Reporter's notebook: an overnight stint on the graveyard shift

My first shift started like every other day. I passed the security desk at CBC and said, "Good Morning," to the guard.

He wrinkled his eyebrows with a confused look on his face.

It was almost 11 pm, and I was starting a night shift.

I wanted to meet some of the 61,000  people who work straight through the night in B.C.  Another half million work either rotating shifts, or on an irregular schedule.

Everyone I met had stories to share.

I met Winefreda Junatas, after midnight, in the atrium of the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver.

Junatas, 64, cleans, dusts and mops the restaurant after it closes.

She turned to nights because she needed a full-time job to sponsor her family to immigrate from the Philippines.

After working these hours for 27 years, Junatas has missed a lot of daylight hours with her family.

It's a sacrifice that's not lost on her daughter.

"[She told me] 'Mom, I don't like your job. But we appreciate what you do. We're not ashamed that you're just a janitor…we are proud of you," Junatas said.

Sacrifice is a running theme among the night workers I met.

For about four years, Steve Schmidt, 35, punched the clock from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., at a fuel-delivery company.

During those years, he missed out on time with his son, now 11, who has autism. His overnight night hours also meant he missed daytime teacher meetings and appointments with specialists.

The night hours were difficult for him to adjust to. "You have this fear of missing out on a lot of things," he said.

"You are either sleeping for, or preparing for your next shift."

Schmidt knew he needed to change his work schedule, when, because of his hours, he was forced to miss the funeral of a good friend.

"I knew his family quite well, they understood," he said. "I lost a good friend, and I just wasn't really able to be there."

Now that he's on the day shift, he says he's more available for his son.

"He's doing really well. He's definitely appreciating that I'm around a lot more, and able to hang out with him and be a dad."

I don't work nights myself, but I start work very early.

I make sure the kettle is boiling at CBC Vancouver by 4 am. Before I started on these hours, I rarely encountered, or thought about the people who are working, while I'm asleep.

It's easy to imagine that for a lot of employers, the challenges their overnight staff face, are out of sight and mind.

Tom Brocklehurst with Worksafe BC says his organization spends a lot of time, encouraging companies to check in on their workers.

"At night they can schedule longer breaks they can have shorter shifts," Brocklehurst said.

Occasionally, rotating staff dayside helps too.

While the night shift comes with obvious challenges, I also found many moments of joy. I spoke to people who love the hours, and who found community at night.

Walking home at the end of the first night, I felt better than I expected to. The rising sun gave me a second wind.

And the previous night gave me an appreciation for a side of the city most of us never see.

Tips for surviving the night shift

6 years ago

Duration 1:12

More than 61,000 people in B.C. work regular night shifts. We asked a few of them for tips on surviving the late hours.

Night Shift is a series that looks at life on the clock, around the clock. It's produced by Jake Costello and airs on CBC Radio One's The Early Edition from March 25 - 29.