Workers of the Night

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Driving over the Mississippi River a few nights ago, I observed a barge and towboat about to cross beneath the bridge upon which I was driving an 18-wheeler. Barges and towboats are hardly an uncommon sight at any time. In my nocturnal drives along and over the Mississippi River, I often see barges and towboats making their way along the river with their searchlights illuminating the way. Although they transport goods on the water and I transport goods via the highway system, I felt a certain comradery with the crew of that towboat. In addition, I felt a certain comradery by virtue of the fact that we both work nights.

A lot of folks work evenings and a number of those people work the quiet hours, those late evenings and early mornings when so many others are asleep. When I was in my 20s, I worked as a security guard, both full-time and part-time. For a night owl, it wasn't a bad job. Perhaps the toughest thing, aside from sometimes having to deal with agitated, aggressive, uncooperative, unpleasant, and unreasonable people, was coping with the physical demands of working a day job during the week and working security a couple nights on the weekend. That Friday night shift providing security at an area motel could be tough because I only got to squeeze in a nap after working all day Friday. And that was assuming that I was able to sleep. When 4:00 AM Saturday morning arrived, I was always ready to go home and go straight to bed.

I chose to drive nights and I am reasonably happy with that decision. I generally can avoid dealing with the heavier traffic typically seen during the daylight hours, although with my long nights I am sometimes driving in the morning during rush hour. And driving into Chicago on a Friday and Saturday evening can be stressful. But it is kind of nice to drive when you are not sharing the road with quite so many amateurs. 😉 And there is another benefit specific to the demands of my current job. If I run out of time and have to take my 10-hour DOT break away from home, parking spaces at a truck stop tend to be more plentiful during the day.

Truth be told, most of us probably don’t give much thought to the myriad of workers that labor in the late-night/early-morning hours. “Out of sight, out of mind “, as they say. But when you are one of the late-night/early-morning workers, you are part of the invisible engine that keeps the wheels turning while the rest of the the world sleeps. Whether you are a public safety professional on patrol and/or responding to calls, a utility plant worker keeping the utilities available at the flip of a switch or the turn of a valve, a baker baking the bread, rolls, buns, or making the doughnuts, the waitress at the 24-hour diner, the cashier at the convenience store or truck stop, the warehouse worker driving the forklift, the driver or sailor plying the transportation routes, or one of many others getting it done, you contribute to society. Just like all those people that work during the day. Perhaps just in more obscurity.

I applaud your contributions, brothers and sisters! I applaud you, workers of the night!