Today I think I saw a half a dozen posts about the current Measles outbreak, 3 posts about kids and gun safety, one warning about the laundry detergent pods.
Ok folks lets get realistic. The "Great Vaccine Debate" is going to rage on. The Anti Vaxxers aren't going to just suddenly say "Oops... We made a mistake. Never mind. Lets all get out kids vaccinated" Not going to happen. I don't happen to agree with them, and think their behavior is irresponsible. I'm sorry their children are going to suffer because they're stubborn, and in some cases downright moronic. There is absolutely no basis in science for their claims of harm from vaccines. That being said, I believe that as misguided as they are, the have the right to decide what's right for their families. But they do not have the right to force the rest of the sane world to deal with the ramifications of their decision. Decide you don't want to vaccinate your kids, fine. But don't bring them out in public where they become a vector to infect the rest of us. Don't expect your insurance, or public assistance to pay for incidences of illness that could've and should've been prevented by you vaccinating your child. Prepare to homeschool your child. I do agree that there are exceptions, for example the child that is allergic to a vaccine, one who is too young to be vaccinated, or has an illness that makes vaccination unsafe. But misguided thoughts that vaccines cause autism, or that the illness has beem eradicated and vaccines are unnecessary, and or that they are a ploy by vaccine manufacturers and physicians to make money is just ridiculous, not to mention dangerous.
The Anti Gun folk, are going to bash guns and blame them for whatever they see fit that day. You're not going to change their mind. I see all the joke posts on Facebook and similar social media about guns being at home all day alone and not killing anyone. Well, it is true. Guns don't kill people. Irresponsible people with guns kill other people. There have been several incidents in the news lately of people being "accidentally" shot by their own gun when it was inadvertently fired by their own child. I firmly believe these were not "accidents". the defintion is an unexpected act that is not planned or intended, an incident that occurs by chance. Having a loaded gun with a round in the chamber that is unsecured and in an area accessible by children (or anyone not properly trained in the use of firearms for that matter) and having the trigger be pulled by said child or individual isn't unexpected. Children touch EVERYTHING. Yes, the incidents are unfortunate, and were not intenede, but you cannot claim that the outcome was unexpected. Firearms need to be properly secured when not being handled by someone properly trained.
Laundry detergent pods causing illness when ingested by children.... Huge shocker. People are up in arms and upset and want the manufacturer to change the design to make them less attractive to children. What??? What's wrong with you supervising your children? Or not putting stuff like that where your child can reach it. I totally that you cannot have eyes on your child each and every moment of each and every day. But supervison and educating your child goes a long way. My child was always very active, but never got into chemicals under the sink, never tried to eat laundry detergent, never stuck his fingers or anything else in a light socket, never drowned or almost drowned in our swimming pool, despite having easy access to all of these things. Do I think it was just luck or random chance that my child never did these things? Nope. I supervised my child, and taught him what was and what wasn't ok. (For the record, he also never shot me, himself or anything else despite the fact that we had guns in the house. Because they were secured, and never left loaded where he could see or reach them.
I see a huge problem these days with personal responsibility. I see it at the grocery store, and at the Mart of Wal, or just about every public place where I go when people don't supervise their children properly, where people don't put their shopping carts back in the store or in the cart corrals, where people throw their trash wherever they feel like, where they exceed the posted speed limit despite the fact that road conditions warrant a serious slow down. I see it daily in how people treat eachother, and in the disrespect that is shown on a routine basis. I see it at work where people abuse the medical system, and don't take responsibility for their health, at the expense of others.
When did these kind of values become commonplace? When did it become acceptable for these values to be so pervasive in our society? How long is it going to be acceptable to behave like this?
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
I hate working with this person (you know the one, or at least the "type")
No matter who you are, what town you live/work in, what field you work in, or where you work, there is *always* someone that you periodically work with, that you would almost rather do the job yourself than have to work with them. Sometimes it's just a personality clash, we all have those sometime. Sometimes it's nothing you can put your finger on, but you Just. Don't. Like this person.
Regardless, tonight I had to deal with this person. I don't work with her frequently, but every time I do it seems like a ginormous clusterf&*k. I'm not going to call this a personality clash, and it's definitely something I CAN put my finger on. No matter what's going on, she always has to stick her nose in, because she knows more than you. But she's also generally the first to complain about a heavy workload. Or what she percieves as a heavy workload. "I'm not doing that, I'm too busy."
"The supervisor told me I didn't have to do X, She said I only had to do Y"
And despite the fact that she thinks she knows more than you, and always has to stick her nose in, or give her opinion, she's actually not that knowledgeable, and in fact if you think about it, it's kind of frightening. Because she really thinks she knows her shit. But in reality, she's actually kind of dangerous to work with.
I find this a difficult situation to deal with, because there is usually very little you can really do about it. Confronting the person, even in a subtle and not nasty way, isn't effective, because they are always right, and your opinion of them doesn't matter to them, because you're wrong anyway. Reporting anything but blatatnly inappropriate or dangerous behavior to your supervisor kind of seems like tattling. (Please keep in mind that if the situation is truly dangerous, and not just annoying, I would report it withut a second thought.)
Right now I'm just thankful I don't have to do this very often.
Regardless, tonight I had to deal with this person. I don't work with her frequently, but every time I do it seems like a ginormous clusterf&*k. I'm not going to call this a personality clash, and it's definitely something I CAN put my finger on. No matter what's going on, she always has to stick her nose in, because she knows more than you. But she's also generally the first to complain about a heavy workload. Or what she percieves as a heavy workload. "I'm not doing that, I'm too busy."
"The supervisor told me I didn't have to do X, She said I only had to do Y"
And despite the fact that she thinks she knows more than you, and always has to stick her nose in, or give her opinion, she's actually not that knowledgeable, and in fact if you think about it, it's kind of frightening. Because she really thinks she knows her shit. But in reality, she's actually kind of dangerous to work with.
I find this a difficult situation to deal with, because there is usually very little you can really do about it. Confronting the person, even in a subtle and not nasty way, isn't effective, because they are always right, and your opinion of them doesn't matter to them, because you're wrong anyway. Reporting anything but blatatnly inappropriate or dangerous behavior to your supervisor kind of seems like tattling. (Please keep in mind that if the situation is truly dangerous, and not just annoying, I would report it withut a second thought.)
Right now I'm just thankful I don't have to do this very often.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
It's a shame what some people will do to a nice house.
House hunting adventures. Because of regulations for BFB's job we need to move inside city limits within 9 months of his contract date. That puts us at July 1st. We have a contract in place and should be closed before the end of February. Still not totally in the bag, but damn close.
We've been inside a few houses, and looked at over a hundred online. Some are very nice houses, with prices I wish we could've afforded. But alas.. the budget won out. We didn't want to eat Ramen every other day for the next 10 years. Some other houses were very nice, just not what we were looking for. Some houses we knew would be gamble, and the smart part of our brains won, and we didn't go that direction. Others, just UGH!
Just a couple tips for anyone out there trying to sell your house.
1) Paint is cheap. You're more likely to sell your house if the buyers arent repulsed and revolted by your paint job. Your 4 year old princess may have loved the cotton candy pink, with silver clouds on the ceiling, but Me.... not so much.
2) If you can't paint well,or don't know what the hell you're doing, hire a painter. A crappy paint job is (in my opinion) worse than the obnixious hot pink.
3) Put good pictures of your house in your listing. If the pictures look like crap, I don't see how great your house really is. And I'm deleting it from my list. It amazed me during our search how many real estate agents took and or used really crappy pictures. And make sure yor house is clean when the photos are taken. Packing boxes I can understand , as well as things that indicate your house is lived in. But dirty dishes in the sink, visibly overflowing trash, and cluttered countertops, walls, floors, couches etc.. don't attract buyers. If you can't be bothered to clean up a little for the pictures, what does that say about how you take care of the house the rest of the time. I'm assuming if you can't take out trash or do dishes, then you definitely haven't had time for event the most basic maintenance tasks, and that there will be issues with the house. If you have pets, they probably shouldn't be in the pictures. Do you really want a prospective buyer to know you have 6 indoor cats? I think not.
4) If you're going to advertise in the listing that you just put in a new tile floor, please be sure you actually knew how to install and grout tile. If the tile job is brand new, I expect even spacing, unbroken tiles and even grout lines. Just like with the paint comment above, if you don't know how to do it and do it well, please hire a professional. Please.
and last but not least
5) If you have pets in the home, try to take them with you for a showing, or at least notify the agents that a pet is in the home, and wether it is or is not friendly. If you MUST leave your pets home, they should be crated, to allow potential buyers to move through your home safely. One home had a dog loose in the back yard. Friendly, but still. Yet another had a dog or maybe 2 little dogs gated in a laundry room. A laundry room I was unable to get into to look at because of the yappy barky dogs. The same home with the yappy dogs, also had a nice pile of dog crap on the downstairs rug. Um.... Gross. And I'm so NOT BUYING YOUR HOUSE!
6) I hate the scented candles and sprays that overpower my nose. If you have to spray these in the house, I'm not enjoying the scent, I'm wondering what odor you're trying to cover up.
Any one of the above things is enough to turn me off, and any one of them could be or WAS the reason I'm not buying your house. And the one with the dog crap on the rug... was also the one with the poorly done interior paint job and the one with the sloppy tile work. And the best part... If none of those things had been amiss, I might have bought that house. Because it was one of my favorites in the pictures.
At this point ther are so many houses on the market with similar floor plans and features, that unless your house is something special, or you've got a remarkable piece of property, you are competing with a hundred other houses almost exactly like yours. The difference between a sale, and a disappointing showing could be as simple as taking out the trash, or cleaning up after your dog.
And yes paint is cheap, but your buyer doesn't want to have to paint before they move in. SO maybe its time to rethink the unique paint job.
We've been inside a few houses, and looked at over a hundred online. Some are very nice houses, with prices I wish we could've afforded. But alas.. the budget won out. We didn't want to eat Ramen every other day for the next 10 years. Some other houses were very nice, just not what we were looking for. Some houses we knew would be gamble, and the smart part of our brains won, and we didn't go that direction. Others, just UGH!
Just a couple tips for anyone out there trying to sell your house.
1) Paint is cheap. You're more likely to sell your house if the buyers arent repulsed and revolted by your paint job. Your 4 year old princess may have loved the cotton candy pink, with silver clouds on the ceiling, but Me.... not so much.
2) If you can't paint well,or don't know what the hell you're doing, hire a painter. A crappy paint job is (in my opinion) worse than the obnixious hot pink.
3) Put good pictures of your house in your listing. If the pictures look like crap, I don't see how great your house really is. And I'm deleting it from my list. It amazed me during our search how many real estate agents took and or used really crappy pictures. And make sure yor house is clean when the photos are taken. Packing boxes I can understand , as well as things that indicate your house is lived in. But dirty dishes in the sink, visibly overflowing trash, and cluttered countertops, walls, floors, couches etc.. don't attract buyers. If you can't be bothered to clean up a little for the pictures, what does that say about how you take care of the house the rest of the time. I'm assuming if you can't take out trash or do dishes, then you definitely haven't had time for event the most basic maintenance tasks, and that there will be issues with the house. If you have pets, they probably shouldn't be in the pictures. Do you really want a prospective buyer to know you have 6 indoor cats? I think not.
4) If you're going to advertise in the listing that you just put in a new tile floor, please be sure you actually knew how to install and grout tile. If the tile job is brand new, I expect even spacing, unbroken tiles and even grout lines. Just like with the paint comment above, if you don't know how to do it and do it well, please hire a professional. Please.
and last but not least
5) If you have pets in the home, try to take them with you for a showing, or at least notify the agents that a pet is in the home, and wether it is or is not friendly. If you MUST leave your pets home, they should be crated, to allow potential buyers to move through your home safely. One home had a dog loose in the back yard. Friendly, but still. Yet another had a dog or maybe 2 little dogs gated in a laundry room. A laundry room I was unable to get into to look at because of the yappy barky dogs. The same home with the yappy dogs, also had a nice pile of dog crap on the downstairs rug. Um.... Gross. And I'm so NOT BUYING YOUR HOUSE!
6) I hate the scented candles and sprays that overpower my nose. If you have to spray these in the house, I'm not enjoying the scent, I'm wondering what odor you're trying to cover up.
Any one of the above things is enough to turn me off, and any one of them could be or WAS the reason I'm not buying your house. And the one with the dog crap on the rug... was also the one with the poorly done interior paint job and the one with the sloppy tile work. And the best part... If none of those things had been amiss, I might have bought that house. Because it was one of my favorites in the pictures.
At this point ther are so many houses on the market with similar floor plans and features, that unless your house is something special, or you've got a remarkable piece of property, you are competing with a hundred other houses almost exactly like yours. The difference between a sale, and a disappointing showing could be as simple as taking out the trash, or cleaning up after your dog.
And yes paint is cheap, but your buyer doesn't want to have to paint before they move in. SO maybe its time to rethink the unique paint job.
A New Year indeed.
Happy belated New Year to everyone. (Really? Who am I kidding. No one reads this crap anyway!)
Anyway.. It's been a little over ayear since I started writing. I haven't posted nearly as often as I intended, but having an actual life takes up a lot of time! And that's what a lot of last year was about, starting to have an actual life again.
In the past year things have changed so much. I've moved 1100 miles. And for a relatively new (and complicated) relationship that had been up to that point, mostly long distance. Started a new job. Said goodbye to someone very important to me after helping him get through his last few days of life comfortably. Endured more family drama in a week or two than anyone should ever have to deal with in a lifetime. Started another new temporary job, as for various reasons the previously mentioned new job, didn't pan out like I'd hoped. Moved again for temporary job, as this job was about 175 miles from my new home. Had temporary job become even more temporary when several people came off disability leave earlier than planned. Started yet another new job. Continued to endure family drama of the "I wish I could drop off the face of the earth and have no one find me" kind. Spent a ginormous amount of money dealing with said family drama and dealing with the final stages of my long awaited divorce. The divorce was final shortly before the end of the year.
It's a new year. I'm not starting out fresh this year like I did last January, I still have family drama. Although it's not so bad I want to disappear anymore, just bad enough to earn me a glass (bottle?) of wine every so often. The last new job has turned into "the" job. I am happily getting to know people at work, and I am happy about going to work every day. I'm enjoying what I do, and the people and patients I do it with. That's pretty good. Some things are new this year. We (reference previously mentioned complicted relationship) are deep into the process of buying a house. Hopefully to be moved by mid March. By that time we will have spent a year in the old place together. Lots of memories. The three of us are starting the next part of our adventure together in a place that is "Ours"
There's going to be a lot of things to do this year. Lots of packing and unpacking. (There are still boxes in NY with a family member that we still ned to figure out how to gt out here without breaking the bank.) There will be some remodeling, or finishing of some space in the new place, a garden to start, and hopefully some downtime for all of us to just enjoy being "US"
Last year was tough, in a lot of ways. But nothing worth it is ever easy.
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
Anyway.. It's been a little over ayear since I started writing. I haven't posted nearly as often as I intended, but having an actual life takes up a lot of time! And that's what a lot of last year was about, starting to have an actual life again.
In the past year things have changed so much. I've moved 1100 miles. And for a relatively new (and complicated) relationship that had been up to that point, mostly long distance. Started a new job. Said goodbye to someone very important to me after helping him get through his last few days of life comfortably. Endured more family drama in a week or two than anyone should ever have to deal with in a lifetime. Started another new temporary job, as for various reasons the previously mentioned new job, didn't pan out like I'd hoped. Moved again for temporary job, as this job was about 175 miles from my new home. Had temporary job become even more temporary when several people came off disability leave earlier than planned. Started yet another new job. Continued to endure family drama of the "I wish I could drop off the face of the earth and have no one find me" kind. Spent a ginormous amount of money dealing with said family drama and dealing with the final stages of my long awaited divorce. The divorce was final shortly before the end of the year.
It's a new year. I'm not starting out fresh this year like I did last January, I still have family drama. Although it's not so bad I want to disappear anymore, just bad enough to earn me a glass (bottle?) of wine every so often. The last new job has turned into "the" job. I am happily getting to know people at work, and I am happy about going to work every day. I'm enjoying what I do, and the people and patients I do it with. That's pretty good. Some things are new this year. We (reference previously mentioned complicted relationship) are deep into the process of buying a house. Hopefully to be moved by mid March. By that time we will have spent a year in the old place together. Lots of memories. The three of us are starting the next part of our adventure together in a place that is "Ours"
There's going to be a lot of things to do this year. Lots of packing and unpacking. (There are still boxes in NY with a family member that we still ned to figure out how to gt out here without breaking the bank.) There will be some remodeling, or finishing of some space in the new place, a garden to start, and hopefully some downtime for all of us to just enjoy being "US"
Last year was tough, in a lot of ways. But nothing worth it is ever easy.
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Tastes like chicken.
Yep, unlike most people my internet surfing does not inevitably lead to porn (not most days anyway!), it leads to food.
Tonight's dinner is going to be cranberry orange chicken in the crock pot.
http://www.food.com/recipe/cranberry-orange-chicken-crock-pot-346249
I altered the spice combo a bit, made my own cranberry sauce out of dried cranberries (leftover from Brian 's cranberry rolls recipe from Thanksgiving) used fresh squeezed orange juice and added some orange zest. Those of you who know me know that recipes are more like guidelines instead of rules, and that I usually can't exactly replicate a recipe because I don't write anything down or follow directions.
Let's just say that a lot of things I cook are a bit experimental. Making the cranberry sauce, for instance. I've never done that, and didn't even look for a recipe... I just did it. I wasn't sure it would do what I wanted it to. So far it tastes right and seems to be behaving the way I wanted. Won't know for sure till it takes a turn through the immersion blender, but I have to wait for GFB to get up first. (The blender is a bit noisy)
And the chicken breasts came from Zaycon Foods, Internet purveyor of bulk meats. https://zayconfoods.com
The chicken was the first meat we bought from them, and their reviews were mixed online, but we decided to take a chance. The process wasn't exactly smooth, because of a supplier issue our pickup date was changed. I think twice. But the chicken we got was (is) great. Not a ton of effort to process. It came on large bags and we separated it into manageable family sized portions and vac sealed it for the freezer. The breasts are HUGE! 2 breasts feeds our family of 3 adults, with leftovers. And it tastes... Like chicken.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Projects and the "To Do List"
Holidays are always a busy time of year. Wait... Who am I kidding, it's busy all year 'round. Right now I'm struggling with a list of things I need to do, things I want to do, and things I actually have time for. Unfortunately, there really aren't too many items that fall on all three lists.
I really need to study for my National Certification exam. This is a professional thing, that will net me a one time cash bonus, and look good on my annual evaluation, hopefully assisting me in getting the best annual step raise possible for my pay grade. This is a must do kind of thing. But.... BLEH. I really hate studying and really haven't been able to just buckle down and do it. I toyed with just singing up to take the test and paying the money, thus forcing myself to study, but was talked out of this plan in favor of studying a bit more first and maybe getting consistently higher scores on practice exams first. Good in theory, but since the day we talked about that I've barely touched the book or study materials. *sigh*
Last night at work, I ran into an issue with medication. It was classified as "Chemo" even though it isn't really. Problem is the policy for the facility where I work was very vague and unclear about wether or not I could hang this medication, as I'm not "Chemo Certified". Problem is there wasn't really anyone else to do it, because very few people on the night shift are. So now getting this certification back (I was certified by a different state in the past) is kind of a priority. But like the above certification exam, it costs money to take the class that's required to sit for the exam. I'm far from broke, but there are other things that hit my financial priority list at the moment. (fodder for another post) But, again the flip side is that obtaining this certification will help me come evaluatio time for my annual raise.
Then there's the fact that I need to ,want to, and ought to go back to school for my Bachelors degree. And then possibly farther for my Masters degree. Same argument for this. Costs money, lack of time etc. And flip side is also the same, potential for more future income.
So why can't I make myself do these things? Why do I never seem to have the time despite the fact that I only work 7 days out of 14? Because I have other things to do. Like sleep. Spend time with my Significant Others, clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, and the other various minutiae of life. (Don't read this to mean that I do all these things alone.... I don't.)
I go to a piloxing class twice a week every other week as my work schedule allows. I'd like to go more often, and go to the gym, or to a yoga class, or a spin class every once in a while, but with my night work schedule, it's kind of hard to do these things. Not all classes are offered every day, and frankly if it comes down to a choice of exercise class or sleep? Sleep is going to win every damn time. Not even a question.
There's also a lot of organizing and decluttering to be done at home, related to a move in the next 6 months or so. Mind you the majority of the stuff that needs decluttering and trashing isn't mine. And I'm not going to nag to get it done. But it still causes me stress.
Then there's the whole reason we need to move thing. We're buying a house. Or at least we're trying to. And we have a deadline. Tick Tock, Tick Tock. Nah, not stressful at all. (This..... is sarcasm)
I want all of us to actually go out and do things. Together. Not always the easiest thing to do since two of us work the night shift , and the other gets up at the crack of 0'dark 30 to go to work , and goes to bed super early, exhausted nearly every weekday, and most weekends too. Kind of doesn't really leave any time for pleasure outings. It barely leaves time for necessities. This is far from ideal, but I really don't see this changing in the immediate future, so It's just one of those things I have to live with even if its not what I want.
Does anyone know how to make clones? I'd like one for Christmas, but unfortunately I can't find one on Amazon for my wish list.
I really need to study for my National Certification exam. This is a professional thing, that will net me a one time cash bonus, and look good on my annual evaluation, hopefully assisting me in getting the best annual step raise possible for my pay grade. This is a must do kind of thing. But.... BLEH. I really hate studying and really haven't been able to just buckle down and do it. I toyed with just singing up to take the test and paying the money, thus forcing myself to study, but was talked out of this plan in favor of studying a bit more first and maybe getting consistently higher scores on practice exams first. Good in theory, but since the day we talked about that I've barely touched the book or study materials. *sigh*
Last night at work, I ran into an issue with medication. It was classified as "Chemo" even though it isn't really. Problem is the policy for the facility where I work was very vague and unclear about wether or not I could hang this medication, as I'm not "Chemo Certified". Problem is there wasn't really anyone else to do it, because very few people on the night shift are. So now getting this certification back (I was certified by a different state in the past) is kind of a priority. But like the above certification exam, it costs money to take the class that's required to sit for the exam. I'm far from broke, but there are other things that hit my financial priority list at the moment. (fodder for another post) But, again the flip side is that obtaining this certification will help me come evaluatio time for my annual raise.
Then there's the fact that I need to ,want to, and ought to go back to school for my Bachelors degree. And then possibly farther for my Masters degree. Same argument for this. Costs money, lack of time etc. And flip side is also the same, potential for more future income.
So why can't I make myself do these things? Why do I never seem to have the time despite the fact that I only work 7 days out of 14? Because I have other things to do. Like sleep. Spend time with my Significant Others, clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, and the other various minutiae of life. (Don't read this to mean that I do all these things alone.... I don't.)
I go to a piloxing class twice a week every other week as my work schedule allows. I'd like to go more often, and go to the gym, or to a yoga class, or a spin class every once in a while, but with my night work schedule, it's kind of hard to do these things. Not all classes are offered every day, and frankly if it comes down to a choice of exercise class or sleep? Sleep is going to win every damn time. Not even a question.
There's also a lot of organizing and decluttering to be done at home, related to a move in the next 6 months or so. Mind you the majority of the stuff that needs decluttering and trashing isn't mine. And I'm not going to nag to get it done. But it still causes me stress.
Then there's the whole reason we need to move thing. We're buying a house. Or at least we're trying to. And we have a deadline. Tick Tock, Tick Tock. Nah, not stressful at all. (This..... is sarcasm)
I want all of us to actually go out and do things. Together. Not always the easiest thing to do since two of us work the night shift , and the other gets up at the crack of 0'dark 30 to go to work , and goes to bed super early, exhausted nearly every weekday, and most weekends too. Kind of doesn't really leave any time for pleasure outings. It barely leaves time for necessities. This is far from ideal, but I really don't see this changing in the immediate future, so It's just one of those things I have to live with even if its not what I want.
Does anyone know how to make clones? I'd like one for Christmas, but unfortunately I can't find one on Amazon for my wish list.
Shift work and the "Night Shifter Culture"
This is kind of a shout out to all those working the night shift. It doesn't matter what profession you're in, Medicine, Nursing, Transportation, Emergency Services, Retail Services, or Food Service, or any other job that has a night shift, we night shifters are a special breed.
I happen to work in The medical field, as an RN. I've worked the night shift for the better part of the last 10 years, and I can't imagine ever going back to the day shift permanently. The culture of the night shift is markedly different from that of day shifters. And it goes beyond the gerneralization of "sleep during the day, and awake while its dark". The personalities and behavior of night shifters everywhere is different than peole who work days. Over the years I've found that the "Night" people are more team oriented and cooperative. I believe they're more "Us" and "team" oriented, whereas "Day" people are more "Me, myself and I". This has been pervasive across several facilities in 2 states. Two states that are 1100 miles apart. I don't believe this is a fluke. I'm sure someone has done research on this that I could Google.
I think that the night shift is just more laid back, easy going and fun. Granted, that may be because there is limited management looking over our shoulder, and there are just less people to give us a hassle in the middle of the night. I also think that because there are less people to interact with on the night shift, that introverts are a drawn to it. I (being a bit of an introvert myself) prefer the night shift because I feel less micromanaged, I enjoy my independence, and I have a severe lack of tolerance for stupidity. I think the night shift is neater, and overall more thourough. Perhaps that is because us introverts tend to be a bit on the OCD side as well?
Sometimes being a night shifter is awkward. We drink wine at 8am, and are still in our jammies at 2 pm on a good day, maybe till 5pm on a bad one. Day people tend to judge us on these two traits. And they call us in the middle of the afternoon, during our prime sleep time. Really? How'd you like it if I called you at 3am for something completely bullshit? People leave for work and let their dogs out. Because they're at work they don't hear them bark. All. Day. Long..... Every. Single. Day.
If an entire neighborhood of dogs barked incessantly all night long, I'm pretty sure a lot of somebody's would have a problem with that. But because it happens during the day "it's not a big deal". Any official business you need to partake in, like a doctors appointment, an auto repair appointment, picking up a prescription, taking your dog to the vet, calling your lawyer, going to the bank, etc.., need to be done during the day. Very inconvenient for those of us who keep the world functioning by going to work at night. But on the plus side, if you have a 24 hr grocery store, there's never a line at 3am!
I happen to work in The medical field, as an RN. I've worked the night shift for the better part of the last 10 years, and I can't imagine ever going back to the day shift permanently. The culture of the night shift is markedly different from that of day shifters. And it goes beyond the gerneralization of "sleep during the day, and awake while its dark". The personalities and behavior of night shifters everywhere is different than peole who work days. Over the years I've found that the "Night" people are more team oriented and cooperative. I believe they're more "Us" and "team" oriented, whereas "Day" people are more "Me, myself and I". This has been pervasive across several facilities in 2 states. Two states that are 1100 miles apart. I don't believe this is a fluke. I'm sure someone has done research on this that I could Google.
I think that the night shift is just more laid back, easy going and fun. Granted, that may be because there is limited management looking over our shoulder, and there are just less people to give us a hassle in the middle of the night. I also think that because there are less people to interact with on the night shift, that introverts are a drawn to it. I (being a bit of an introvert myself) prefer the night shift because I feel less micromanaged, I enjoy my independence, and I have a severe lack of tolerance for stupidity. I think the night shift is neater, and overall more thourough. Perhaps that is because us introverts tend to be a bit on the OCD side as well?
Sometimes being a night shifter is awkward. We drink wine at 8am, and are still in our jammies at 2 pm on a good day, maybe till 5pm on a bad one. Day people tend to judge us on these two traits. And they call us in the middle of the afternoon, during our prime sleep time. Really? How'd you like it if I called you at 3am for something completely bullshit? People leave for work and let their dogs out. Because they're at work they don't hear them bark. All. Day. Long..... Every. Single. Day.
If an entire neighborhood of dogs barked incessantly all night long, I'm pretty sure a lot of somebody's would have a problem with that. But because it happens during the day "it's not a big deal". Any official business you need to partake in, like a doctors appointment, an auto repair appointment, picking up a prescription, taking your dog to the vet, calling your lawyer, going to the bank, etc.., need to be done during the day. Very inconvenient for those of us who keep the world functioning by going to work at night. But on the plus side, if you have a 24 hr grocery store, there's never a line at 3am!
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