The Graveyard...Shift that is!

I've never been a morning person.  When I was still in school, I needed someone to wake me up or have my alarm clock ring really loud for me to get up.  And the problem with alarm clocks...you can just turn them off and go back to sleep! Don't tell me you haven't done that! Someone asked me once, are there wall clocks with alarms? That made me think...if the alarm of a wall clock rings, you would have to get up, take the clock off the wall, turn off the alarm then put the wall clock back on the wall.  What a hassle! Solution: just don't hang the wall clock!

Aside from having a hard time waking up early, I can't sleep early too.  However late I get home or tired I am or even however early I need to get up, I still find myself sleeping no earlier than 2am.

Anyways, the job I currently hold now is quite perfect for me schedulewise. When I got hired, I was asked which shift I preferred and I chose the graveyard shift.  My shift starts at 10pm and ends at 6am.  In other words, I live the life of a nocturnal person...sort of like an owl or a vampire (ahem...Edward, your fangs are making mg neck itch!!!).  I'm asleep during the day and awake at night.  Since I have had my job for almost 5 years now, I'm not used to being under the hot sun anymore.  On a side note: do I still need to use sunblock even if I work nights?

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to working the graveyard shift:

The pros:

1.  If you are a night person you will be up already.
2.  Less traffic going to and from work (well, usually).
3.  You can still do some things during the day. Some of my office mates even have part time day jobs.
4.  More time with family. Less time with family. Depends on your situation.
5.  Night differential.
6.  Quieter office environment.

The cons:
1.  There are not much places you can order food from. I can only take so much Mcdonald's and Jollibee.
2.  Not seeing your family and friends much. Why? Coz either you're at work or asleep.
3.  Not knowing (or caring) what time of day or even what day it actually is!
4.  It can be quite unsafe walking the streets at night.
5.  Social life will be limited.  My friends have saved Friday nights as the night to meet because of my schedule.
6.  You tend to fall asleep during work.  Meaning you get to make an IR (incident report) if you get caught.

I'm sure there are other reasons why the graveyard shift is good or bad for you. But if you are used to normal  hours, working nights will take a lot of getting used to.  Better stick to having sunlight while you're having your first cup of coffee at work.

I remember one incident wherein I found myself chatting with this British guy.  Here's how part of the conversation went:
R:  you have cam?
Z:  sorry no, i'm at work
R:  you're at work at this time?
Z:  yeah i'm on the graveyard shift
R:  why would you do that?
Z:  do what?
R:  work at the graveyard
Z:  wahahahaha