Working in the Shadows by Gabriel Thompson

Author:Gabriel Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nation Books

ONE ADVANTAGE TO working nights, I’m told by both managers and coworkers, is that I can get things done during the day. I don’t have much to do during the day except try to get at least six hours of sleep, which usually proves impossible, but many of my coworkers have children to care for and errands to run. They leave work in the morning, take their kids to school, buy groceries, and attend a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon—without ever having to worry about cutting into their work schedule. This “advantage,” though, has an obvious price: When people are taking care of business during the day, they’re not sleeping. And even a lack of chores doesn’t guarantee a good day’s sleep, as I’m finding, for people who are new to night work (which, with the significant turnover at the plant, is a substantial percentage of the workforce). Sleep, therefore, is often treated like a precious commodity, and it’s not uncommon to hear one person ask another at the beginning of a shift, “How many hours did you sleep?” in lieu of a more traditional greeting. The question is essentially the same: How are you?

The knot of anxiety around sleep has to do with the need to make it through a shift without going unconscious. While I’m tearing breasts with Jesús, DSI has its first sleep casualty: An African American woman is fired for repeatedly nodding off for thirty seconds at a time. She did this, according to a woman who worked next to her on the line, while standing. She never fell over or leaned on the line for support; she would just tuck her chin into her neck and be out. How she did it, I have no idea. No one is particularly moved by her departure—which occurs sometime after 2:00 a.m.—though a slight sense of excitement builds as a rumor gets passed around that she’s going to call in a bomb threat as a parting gift, which could result in our early dismissal (the call is never made).

During a break I sit across the table from the woman who worked alongside the just-fired individual. It turns out that the fired woman has a young son, and though she found someone to watch him during the night, she couldn’t afford a sitter during the day. After an eight-hour shift, she was home with a child who was just getting up and ready to play. It strikes me as a tragic situation, but the woman telling the story isn’t especially sympathetic. “I have a young child, too, but I don’t understand why she can’t afford to pay a sitter during the day.”

“Really? Making eight bucks an hour? I burn through that without a kid.”

She shrugs. “Well, since I just started, I can’t afford it, so my mom helps watch my child. But she’d been working here a while. So with all the money she’s made, it doesn’t make sense.”

This lack of solidarity seems stranger as we continue to chat. It turns out that the person I’m speaking with has also been having a hard time staying awake.

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