People Who Work Night Shifts Are Sharing Things “Day Shifters” Don’t Understand About Their World, And As A Day Shifter, I’m Intrigued

Anyone who has ever worked a night shift knows that living on an opposite schedule from the rest of the world comes with a unique set of challenges — and plenty of misconceptions. So when u/FIfromDefi asked, “People who work night shifts, what do day shift people not understand about your world?” the answers poured in. From relentless appointments during precious sleep hours to the struggle of finding a decent meal after sunrise, these 25 night owls revealed the honest, frustrating, and sometimes hilarious realities of working while the rest of the world sleeps:

1.“How difficult it is to manage basic things like shopping and doctor appointments when nothing is open while you’re awake. Even worse are the constant apartment inspections that happen every few months, always in the dead middle of your sleep time. Landscaping is always mowing right outside the bedroom while you are trying to sleep…”

—u/Not_a_werecat

2.“I have worked nights for the last 25 years. Thankfully, it is only three days per week at a place that never closes, so I have plenty of weekdays off. There is something beautiful about having a bunch of weekdays off in a row to just go do things while everyone else is working. Optometrist at 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday? I will be there. Groceries, banking, gas — it’s a breeze. I do wish places were open 24 hours, though. I would much rather keep my schedule and do those things at night.”

—u/G0mery

3.“I once got into an argument with my apartment management staff about inspections. I told them I work nights. They asked me what I meant. I said I get out of work at 6 a.m. They acted like they had never known anyone who worked nights. I said I sleep during the day and need to schedule something, because I am a gun owner, and if I wake up and someone is in my apartment, they are probably going to get shot. They were very accommodating, especially after I read my lease and inspections were not in there, so they weren’t even legal.”

—u/themodefanatic

4.“Sleeping, mostly. I used to have people ask me when I slept, as if it were possible that I did not. The concept of sleeping during the day confused more people than I would have expected. Also, in the winter (depending on where you live, of course), it’s possible to go about a month without seeing daylight.”

—u/Lopsided_Tomatillo27

5.“That we don’t have the day off. That is when we’re sleeping. So many people think we have the whole day to do things. We do not.”

—u/wanderingstorm

6.“I was once woken up by my roommate: ‘Your father wants to speak to you.’ ‘Tell him I came home from work at 8 a.m. That was two hours ago.’ ‘I told him.’ ‘What did he say?’ ‘He does not want you to sleep. People sleep at night.’ I called him a few days later from work at 1 a.m. He did not understand.”

—u/Fitz911

7.“Nothing is more infuriating than finishing work at 10 a.m., going to the grocery store, walking the dog, showering, and lying down at 2 p.m., just so I can hear someone say, ‘Are you going to lie around all day?'”

—u/DuquesaDeLaAlameda

8.“I used to work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and we still had not gotten into any daycare by the time I went back to work. I would get home at 7:30 a.m., see my husband off to work, and go to bed until my kid woke up around 9 a.m. (my husband had already been up with him from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. for a bottle and diaper). Then, I would take care of him all day until my husband was home from work at 4 p.m., right back to bed until 6:30 p.m., then out the door. I think I spoke like two sentences to my husband in the entire two months we had that schedule.”

—u/eugeneugene

9.“The peace. It’s calmer, less busy, and honestly way better than the day shift. I am sleep deprived, though.”

—u/RightEstablishment79

10.“I was a receptionist at a hotel about a decade ago. For the first five months, I covered night shifts only. Of course, at some point, my health started deteriorating, so I asked to be put on day shifts, too. My manager’s reaction was to huff and puff and throw out the whole, ‘But that way at least you’re free during the day.’ Yeah, I was free to sleep before the next night shift, sure.”

—u/cedrella_black

11.“I worked overnights for 13 years. Moved to the day shift for about three years and hated it. Everyone said it would get better, and it just got worse. So I went back to overnights last year, and I am much happier. I like the quiet time when everyone is asleep or at work. I can shop and get my oil changed and all of that while everyone is working.”

—u/Bodees1979

12.“It is perfectly fine for me to have an alcoholic beverage at 8 a.m. Because I get off work at 6 a.m., 8 a.m. is more like 8 p.m. for me. I have worked nights for years; everyone I know already knows this, so what’s with the judgment?”

—u/Walmartian_Beta

13.“Imagine a world where people feel entitled to wake you up at 2 a.m. People act like you’re lazy when you sleep past 4 a.m. You get to work, and all that’s ever left of treats or special lunches is the cleanup. When you try to nip into the grocery store between work and bed, people judge you for buying alcohol, even if it’s with a full cart of food. You hear things like, ‘Well, you can’t just sleep all day!’ ‘Well, you’re home during the day, are you not?’ ‘Why do you need daycare? You’re home!’ ‘That’s a bit lazy or selfish to sleep that late, is it not?'”

—u/coffee-rain-books

14.“I got called for jury duty when I was working third shift. The call-in time was about an hour and a half after I had gotten home and gone to sleep. I told them my situation and asked to get dismissed, and they said, ‘We do not dismiss for third shift.’ OK, lady. I will just make judgments as a jury member when I’ve had 30 minutes of sleep.”

—u/Frodo5213

15.“If you flip to days when you’re off (in order to participate in society beyond work), you don’t have a free day for the first shift because you go back to sleep early. You’re not functional for the hours you’re up because you don’t caffeinate. The first day off after your stretch of shifts is also not a day off because you’re sleeping after being awake all night. You lose at least one day (that is neither truly off nor paid) for every stretch of shifts.”

—u/waterproof_diver

16.“How easy it is to lose track of what day it is. On nights, you go home, sleep, and go back to work the same calendar day. Messes with your week, let me tell you.”

—u/striykker

17.“We need two days off work if we have an event. For example, a wedding. In order for me to be alive for a wedding on Saturday, I need to make sure I take off the Friday night, otherwise I’m coming straight from work without any sleep for 24 hours, as well as taking off Saturday night so I can enjoy myself and not go straight into work without any sleep for 24 hours. I had to explain this concept to my manager on several occasions, including funerals and lengthy medical appointments.”

—u/burgerkingthundercat

18.“I love that at night there’s no traffic. Day sucks — way too many people on the road.”

—u/umastryx

19.“It’s not laid-back and easier than the day shift. It’s meeting the same goals with a skeleton crew and none of the administrative assistance the day shift receives.”

—u/niagaemoc

20.“I was especially fond of the admin insisting on mandatory biweekly Zoom meetings with the entire staff of a 24-hour staffed residential facility that accommodated the admin’s schedule only. I would get to sleep by 8:30 a.m. if I were lucky, and have to be on camera and unmuted for 11 a.m. or get written up. They also had no issue with requiring me (again under threat of progressive discipline) to complete and pass a certification test for medication administration at 9 a.m. after working the night shift.”

—u/b00kbat

21.“Night people are a different breed. Everyone is a little more honest and weird at night; anyone who eats dinner at 2 a.m. is not normal. Sometimes when I have to go out and do stuff in the daylight, I’m shocked by how many people are out everywhere. I’m used to the dark and quiet.”

—u/pollyp0cketpussy

22.“I live alone and keep a pretty consistent nocturnal schedule even on my days off or when I take time off. So it is a lot easier on me than people who live with families or have to split their sleep schedule to accommodate family responsibilities. I will almost always greet you with ‘Good morning!’ at 6 a.m. when I have just gotten off work and am walking my dog — I am awake enough to remember it is morning for everyone else. At 2 p.m., when I have just woken up and am walking my dog, it is still morning for me. No, I cannot drop you off at the airport at 7 a.m. If I am awake and outside in sunlight at 7 a.m., it will take me hours to fall back asleep. It is not like you staying up until midnight to bring a friend, and then you go home, and it is dark and quiet, and you can fall right back asleep.”

“Along the same lines, do not wake me up ‘just for a few minutes’ in the middle of the day. I can sleep through a lot. It is much harder to fall back asleep when all the activity of the day is going on.

I do not expect neighbors to adjust their schedule to mine. But if you know you are going to be doing construction or something loud during the day, it is nice if you give me a heads up. Frankly, with the number of people who now work from home, I think this should be considered common courtesy at this point.

I actually prefer night schedules. I do not like the sun, I like that it is calmer, and although it sucks to get up at noon on my days off to do things like doctor’s appointments, it is still easier than trying to take time off from a nine-to-five job.”

—u/Hippy_Lynne

23.“I worked nights for three and a half years. Here are my gripes about what day walkers do not understand: I’m drinking after my shift when I have off the next day, just like you. But that is at 6 or 7 in the morning, so please do not scowl at me. I’m not ‘sleeping the day away,’ I’m just sleeping. Work is just as busy during our shift, maybe slightly less. Do not say, ‘They don’t do anything’ or ‘just standing around.’ Do not yell at me for mowing the lawn at 7 or 8 p.m. on my day off. Do not yell at me for mowing my lawn at 7 or 8 a.m. on my day off. I hate doctor’s appointments. What happened to places being open 24 hours? Maybe I’ll get up early and go eat dinner; I am so sick of breakfast. You can order a Whopper at 5 a.m. We talk absolute nonsense with our coworkers because we are literally losing our minds.”

—u/Another_Word44223

24.“Just how frustrating it is to not be able to find anything besides breakfast to eat at 7 a.m. I just got out of work. I want pizza, tacos, a burger, or some wings. I have never understood why it’s acceptable to eat eggs and bacon any time of day, but the only burger you will find before 11 a.m. comes out of a microwave at a gas station.”

—u/afaceinthecrowd22

25.“The slow erosion of a ‘normal’ life. First, you work toward stabilizing your sleep as best you can. This usually takes months. Then, as you slowly conform to a nocturnal life just enough that you stop having headaches from fatigue — or maybe you have picked up 50 pounds because you have figured out you can eat to stay awake — you start to realize that you cannot remember the last ‘normal’ weekend or friendly outing in the last six to 12 months, at least. The world just is not on your schedule, and as such, you miss the ability to experience most of it. You could stay up during the day on the weekend, maybe, but then you mess up your whole routine and have to settle back into it. It is miserable. Zero out of 10, avoid at all costs.”

—u/Unfinished_though

Do you work nights, or have you in the past? Share what you wish day shift folks knew about your world in the comments below!

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.