Dear, Grocery Shoppers - 3. Your Breakfast is My Dinner

Enlightening for sure!!!  I never realized what the "night shift" went through.  We totally live in a "9 to 5" world.  Everything caters to typical worker.  The sleep schedule I get.  I have had enough friends and family members who work/worked the time slot that you do.  I just didn't think about it beyond the sleep part.  Eye opener!   

It has always been funny to me that people label/stereotype the night workers as the misfits, druggies, felons, basically the people at the bottom of society.  They never think that if we didn't have people like you who "do the night shift",  we would not have anything.  You keep everything running.  I am sure you do see some scary people during your work hours but I would hazard a guess that those people are the ones who would stop and help you if they found you on the road, broken down.  Some of them are the types of people that would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.  It's ironic that a lot of people see the night as a time of "bad things" happening.  Hell if you get down to it, the bad stuff happens during the day, the truly bad stuff. 

I know I am all over the place with this but one of the kindest, gentlest, most genuine man I have ever met was loaded with tats, had a long beard, and looked like your stereotypical badass.  Everyone thought he was a dealer/felon because of his looks.  He was actually just extremely smart with his money.  But he was judged by his looks.  Society says you have to look a certain way, drive certain vehicles, live in a perfect house or you are nothing.  To be so "advanced", we are so lacking in our social attitude.  

Sorry I was soap boxing it LOL  I do love your entries (even that private school kid LOL)  Seriously though,  you guys are great!  I look forward to both your entries.  You make this retired guy think!  Not sure I want to think but you make me hahahahahahaha!  Have a great day and thanks again!!!!!

P.S.  I take full credit for errors...I can't find my glasses!!!!

43 minutes ago, Patch1 said:

Enlightening for sure!!!  I never realized what the "night shift" went through.  We totally live in a "9 to 5" world.  Everything caters to typical worker.  The sleep schedule I get.  I have had enough friends and family members who work/worked the time slot that you do.  I just didn't think about it beyond the sleep part.  Eye opener!   

It has always been funny to me that people label/stereotype the night workers as the misfits, druggies, felons, basically the people at the bottom of society.  They never think that if we didn't have people like you who "do the night shift",  we would not have anything.  You keep everything running.  I am sure you do see some scary people during your work hours but I would hazard a guess that those people are the ones who would stop and help you if they found you on the road, broken down.  Some of them are the types of people that would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.  It's ironic that a lot of people see the night as a time of "bad things" happening.  Hell if you get down to it, the bad stuff happens during the day, the truly bad stuff. 

I know I am all over the place with this but one of the kindest, gentlest, most genuine man I have ever met was loaded with tats, had a long beard, and looked like your stereotypical badass.  Everyone thought he was a dealer/felon because of his looks.  He was actually just extremely smart with his money.  But he was judged by his looks.  Society says you have to look a certain way, drive certain vehicles, live in a perfect house or you are nothing.  To be so "advanced", we are so lacking in our social attitude.  

Sorry I was soap boxing it LOL  I do love your entries (even that private school kid LOL)  Seriously though,  you guys are great!  I look forward to both your entries.  You make this retired guy think!  Not sure I want to think but you make me hahahahahahaha!  Have a great day and thanks again!!!!!

 

P.S.  I take full credit for errors...I can't find my glasses!!!!

 

Love the reference to the 9-5 world, and it made me think of so many more options I could have used in the entry! If you need your car looked at, gotta be during the day! Bank? Day. Doctor? Day. DMV? Day. Court? Day. Job interview? Day. Then you got the concept of drinking alcohol! Oh, boy! Noah gets on to me for coming home at 6:30am and fixing a rum and Coke. Plus, I can wake up at eight in the evening, start drinking, and I won't be judged at all! (Now, that's a sign for a fun night!)

Nonsense about soap boxing! It's a ranting journal. We're ranting, and the floor is open! Write an essay in the comments, bud! We want feedback and ideas on topics for retail horse-hockey that happens in the world.

You are 100% correct. I spent most of 4 years working in a CNC machine shop in central Texas. All of my friends and family didn't have clue what I had to live with.  Being single is definitely a plus when you don't have to worry about others in the house disturbing  you or you them.

I've never worked night shifts as such, but in the cinema business we often used to finish at midnight or around 3am if we were running late night shows, so I get your rant about things not being open or not selling the food you crave because your time clock is slightly out of sync with the way the world works. I used to get annoyed that a lot of cafes stop selling breakfast at ten or eleven am, because I often didn't get up or out until after then. What I loved about shift work was being able to go to places like the shops, swimming pool or gym when they weren’t packed with all the 9-5 workers. It's also great not to have to join the commuter queues to and from work at the regular times.

I cannot string together enough superlatives to express how much I enjoyed and learned from this chapter as a whole but especially when you were describing your co-workers. This is turning out to be a great read! Many thanks.

I don't think that we live in a "totally" 9 to 5 world. There are so many people that work outside of that old norm now. Plus there are so many things that can be done on line now e.g. banking, etc.

I have also never heard of people that work night shifts being seen as the dregs of humanity, etc. That's just mean and stupid. I don't get why people would even think that?

I also never had the issue with food either, that I can remember anyway? There were always other options. You may not get exactly what you want, but that didn't happen alot.

I had a job where I worked 11pm to 7am. It had way more benefits than not e.g. I am a night as opposed to a morning person, shopping and things were cool because most people were at work, I was worried about trying to sleep during the day but it was never an issue, way less Bosses at work, always a seat on the bus or train, etc. The main issue I had was that it was too boring because there was less to do at night. I started doing some of my Team Leaders work like staff and call stats, quality audits, etc. Shifts became a drag because there was not enough to do.

Now if my job was re-stocking shelves, that would have been fun. The anal side of me would love that (all those labels to line up facing forwards in perfectly straight rows, etc), it would be busy (unlike my job above), the physicality would be a bonus, etc.

Lastly, well done and my regards and best wishes to your Bawss and her Son. I would have cried my eyes out if I watched him singing Thank You For Being A Friend.

5 minutes ago, Buz said:

I don't think that we live in a "totally" 9 to 5 world. There are so many people that work outside of that old norm now. Plus there are so many things that can be done on line now e.g. banking, etc.

I have also never heard of people that work night shifts being seen as the dregs of humanity, etc. That's just mean and stupid. I don't get why people would even think that?

I also never had the issue with food either, that I can remember anyway? There were always other options. You may not get exactly what you want, but that didn't happen alot.

I had a job where I worked 11pm to 7am. It had way more benefits than not e.g. I am a night as opposed to a morning person, shopping and things were cool because most people were at work, I was worried about trying to sleep during the day but it was never an issue, way less Bosses at work, always a seat on the bus or train, etc. The main issue I had was that it was too boring because there was less to do at night. I started doing some of my Team Leaders work like staff and call stats, quality audits, etc. Shifts became a drag because there was not enough to do.

Now if my job was re-stocking shelves, that would have been fun. The anal side of me would love that (all those labels to line up facing forwards in perfectly straight rows, etc), it would be busy (unlike my job above), the physicality would be a bonus, etc.

I agree that we totally don't, but in a town of 50,000 people, dining options are rather limited if you want a bacon cheeseburger at 6am in Kentucky. It's 24/7 diners such as Denny's and Waffle House. And it can become rather monotonous and undesirable. 

Buz...why do I know you'd be an amazing stocker? I mentioned it in the entry #5, but our stock crew is trained to go fast. Like stock a case every 55 seconds. Vroom vroom! 

I worked night shift for a short time, right out of college (almost 30 years ago) and found the sleep schedule very difficult.  My dad worked at a small factory and preferred working the night shift. I believe he also found it peaceful, and generally lacking in bosses.  I work retail in southwestern Ohio, so I can identify with both your location and experiences.  How many times have you been asked "do you work here?" while wearing at least 2 company logos AND a nametag?

5 hours ago, CincyKris said:

I worked night shift for a short time, right out of college (almost 30 years ago) and found the sleep schedule very difficult.  My dad worked at a small factory and preferred working the night shift. I believe he also found it peaceful, and generally lacking in bosses.  I work retail in southwestern Ohio, so I can identify with both your location and experiences.  How many times have you been asked "do you work here?" while wearing at least 2 company logos AND a nametag?

I have been asked so many times! But here's what bothers me now:  our company has done away with traditional uniforms and has opted for aprons. And almost all of the stock crew does not wear the apron, as it gets all bunched up when we're stocking, or causes our arm's movement to falter. This is detrimental when holding glass product (spaghetti sauce. You ever cleaned up a jar of that? That is...thicc. Not thick. Thicc.). 

Noah gets it all the time! He wear a bright blue polo, in a bright blue building. But for some reason, I haven't been asked recently. I wear no apron or nametags, because I'm a rebel, but I think it's from the customers actually seeing me lift boxes and stocking product. 

On 1/9/2021 at 3:42 PM, Buz said:

I don't think that we live in a "totally" 9 to 5 world. There are so many people that work outside of that old norm now. Plus there are so many things that can be done on line now e.g. banking, etc.

I have also never heard of people that work night shifts being seen as the dregs of humanity, etc. That's just mean and stupid. I don't get why people would even think that?

I also never had the issue with food either, that I can remember anyway? There were always other options. You may not get exactly what you want, but that didn't happen alot.

I had a job where I worked 11pm to 7am. It had way more benefits than not e.g. I am a night as opposed to a morning person, shopping and things were cool because most people were at work, I was worried about trying to sleep during the day but it was never an issue, way less Bosses at work, always a seat on the bus or train, etc. The main issue I had was that it was too boring because there was less to do at night. I started doing some of my Team Leaders work like staff and call stats, quality audits, etc. Shifts became a drag because there was not enough to do.

Now if my job was re-stocking shelves, that would have been fun. The anal side of me would love that (all those labels to line up facing forwards in perfectly straight rows, etc), it would be busy (unlike my job above), the physicality would be a bonus, etc.

Lastly, well done and my regards and best wishes to your Bawss and her Son. I would have cried my eyes out if I watched him singing Thank You For Being A Friend.

Well, I was going to say the same thing as Buz, but he beat me to it! lol I loved working midnight shift. I loved the people who had the nerve to work that shift and it made me think, you midnight people are awesome!

I got more done on that shift than I did on any other shift. Even though, when a circus came into town and they set up in the shopping mall the store I worked in was near it, then I got frustrated with the customers. Some that wanted to buy beer right when you had to lock the doors on the beer box, thought it was unfair to them that they could not get any. Oh well, I am not losing my job over you just because you have a habit of being late to get it. It wasn't my fault!  The law could be doing a sting and I am not going to be stupid and sell it to you,  is what I am telling them. Plus I tell them there are cameras in the store. Do they think I am stupid? 

I

Your essay was certainly eye-opening although probably not for the obvious reason. I had never thought about people working night shifts as being miscreants or worse. Part of the reason is that my grandfather, who lived with us from the time I was 10, worked night shifts at the gas station until they did away with that shift. He loved it -- and it probably helped him stay married to my grandmother. Another part of the reason, is that I was a lab rat (i.e, a scientist) and often had to work late hours for various experiments. So while I did not have to do ONLY night hours, I did them often enough for it to feel like another norm, not an oddity. Of course, leaving the lab at 3 or 4 AM meant you had very little choice of food. The only thing open on the route I biked home (in Athens, GA, in the early 80s) was a Dunkin' Donuts. Luckily, neither my best friend, who also often worked late, nor I were bothered by caffeine so we could stop for coffee and maybe a donut (all they sold back then) if it was early enough in the month that we had some extra money. The real treat was when we worked until 6 AM: then we could stop at the Bluebird Cafe and get one of their cheese biscuits -- freshly made whole wheat biscuits, smothered in a good cheese, and fried in a cast iron skillet until the center was gooey and the edges were crispy. Still haven't found any place in the world that made them better!