Someone has to do it, if there is a business open 24 hours, that means there is a poor soul there holding down the fort at all hours of the night/morning. As a night shift employee, I have had a quite a bit of experience trying to get a handle on my fatigue and trying to keep a social life going. Working 3rd shift can be great in so many ways, especially if you enjoy your job, but here are a few of my least favorite aspects of working while most people should be and are sleeping. If you work a 3rd shift job, you know these following eight things to be true;

1. Tired has a whole new meaning

I used to think that being tired meant wanting to take a nap, not your body literally falling into a sleep coma right now, in the middle of your shift because you need sleep so badly. Not to mention telling yourself that you are going to take a quick power nap to recover some energy and then waking up 11 hours later and it’s now time to go back into work and you still feel like you could sleep for three years. It’s also been proven that lack of sleep makes people emotionally unstable, so if your constant tiredness leaves you perpetually agitated and edgy, you are not alone.

2. The bags under your eyes are a permanent accessory

Even once you’ve gotten used to the idea of being tired all of the time and you don’t notice it much anymore, the tired look on your face will always give you away and I’m sure you are equally sick of the dreaded words “You look tired” from anyone and everyone. Dark, puffy eyes are now just as much a part of you as the color of your hair and there’s nothing left to do but just embrace it and avoid mirrors until payday.

3. You rarely know what day of the week it is

“Wait, did I go into work on Wednesday and it’s now Thursday? Or, what month is it even?” If you ask me what day of the week it is, let alone the day of the month, there is about a 75% chance I will be wrong and that makes for a very frustrating schedule. On several occasions have I woken up and began getting ready for an event or another shift that is happening on a completely different day because, quite honestly, I have no idea what is going on anymore.

4. Your memory is not so good anymore

If numerous times a day, you hear “You already told me that” or “I literally just told you” it probably means that your work-related lack of sleep has you quite unable to retain any information and you’ve become a walking reiteration machine. Sleeping for a sad four hours a day can seemingly turn your brain to mush, and although I used to have an excellent memory, I can hardly recall the interesting story my roommate told me literally five minutes ago. This unfortunate addition to the night shift life can often aggravate the people around you for assuming that you just never pay attention anymore. Extreme lack of sleep has also often caused me to imagine/daydream things that never happened and lead me to believe they did, which is..weird.

5. You say weird things when you're tired

If you’re one of those people that gets overly chatty when you’re tired, then you’ve probably said weird things to customers or coworkers that can only be described by lack of sleep. I have a whole other personality that can only be brought out by an overabundance of tired and stressed out, so when I've worked five night shifts in a week and had no time to sleep during the day, my whole monologue becomes sort of like a bad, sarcastic rom-com that you probably don't want to be subjected to.

6. Coffee doesn't always do the trick anymore

Once you’ve consumed so much coffee that it basically runs in your veins, it just doesn’t seem to do the trick of keeping you up anymore if your night shift job is one that doesn’t require a whole lot of activity. Not to mention the amount of money I have probably spent on a coffee before going into work that may not give me the caffeine boost I need to last the whole night. At some point, it just becomes such a common part of your diet that you don't notice it's affects and are quite possibly even immune to it's taste and that, my friend, is sad.

7. Your social life is quite random

Since you're working while most people are sleeping, and sleeping while most people are socializing, you take the random times you can get to go out and do whatever it is your friend group is doing just to assure yourself that you do still do more than work and sleep. You also often have to choose between sleeping during the day or socializing and that can become very hard on personal relationships and your ability to maintain them. And, your favorite friends to socialize with are the ones that are totally down for a mid-day nap together so you can the the best of both worlds for a little while.

8. You sleep in weird places, at very weird times

I once fell asleep laying on my parent’s back porch in the middle of the day, and when I woke up I didn’t even find it strange because that’s just what happens when you work until 6am and the need for sleep hits you no matter when or where you are. Your friends and family are probably pretty used to catching you dozing off while standing or in the middle of a conversation. You often find yourself waking up somewhere with no idea how long you've been sleeping and no recollection of falling asleep period.

So if you are a member of the dreaded 3rd shift crew, you probably know all of these experiences all too well and I applaud you for sticking it out through the sleep deprivation and good luck on all of the nights to come.