That One Guy

Surely I'm not the only one who has experienced this? The one guy who, when you see that you two are scheduled for the same shift, makes you groan to yourself. He (or she) probably doesn't ruin your life, or even your day, but that brief period at work is less enjoyable just because that person is around.

That One Guy is might be someone who always has a problem that no one could ever understand and there's no solution to it, so don't even try to be rational because she doesn't want to hear it. Or That One Guy might be the rude person who keeps making jokes at the expense of others and doesn't realize he is the only one laughing. That One Guy might even be a sort of "holier than thou" kind of guy: the only one who knows how to do anything around here and is always "doing you a favor."

Yeah. Being rude to me is really doing me a favor.

Fortunately for me, this is the kind of guy I can forget pretty easily between shifts. I couldn't at first, as my husband will tell you, but eventually I got to where I could get over him like I get over colds: with lots of rest and relaxation. (Occasionally a stiff drink was needed in the beginning also.)

Tonight was my last night of work for good - or at least until well after the baby is born. It was a pretty ordinary night, save the fact that I had to work with That One Guy. But you know what? I don't have to do that ever again. And that, my friends, is awesome.

Working on the Night Shift

Night shift was something I thought I could avoid.

"Oh sure, I'll work it if I have to, but why would I ever have to? I'm getting my degree in education," or "I am a teacher now, so why would I ever need to?"

Fast forward to 2011, when my husband started grad school and I didn't get a teaching job at our new location. Now...I have to work nights.

It's not the worst job ever. It pays a little better than minimum wage and I have to walk a bit - about 5 miles a night. My husband works with me most nights, which is an added bonus. A number of friends are night shift workers so we talk via Facebook or Steam to keep each other company; on nights that we're off, we play Diablo III or League of Legends with them. All in all, our social life hasn't suffered because of it.

My health, on the other hand, is not so awesome. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I had a shower. I just don't think about bathing anymore because I don't go out when people are going to see me. I sleep poorly because I know the sun is out...even though we have our windows covered up nice and dark I can still. Freaking. Tell. And if it weren't for my husband, I'd probably just give up on taking my prenatal vitamins since I never remember to take them unless he reminds me.

The good thing is that this is only temporary. After July, I'm free to walk in the day time again, be on a normal schedule again. By which I mean hardly normal at all because I'll be quitting in August so I can have time to get ready for baby stuff. This night job is going to make the time off before baby all the more sweet.

Hopefully I can get back to taking decent pictures too. Using only artificial light makes all my photos, regardless of camera, look super grainy and noisy. Oh well. I still look cute. (22 weeks pregnant here.)