Pluggers by Rick McKee for June 12, 2023

A big thanks to those who chose the pluggersverse way of life. Midnight was the start, end, smoke break, lunch break, safety meeting, part of the workday(night). They are the essential workers we needed just a couple of years ago. Thankyou!

Used to start my work day at 3 or 4 AM, clerk for the U.S. Postal Service.

Old joke: “If owls are so smart, how did they get stuck on the night shift?”

Is “Before Dawn” close enough?

Worked swing for nearly 8 years. Great, no big bosses around to muck up the schedule. College during the day.

I would far prefer working the night shift than a swing shift. The latter can’t be good for your health.

Started work at 4 AM before retirement . Not bad in the summer but snow in winter would make the trip in different ;-)

I once spent several months working two full time and one part time jobs to pay off credit card debt. I owed 3k$ at a time when that was more than a year’s pay.

I worked graveyards at the nursing home & when I had Margie & Darcy with me, those ppl got really good care. But then one night, the assistant Director of nursing was on with us & she decided we were a little too thick & split us up. We never worked together again.

Me retired and my day still starts at 4:30 AM when I get up. Only difference is I get to choose what I work on, how many breaks I take, and when I quit for the day.

Swing is better than graveyard. What happened to his face? It makes no sense.

It’s rotating shifts that really mess your body up. Fortunately, many organizations have realized that, although I doubt the military has.

I worked nights as a nurse for many years. Always felt more needed by the patients since it is at night that they are left alone with no family (all gone home), their fear, their pain. Being a patient in a hospital is no vacation by any means, but for some, it’s the only way we can get time off!

Shift never started at midnight……..but started many a shift at 4 AM and then worked until 3:30 PM and sometimes even ‘stayed over’ until 7:30 PM

I worked the 2nd or 3rd shift or 12-hour nights for 40 of my 44 working years. Once I was on the day shift, I was about to tell my boss that I’d rather starve on the street than deal with politics on the day shift when he called me into the office and asked if I would go to the night shift to help out. I said YES YES YES! Can I start tonight? I was euphoric! People were commenting that I went from looking depressed to super happy. When I told them I was going back to 3rd shift they said I was crazy. I may be crazy, but I’m happy! Because of my knowledge, I was put in charge of the technical side of things. I told the 3rd shift manager his job was to sit in his office, keep the coffee fresh, and not much else. We will call you if we need something. It was great!

Eh me never knews rhinoceros was nocturnal.

My friend’s father was a fireman and he became a fireman too. I never fully understood the schedule but it was 24-48 hour shifts.

not sure I follow this one

Swing shift for 20 some odd years. Finally went to day shift. My day now starts at 3 am.

Nope, not me. I’m mostly on the opening shift which is at 06:00 (6am); yesterday was the closing shift which was 19:00-23:15 (7pm-11:15pm). Thus why y’all other GoComics folks haven’t been noticing me lately.

Worked graveyard every summer on the railroad. Wheat harvest in Western Oklahoma. Daytime 100 degrees, graveyard 74 degrees….loved it.

Haha…Night shift is great. I worked the 11p – 7a shift at US Steel when I was in college, and production equipment always seemed to “break down” and not be fixable until the supervisors showed up for first shift, (usually around 9 am, after we had clocked out). Nothing to do but play cards, read magazines, watch TV, etc. in the break room until (or if) it got going again.

Work.. rings a bell…

Or you’re a rhino of the night, in the world’s oldest profession, ya know.

Worked for another my dad when growing up, then for a different single practitioner, then my dad again as an accountant. Now self-employed with the (literally) dying end of their practices. Many was the day I would work from am start to after midnight to get tax returns during tax season. It was the life I grew up and knew and thought nothing of it – until I got married and it drove my husband crazy – he learned to live with it.