Night moves LOCAL LATE SHIFT WORKERS PUT IN HOURS WHILE MOST OTHERS SLEEP
Posted on Sunday, October 5, 2008
The goat would not move.
After coming in at a late hour, a customer apparently still under the spell of the night - among other influences - came into the E-Z Mart located off West Sixth Street near South Sang Avenue in Fayetteville in search of coffee.
He insisted to the store clerk, Charles Gwartney, that an animal usually not found in such an urban setting was defiantly blocking the exit.
"He kept falling against the door to get out and he thought there was a goat out there holding the door shut so he couldn't get out," Gwartney recalled. "I told him to just talk to the goat and he'll move and you can open the door and get out. He starts talking to the goat and pretty soon he opens the door and walks out the door."
Gwartney has only been at the convenience store for two months, but he already has several stories about people as colorful as the sign in front of the store, all attained while working the third shift at the shop from 10: 30 p.m. to 5: 30 a.m. "You get to meet all these people that are acting differently than what they would if you meet them during the daytime," he said. "Just about every night something funny happens. "The clerk is just one of many citizens in Washington County who prefer to work on the other side of the time clock.
' It's not for everybody' With the recent slumping economy, some work late into the evening for higher wages than their day counterparts. Some embody the antithesis of "a morning person."
Most have invested in a good pair of blackout blinds and some sort of noise machine to block out the day walkers moving around them when they hit their bed. Most would probably have no problem doing a commercial for their favorite coffee or soda company.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics files night shift work under the category of "flexible work schedules. "An article in the bureau's December 2007 edition of its "Monthly Labor Review"stated that nearly a third - about 30 percent - of the country's labor force works outside of the standard 9-to-5 window from Monday through Friday. Yet, according to the same document only 3. 1 percent of U. S. workers take on a true night shift.
"I like the night shift," Gwartney said," but it's not for everybody."
Gwartney decided a career change was needed after the menial labor that comes with being a nurse's assistant became too much for his 56-year-old body to manage. He was working from about 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. at local hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
Standing a bit more than 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighing in at just under 250 pounds, Gwartney is a man comfortable in his skin, so much so that anybody who walks in the store would have an impossible time getting under it.
In addition to his fulltime job, Gwartney is a fully ordained nondenominational interfaith minister who is used to counseling anyone on religious matters if they ask. This training comes in handy when dealing with riled-up customers.
"I know how to deal with erratic people," Gwartney said. "The main thing is don't show emotion. The more violent they get, the more calm you should stay."
Last weekend, a majority of Gwartney's customers were clad in black leather as patrons of Bikes, Blues & BBQ motorcycle rally. "The biggest question that everybody was asking was how come they can't buy beer after 11 o'clock," he said. His sleep schedule could be labeled as "erratic"as well. On most work nights, he'll go to bed between 7: 30-8 a.m. and sleep for three hours before waking up late in the morning. After supper, he'll sleep for three more hours before getting ready for work. "I like working nights because I don't like to miss anything during the daytime," he said. "That way if I've got something to do then I can go do it."
On the flip side Wilma McDowell runs on only one kind of fuel - Maxwell House dark roast coffee. In the course of a day, the shift supervisor at the Rockline Industries plant in Springdale will consume one or two pots. No water bottles or soda cans need apply.
"It's good to the last drop," McDowell said, alluding to the coffee brand's famous slogan. "I want my coffee to come and say good morning, kind of slap me around and say'Okay, let's go. ."
A self-proclaimed "night owl," McDowell has been working the 6 p. m.-to-6 a.m. shift in her current role for about seven of her 10 years at the plant, which produces nearly 14 million packages of baby wipes a month for various companies around the world.
During her shift, she oversees about 60 workers in the plant's production lines, warehouse and chemical mix station, where large vats contain different types of lotion for the baby wipes.
McDowell, 55, shows up for her job at 4: 30 p. m., which is far better than the other way around, she said.
"If you come here to work [the day shift ], you have to be here by 6 o'clock [a.m. ], which means you've got to get up by 4: 30 in the morning," said McDowell in the plant's break room clad in a hairnet, a garment everyone at the facility must wear. "I just can't do that. My brain just doesn't kick in gear."
Similar to Gwartney and several other members of the night shift society, McDowell has an unorthodox sleeping pattern that involves her going to bed at about 8 a.m. and waking up as early as 12: 30 p.m. "I'm like a cat. I just need a little nap," she said. Her co-worker, Andrew Armstrong, was in need of a nap as well after coming in after taking care of his wife's broken-down car, giving him just three hours of sleep the night before. Luckily, a trusty companion was nearby: a Coca-Cola can.
"This is my best friend, but it always has been ever since I was a kid," Armstrong said.
Going on his third year at Rockline, the 42-yearold Armstrong has served just about every role on the production lines of the 525, 000-square foot plant. For the past few months, he has been working as a maintenance technician, making sure that all of the plant's gargantuan machines function properly.
"You never know when a machine is going to go down," he said. "They're not human, so you can't take their pulse."
The Siloam Springs resident has had his share of day-shift life, but prefers the way his 6 a. m.-to-6 p.m. shift from Wednesday through Friday gives him more time in the day with his family, which includes five children living at home ranging from 3 to 18 years old. His wife, Heather, works nights as well, clocking in from 9: 45 p.m. to 5: 45 a.m. in the data processing department at Arvest Bank.
"Yeah, it's pretty much right backwards for most people," Armstrong said.
At Rockline, night shift workers make an average of a dollar extra per hour than the day workers. Armstrong said he would not be surprised if more people would start to entertain the notion of working nights, not just at Rockline but in general "if they had the need for it or had a family to worry about and take care of and needed that extra money" - although not all shifts necessarily pay more at night.
"There's very few people who can really get used to working nights. A lot of people convince themselves that day shift is all they can work. … It's all a mind thing to me. Once you train your mind to deal with it, it has no other choice but to manage it. "Breakfast 'n'brewskies Biscuits and gravy is a popular menu choice at Susan's Restaurant, located off Sunset Avenue in Springdale, but not for the night shift crowd. Steak and eggs or chicken-fried steak and eggs are more to their liking. Washed down with a beer.
"They do a bigger meal normally," said manager Lucious Mhoon. "They don't do the small stuff."
Generally, the restaurant, which is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, is a popular place for late shift workers to unwind early in the morning during their version of the night - especially on Friday mornings. Mhoon remembers how a group of nurses from a nearby hospital used to come in and order steak and eggs and beer with regularity.
"Everybody in here is just waking up," he said. "They were coming in here and it was their Friday night, so they had all this energy. They were fun to be around."
Mhoon recalled a common conversation that he has with truckers, a similar breed of workers who stop by the restaurant near the crack of dawn.
"I'll say'Are you having a good day ? ' and they'll say'I'm having a good night, '"Mhoon said.
Mhoon's wife, Alison, worked the late shift at a Tyson Foods, Inc., plant in Fayetteville in 2006, the same year they were married. She eventually switched to a job with more conventional hours.
"We'd only see each other on Sundays basically. Some people say that was the secret to a happy marriage," Mhoon said with a laugh.
Karen McIntosh works as the house supervisor at the Washington Regional Medical Center from 6 p.m. to 6: 30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, when she oversees about 80 staff members within all of the hospital's units. She had one simple piece of advice for anyone thinking about working nights: "Turn off your phone."
"People will call," she said. "That's probably the hardest thing is family and friends forget that you work night shift and call you at 10 o'clock in the morning when you're asleep."
"Some people are night people and some people are day people and if you're a day person, you just ain't gonna make it on nights," Charles Gwartney said.
Any of the local nocturnal workers would probably be glad to tell you all about the pros and cons of working the late shift.
As long as you call in the afternoon.
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