If you or someone you know works nights - what do you/they do?

[TiredPony]

I'm so grateful for all the night workers in the NHS and the other emergency services for working nights to keep us safe and well, but I'm wondering what other night workers there are that are hidden from view.

The reason for my post is pretty mundane. I ordered something yesterday which is being delivered tomorrow. I've been tracking the delivery, it left the factory at 5am and at 10.30 this evening has left the transport hub. So at 5am there was someone in the factory processing my unimportant (in the scheme of things - not to me!) package and at 10.30pm someone is driving it the length of the country. It's just something I've never given thought to and has made me wonder what other work people do at night while the rest of us sleep.

24/7 IT support.

I'm a healthcare assistant in a nursing home. Have done 12hr night shifts for 6 years now, probably an explanation for my early greying of the hair

My friend does waking nights for a child that needs 24 hour care due to epilepsy. She then goes home and looks after her 3 year old until her husband finishes work at 3:30pm. Don’t know how she does it!

Paediatric nurse. Wish I had a £ for every time my friend tells me that nights are quiet because he patients are asleep. Err no they aren't, especially on nights when we have babies with cleft palates post op. No one sleeps!

24hr Supermarket on checkouts

I'm a nurse in a prison and my DP, who used to be a prison officer, is now an HGV driver and takes containers to the ports each night. He usually drives approx. 400 miles and I don't know how he does it!

I know someone who works nights in Sainsburys, someone who works in a car factory, and someone who used to do them as an RAC call handler. I used to do nights in healthcare, very thankful that I don’t have do them any more - I hated it!

@Toddlerteaplease Your right, a night on a kids ward is anything but quiet. My 2 year old is in overnight. Haven't known noise like it!

Brother was a copper. I'm a nurse. I hate nights.

I work in a hospital blood bank and we do night shifts but everyone forgets we exist. People still need blood at 2am so there has to be someone around to do it. We have doctors and nurses sometimes who call up and ask if we are open 24/7 and it always makes me a bit like what do you think I'm going to say, nah can your patient please bleed to death in the morning so I can sleep

General public fine I don't expect them to know I do nights but other hospital workers should lol

I'm on nights at the moment. I work in the lab in a hospital. Tonight is quiet but we are a major trauma centre so usually busy.

Many factories and things like chemical plants run 24/7, as do power stations and gas plants, so will have some staff on nights. These sorts of places tend to run a fixed shift pattern that takes no account of bank holidays, Christmas etc. If your shift falls on Christmas Day, so be it.

DP works as stage crew in the music industry, so as well as setting things up, they also have to dismantle it and pack it into trucks ready to be transported to the next venue. His shift will start as the gig ends and they work through the night until the job is finished.

Fixed standby pattern for covering electricity power failures and faults on the network, lots of engineers working a rota to cover 24/7 x 365 days a year.

This is the exact job my dad does!! Works for a very well known company and he starts work about three in the morning and finishes just before lunch

Engineer working on rail projects, the work has to be done when the current is switched off

I'm a prison/custody suite nurse. Love nights!

I know of people that work in the central command centre for a major bank. They work 24x7 squirrelled away in a non descript concrete warehouse on an industrial estate in a small town.

They make sure all the computers are working and monitor the payments systems of all the money flowing through the world.

For me it was a mental health nurse in a general hospital.
Lots of friends in the pub and resteraunt industry. It’s the clean up after than means they get home in the early hours.

But what has surprised me in the past was being half cut at about 1am, and looking across the road to see new look getting a delivery. The driver wasn’t a surprise, it was the poor shop staff that was working that surprised me.

Another time we had an office party that went on until about 10pm. Someone came to get me to sign for a parcel, but I didn’t believe them for ages because of the time. Courier told me we were on tomorrow’s list and he was annoyed because he was parking up around the corner for the night, and as we didn’t open until 9 his day and route would have been disrupted. When he saw people in that night he was over the moon with us.

Not completely nights but by friend is airport security in departures. They work 3am to 1pm. He says that start time is worse than a complete night shift (has done both) up at 2am is hard.

Dd worked nights at a oil refinery and a brewery forr a total of 20 + years

Some road rescue call centres are 24/7.

IT security operatives for large companies

Retail, particularly supermarkets

Me- mental health nurse
DH- ship loader

My friend works waking nights as a carer for adults with learning disabilities.
BIL does nights as an HCA in a psychiatric hospital.
The midwife who delivered DD works nights as it suits her family life better.

I used to be a hotel night manager. The job basically consisted of supervising the night staff, being in charge of keeping things running smoothly while the managers of the respective departments were at home sleeping and doing some financial management for the day's business. Also: dealing with a lot of very drunk very naked people.

My DS works nights at McDonalds. Just a few customers. Mostly cleaning and dealing with deliveries.