Working the Graveyard Shift
I had gone to Edmonton with a couple of friends and was staying with another friend from Montreal. I worked for a while at an A&W where the cool kids used roller skates, but it wasn't mandatory, thank goodness! I got bored with that job and applied for something with a romantic ring to it, at least to the 18 year-old I was: 'The Graveyard Shift'. Hey, I had danced in a disco until 3AM once, how hard could it be to wait on tables until 7AM!
Well, it was fine until about 4AM, and then I crashed! I finished the shift feeling sick, nauseous, zombielike. 203
I couldn't change my circadian rhythm and sleep that day either, of course, but I still went back the next evening, stubbornly determined to succeed. Again I could hardly function, this time much earlier. Another friend stopped by that day, he was hitching back to Montreal and I just dumped everything and joined him. I didn't even collect my wages, I just couldn't stomach that place! 13