Help a nightshift worker survive days off

November 30, 2014 7:50 AM

My partner works 12am - 8am Mon-Fri. He sleeps roughly 11am to 7pm. We see each other in the evenings and that works for us. The problem -- there is nothing to do on Friday or Saturday night from 12am-8am on his "days" off. He has no interest in bars or pubs. There is a 24-hour grocery store and bagel shop in our medium-sized city, but that seems to be all.

I thought there would be sports clubs or leagues, gyms, etc., but no. I thought there would be groups of night shift workers setting up fun stuff to do together, but no.

What do other night shift workers do with their "days" off when everyone else is sleeping?

posted by Frenchy67 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (21 answers total)

Where do you live? Some people might have specific suggestions for your area.

No diners? That was what I did when I worked til 1am. Hung out in diners. Video game arcades? You could go to the bagel shop and play board games with anyone who stops by? There are 24hour chess clubs some places. You could go sightseeing, driving to a new interesting building or location an hour away?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:53 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Would it be possible for him to try and switch his sleep schedule on the weekends?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:53 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

This largely depends on where you live. As someone who lives in NYC the idea of there being nothing open during those hours even during a weeknight is alien to me... let alone on a Friday and Saturday. Can you share with us your whereabouts? Maybe there are some all night diners or cool camping spots near you.
posted by rancher at 8:04 AM on November 30, 2014

You can't switch your sleep schedule for two days out of seven.
posted by zadcat at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2014 [12 favorites]

Do movies have midnight screenings in your area?
posted by JauntyFedora at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: We live in a mid-size city in Canada. There is one all-night diner but it's in the bar/club district and is therefore full of rowdy/drunk kids on Friday and Saturday. He's very into healthy eating and fitness/sports, so I'm hoping to find some group/club of similar folks.

Intentionally switching sleep schedule for 2 days a week is not ideal (very tough mentally and physically).

thank you
posted by Frenchy67 at 10:16 AM on November 30, 2014

Do you live in Ottawa? (Just a guess based on your description....the 24-hour diner & bagel place, etc.)

If so, it looks like there is a 24-hour gym in the Glebe - Snap Fitness. Other than that, I don't have any ideas - I think you're unlikely to find a group of people that meets for health/fitness in the middle of the night on the weekend.
posted by barnoley at 10:24 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

I thought there would be groups of night shift workers setting up fun stuff to do together, but no.

Can your partner be the one to start this? What do his/her co-workers do? Are they people you two want to socialize with? Do you know other graveyard workers?

When I worked grave most of us did switch our sleeping schedule on our days off. It appears that doesn't work for everyone, though, so there must be others interested in socializing overnight. So what about organizing something? Game night? A group going to to a midnight movie? Maybe get several people together to cook a meal and watch a movie at home?
posted by Beti at 10:25 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

When I was in that position, I got really into several hobbies. I practiced a lot on the guitar (I used a headphone amplifier and an electric guitar- it was very quiet so no one else was disturbed, but I could hear it quite well), I drew a comic book, I learned linocut printing.

I read a ton of books. I watched seasons of TV shows.

The lack of socializing opportunities is the hardest part about working the night shift, IMO. The hours and the sleep schedule are weird, but you can adapt. The lack of other people and opportunities to get out and do things are rough.
posted by DGStieber at 10:28 AM on November 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

When I was in that position, I got into night photography. This was back when it was a little more tricky with film cameras, but it was pretty fun and I imagine you could capture a lot of cool things on those Friday and Saturday nights!
posted by Toddles at 11:28 AM on November 30, 2014

I love night biking. Only in the past couple years, ridiculously bright bike lights have become available that make this fun and safe. A 1000-lumen light is as bright as a car headlight so you can go pretty fast on trails without any added danger, and it's fun to be outside when no one else is around.

Night running is not as much fun for me, at least, but some people love it.

I wonder if he could video chat online with people in other time zones, where it is day time? There are gaming meetups, language meetups, general chats, etc. on Skype and Google Hangouts. There are free classes on Coursera with people studying from all over the world. Might be a good simulation of human contact.

I am a member of a maker space and there are people there almost 24/7. In fact there are volunteers there just for security who are literally on a 24/7 schedule. For example I had a very involved conversation with a guy working on his beekeeping equipment at 3 am one time.

At least in my city, Somali and Ethiopian-run restaurants are often hopping until 3 or 4 am -- part of this is cultural (men hang out after the women and children are asleep), and part of it is legal (places that serve liquor have to close at 2 am, and these places don't serve liquor because they are Muslim). Maybe there is a similar hidden night life in your city.
posted by miyabo at 12:38 PM on November 30, 2014 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Some other ideas:
Rock climbers are often night owls, so many indoor climbing gyms are 24/7 and actually have people in the middle of the night.
Swim teams and rowing teams often start at 5:30 in the morning or even earlier. So this would be in his "afternoon".
He could get in to amateur astronomy. For obvious reasons, astronomy meetups are generally at around midnight and go into the early morning. It isn't unusual for 30 or 40 people to gather with their scopes in a random field somewhere and stay out most of the night. Most universities also have open observatory nights and may even have some late-night classes.
posted by miyabo at 1:04 PM on November 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh! He could volunteer at a hospital! Lots of interesting people to chat with in the middle of the night!
posted by miyabo at 1:19 PM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Videogames. I played a lot of hearthstone when I was working overnights.
posted by empath at 2:12 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Seconding astronomy:
http://www.astronomyclubs.com/country/Canada

http://www.skynews.ca/resources/astronomy-clubs/

When I had horrendous insomnia and routinely went to sleep at 7am, I ended up having online friends on the opposite side of the planet (yay for live chat!). I developed websites. I played tons of SimCity. I bought groceries at 2am on a routine basis.

Had I been healthier, I would have liked to have learned one or more languages and practiced them with my foreign friends, but I was just not mentally together enough for sustained study of that sort.

I also actively promoted international diversity on a forum I participated in at the time, in part by being the only American that folks in Australia ever got to interact with "live."
posted by Michele in California at 2:36 PM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I now work rotating shifts, and when I was on straight nights I would switch back to being awake during the day on my "weekends". Not ideal is putting it mildly.

If volunteering at a hospital is not appealing, maybe check out if they have any activities for their staff. Starting a board game group with nurses or other staff that are on night shifts could be fun.

Astronomy is a good idea, and any online activities can be easily done in the middle of the night. Maybe take some online classes and get a higher degree or certificate of some kind?

Then there is the old standby of movies and TV. Plenty of shows to stream nowadays.
posted by weathergal at 5:17 PM on November 30, 2014

I will second the idea of looking into "maker" communities, if he has any interest. For instance, I was once a member of a pottery studio where members got keys and could come to the studio to work on their pottery at any hour. He might end up finding other night owls that way.
posted by slidell at 6:13 PM on November 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

If there aren't 24 hour gyms (which--there are here, in the suburbs, so surprised you can't find one) look for gyms which have unstaffed 24 hour access with a key or badge for members.

Also, roommate plays video games. (We know because he spends the hours from midnight to 5am yelling at his friends over voice chat.)
posted by anaelith at 7:03 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Video games are great at odd hours - since even if everyone where you live is asleep, other parts of the world are awake (midnight to 8am Canada lines up with Oceanic peak time, i.e. Australia/NZ, so game servers with a large population in that part of the world are particularly good.)
posted by Ashlyth at 11:43 PM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Nthing that this is what videogames are for. If he wants to be social, something multiplayer like World of Warcraft (the new expansion is really cool!).
posted by Jacqueline at 6:35 AM on December 1, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, this has been so helpful. It turns out he likes the idea of astronomy and is following up on a couple of local clubs to see if he can get into late-night excursions without having to take the (non-late-night) classes first. The gym, pool, rowing, and rock-climbing ideas all appealed, but so far no luck finding anything open. (Well, there is one 24-hr gym but there are no showers, which grosses him out for whatever reason.)

He is an old geezer who has never played a video game (maybe he tried Pac Man a couple of times in the 80s), and isn't interested in more computer/screen time.

When I have a little time, I'm going to phone around to the local hospitals and see if they have any organized activities. My SO's first language isn't English, and he's a little shy about calling around (or starting a group) himself.

Thanks again for all your help.
posted by Frenchy67 at 8:38 PM on December 2, 2014