I've been working nights for about five years now, and I appreciate it more all of the time. 98.7 of the people in the world sleep nights, so it's a whole different world. Kinda like... The population of the world has been reduced... by a whole bunch. The good guys-bad guys ratio is changed dramatically, though. Of the people legitimately up this time of the night, lets see... there's people who work in hospitals, people who work at all-night stores, cops, firemen, reporters, newspaper "boys"... that's it. Most of the other people that are up are up to no good. Either partying (illegal in most municipalities) or doing other criminal things. Or sneaking home after a rendezvous... Anyway, we're outnumbered. That's OK, though. I only get to see the criminal (and drunk and stupid) element in a controlled situation. We have, besides the city and county police, three armed security guards. Those boys are always there when you need them! But I hardly ever get to see the "important" people. The ones who run things, the hospital and the city and other things. Unless they get sick. I do get to see them sometimes as they're coming and I'm leaving. They have frowns on their faces, they have to work all day. I have a big smile on my face! I'm sure that they don't appreciate my cheerfulness... but that's their problem! I get to work independently at night. I don't need to rely on anyone else, just me. My judgement, my skill, my mind is all I have, and that's been adequate so far. The quantity of work that I do varies. Many times I work my ass off, sometimes I don't. During the days around here, if they're sitting, they get sent home. They can't send me home, though, since I'm the only one here... Most of the time, though, I'm just moderately busy. I have time to spend with my patients. I joke with them a lot, reassure them, try to establish a rapport with them. This is a luxury not allowed on days. They don't have enough time, not enough people. If a supervisor found a daytime tech talking to a patient about outside activities, out would come the little black book. Wasting time. I don't have a direct supervisor, and I hope that the one who is my supervisor doesn't read this... One of the problems with working nights is that I don't get much in the way of feedback. When I take a really good film under difficult circumstances, I don't have anybody to brag to. If I take a bad film, however, I always hear about it! But I don't take many bad films, though. Working nights isn't for everybody, though. It is rough for people with families, and for people with sleeping problems. Actually, most people that work nights do have sleeping problems. I do, but then, I had more problems when I worked days. I'm a fairly independent guy, and I don't mind working alone. Many people are much too socially-oriented to work alone. I find that sleeping days is no problem at all. I turn off the phone, turn on two or three fans for noise and air, block all of the light out of the bedroom and snooze. Most of the time. Karen and I don't have much of a problem with me working nights... we do have a few days where we just see each other in passing, but we try to make up for it during my week off, and usually do! Another problem with working nights is the public perception. "Party all night, Sleep all day. Bums!" Actually, in my case, that's probably true. I really love my work, so "party" is an apt term. Sleep all day? Hopefully. Bum? Sometimes... With my particular schedule (seven on, seven off) it's really important for me to get "turned around" properly going both ways. So I only get four hours sleep before I go to my Wednesday evening job at Medassist, then I can sleep fine on Wednesday night and be a "real" person for the next six days. Then I have to try to get eight hours' sleep before I go to work at Medassist the next week, 'cause I've got to work at the hospital too, and get back on the night schedule. Occasionally, I'll get messed up and "waste" the whole week off, up nights and sleeping days. Actually, I don't waste it, I spend it on the computer and on the net, but Karen thinks it's wasted... and I'm a bum 'cause I don't get stuff around the house done. Oh, well. Lots of people work "Swing" shifts... they work a couple of nights, a couple of evenings and a couple of days, then some off, then back again. Really hard to get a rhythm going that way, I would think. Swing shifts are hard on people physically and mentally, I don't know how they do it and maintain their sanity. A lot of them don't, however... disgruntled postal workers have mostly spent some time on the swing shift. (OK, so I just made that up. Sue me.) And I get to enjoy the sunrise frequently. Enjoy!