r/AskReddit • u/violet_honeybun • 2h ago
Night shift workers, whats the weirdest thing that feels completely normal at 3 am?
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u/Primary_Driver_4051 2h ago
Having a full conversation with the vending machine while waiting for it to decide whether it’s going to give me my snack.
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u/jcnp24 2h ago
Feeling extremely cold. It usually happens between 3 and 4 am for some reason.
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u/DeltaStorm2013 2h ago
Glad to know I'm not the only one. I always figured it had to do with me hitting a wall and feeling super tired around that time.
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u/emptyhead416 2h ago
Looking at the moon, absorbing moon photons.
Thinking Moon thoughts about how much more Moon I get than the average person.
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u/Kernel_Pie 2h ago
Hearing rail cars couple in the middle of the night. If you don't know there's a railyard nearby, that's a scary noise.
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u/Automatic_Map_3755 2h ago
This happens ALL the time where I live, and the railroad running through town was notoriously torn down. I don’t understand it.
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u/OnceButNever 2h ago
I was ridiculed for eating a salad at 6am. You've lost all track of what is normal to eat at certain times.
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u/Ritic_Found 32m ago
There was a restaurant that catered to truckers on the walk home from work. It was across the way from a truck stop, but was a proper sit down place that was open 24/7. They got to the point where they'd start cooking my dinner while I was still walking through the parking lot. The only place in the decade I worked third shift that not only got it but embraced it.
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u/SnowUnderStars 2h ago
Watching crime documentaries with my security guard and discussing which of our coworkers could probably get away with muder while eating vending machine snacks (was a night auditor for a hotel).
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u/vanillamousex7 2h ago
Omg I love that hangout sesh. That sounds like a fun memory for you both. 🥰
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u/SnowUnderStars 2h ago edited 1h ago
It was probably the best job I've ever had. It was a four star hotel. Rich people get up to the craziest stuff at night, like the time this guest crashed her Hummer on top of one of our guide lights that goes up the driveway. She was hanging in the air and we came up next to her to check it out and she was like, "hello, gentleman, nice night? :D" I'm a lady. She was sooo drunk. Stuff like that happened literally every night. It was hilarious.
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u/Eldys_Garcia 2h ago
hallucinations, i was a forklift driver in a warehouse 4am, damn, it felt like I was in a weird horror movie
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u/Axenrott_0508 2h ago
Doing regular house work on the middle of the night on your nights off. Always the most productive around that time.
Then being pissed at my neighbor working on his loud ass cars at 8-9am when I am trying to sleep.
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u/FishTaco2005 2h ago
I used to doodle at work and hide the drawings throughout the building. I was alone there every night.
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u/robo-dragon 2h ago
I no longer work nights (changed jobs since then). I worked a weird shift that overlapped 3rd and 1st shift at an automotive company. So my “lunch” was around 3am. There was only one fast food place open then (a McDonalds at a truck stop) so I occasionally ate there, but I would bring my own lunch most of the time.
Getting a late night snack at 3am may not be so unusual, but eating a full meal? That was just life for me for a while. It was the same on the weekends. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all entirely different from everyone else and I lived with my parents at the time. I rarely shared a meal with them because it was either too late or too early for me.
I honestly hated that shift. I lost that job because of the pandemic, but I found another that is day shift only and I actually have a social life now!
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u/delta__bravo_ 2h ago
Having things happen in your slight periphery that you have no idea is happening unless you put your attention on it.
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u/violet_honeybun 2h ago
I came across a tiktok video where a girl ordered fast food at like 5-6 am and ppl found it weird..I guess they didnt know shes a night shift worker
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u/shananigans123 1h ago
The weirdest thing isn’t any one random thing, it’s the entire social environment. There is an entire social world that comes alive at night that is the other half of the day world and when you only live on night shift you learn its rhythms and people. Some of the big differences: It’s easier to break rules because there are fewer people around so everyone is a bit more independent, the night population often includes more eccentric personalities, and when you get to know a person you learn about how they got to their current position, and whether they are struggling to return to normal hours or if this is what they have chosen or prefer.
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u/Cheap_Boner_Pills 2h ago
Drunk people fresh out of the bar trying to bargain with you for a pack of cigarettes.
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u/The-Katawampus 2h ago
Knowing not to walk up to anyone's windows in the parking lot, lol.
And if you see someone's car rocking... no you didn't. 😅
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u/Riki_743 2h ago
Depende!! Si entrás a ésa hora, sientes que llega rápido el día, si estás a la mitad, ésas 3 horas se te harán interminable y si sales a esa hora, no vez la hora de llegar y tirarte a la cama!! Es por experiencia y no por opinar!!
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u/punkwalrus 2h ago
Used to work at a NOC in a bunker like office building from midnight to noon. Just rows and rows of empty offices and cubicles. Passing by windows that faced a small access road and then unlit forest. The only activity was the NOC itself which was only 10% of a three story office complex.
Kind of a combo of back rooms and The Langoliers.
Building was in an Industrial park surrounded by a forest. The only places open after midnight within driving distance was a 24 hour diner and a Mexican restaurant open until 2am. There was an office kitchen with vending machines, one called "Wheel of Death" with questionable soups and sandwiches.
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u/Hillsarenice 2h ago
Cutting donuts with work pickup trucks and work atvs on manicured lawns and wondering what everyone ELSE’S problem is.
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u/VolumeSignificant894 2h ago
Having a beer at seven in the morning on your back porch while your neighbors pull out of their driveways to go work their standard shifts.