpy coworkers while on your fifth cup of coffee can be exhausting! One nurse that worked at the local hospital of her town, Susan Duthie, loved interacting with her patients and teaching them about their illness. Unfortunately, when they passed away “especially babies,” she said, it was always a tragedy.

Just like people who work during the day, people have shifts in their jobs at night. So what were the shifts worked by the people we interviewed?

Our interviewees worked the third shift, which is sometimes called the graveyard shift! Andrea said that for her, working holidays and third shift (11pm - 7am) paid more. Scott agreed that it paid better and that it was easier to have relationships if you worked the third shift instead of the second. Being a nurse, Susan sometimes worked longer shifts from 7pm- 7am!

Here are some other facts we picked up on when learning about working at night. Did you know that they could do easy shopping without any lines, because they were up so early in the morning? Some of them would buy things for themselves or their friends right after work because there were no lines. The commute wasn’t very bad and there was hardly ever any traffic. At that time of night, there were some weird things that they would see. For one, Scott O’Neil said that he could look out the window and see people on the street without them seeing him. He also said that one time as he was driving down a quiet highway late at night, he saw someone driving towards him on the wrong side of the highway at full speed! He had to pull over to avoid them, and it was the weirdest thing he saw after his night shifts.

These are some of the things we learned about working in the night. Our troop hopes you’ve also picked up on some of these facts, and now have a better understanding on what night jobs are like!