Today is Thursday, aka My Monday.
The shuttle leaves the EDR parking lot at 3:30. It's usually parked 5-10 minutes before that, but it wasn't today, which usually means that the driver is driving a guest or something, so I did not even consider calling the front desk to ask where it was. It did show up a few minutes before 3:30, and we left right on time.
By 3:35, as usual, I had taken a seat at the rock house. I always have about twenty minutes between getting off the shuttle and my "Clock in!" alarm, so I like to chill with my phone outside before I even step into the kitchen. I'm usually alone, but not always, and not today - that new cook who either never introduced himself, or did tell me his name and I forgot it, was already there when I sat down.
He asked me if we had hired a new dishwasher. I said I didn't know, but that would be great. He said he was pretty sure we actually had hired a new one, and then went on to describe her, and even say that he thought he had seen her get off the shuttle with me.
With this in mind, when my alarm went off at 3:55, I walked in through the other door so that I could immediately check the schedule.
Indeed, it said that a new dishwasher would be working my usual shift tonight.
And I would be working 9:00 pm to 5:00 am.
Every night for the rest of the week.
Inhale, exhale.
Okay. So, it just happened that when I got home from work on Monday night, Jeremy (who is Chef when Chef isn't there; I typically work with him three nights a week, so I actually see him more than Chef) was hanging out with two people whose names I don't know. He saw me walking in the direction of the building and called me over to tell me something. (He happened to be a bit drunk, so he was even more amusing to be around than usual.) He asked me if I wanted to be the night porter. Because we hired a new dishwasher, which means we have enough for someone to switch to overnight stewarding, and Chef did offer it to Andy, but Andy said I wanted it, so Chef told Jeremy to ask me. I said hell yeah I wanted it, but won't be holding my breath since I thought I was gonna make that switch months ago until I officially applied and got denied because I don't have a fucking driver's license . . .
and that was that. We confirmed again that, yes, I would love to clean the kitchen overnight, he initiated a fist bump, and then I said good night and left to start my weekend - which, in my mind, would be ending at 4:00 pm today unless I heard otherwise.
But I didn't hear anything, so my brain went into My Monday Autopilot without even thinking about it.
SO YEAH, I was quite shocked when I walked in at 3:55 to find out I wasn't actually supposed to be there until 9:00 pm. Seriously, this is how I find out I need to abruptly adjust my sleep schedule? SERIOUSLY? Phones exist, y'all! Email, text, voicemail, etc! Communicate, GOSH!
Chef usually isn't there when I clock in, and today was no exception. I could not find any kind of in-charge person anywhere in the entire kitchen, so the best plan I could come up with on the spot was, pretty much: wait for the next shuttle, get home asap, try to take a nap, catch the 8:30 shuttle so I can be back here at 9:00 pm, stay awake all night without preparing for it---
"The next shuttle" would be leaving The Ranch at 4:30, which should mean it would arrive at The Inn by 4:35. When it hadn't shown up by 4:45, I was starting to panic about my dwindling time available to get any rest before working all night long with zero notice, and I was not in any mood to call the front desk and ask where the shuttle might be, so I just said fuck it and started to walk home . . . but I had barely started the walk when the shuttle did approach. Tyler saw me and immediately slowed down, then stopped and let me get in. He picked up two more employees on the way, and they both talked about how it seems like the shuttle schedule changes too often without letting people fucking know about it in advance. I think I bit my tongue to stop from saying, "Gee, that sounds familiar."
(As I'm typing this, I remember that when Tyler picked me up he asked if they didn't need me tonight. I told him no one told me my schedule had changed and joked, "Somebody needs to invent email already!" And then he mentioned that he had noticed that the new dishwasher was in the same shuttle as me and that seemed a little funny.)
Anyway, I got home around 5:00, which meant I would have about three hours before I needed to get ready to catch the 8:30 shuttle. I took a shower, then laid down and tried to trick my body into getting some perfect rest until my first brand-new "get ready" alarm went off at 7:50.
But no, this whole thing was far too stressful for me to get that much rest in that little time.
I'm honestly not sure if Chef has my email address (or my phone number, for that matter). I'm not sure if anyone in F & B has any of my contact info. When I overheard Chuck and Jeremy talking about how no one knows anything about Joey, Chuck said, "I'm Assistant Manager and I don't have anyone's contact info."
But SERIOUSLY, how fucking difficult would it have been for somebody to give me some sort of notice that my schedule was about to change? The new schedule (which starts today) had not been posted the last time I checked it, which was Monday evening, aka My Friday.
I was a little anxious about calling out tonight, since I called out twice last week due to angry stomach, but after some pro-con weighing I said fuck it and typed up that email and flat-out told them, "I just need one day to try to adjust my sleep schedule."
Can I stay awake until 5:00 AM and then get enough sleep during the day to work all night tomorrow?
Guess I'll find out.
_______
Let's see, if I'm leaving work at 5:00 AM, I might as well get into the habit of eating breakfast as soon as it's available at 6:00. By 7:00, I can be showered and ready for some sleep! I think I'll set an alarm for either 11:00 or 12:00. That will give me time to get lunch and then go to the post office. If I don't have any pakidges, I might buy a snack or two from the general store on my way home. I'll be home by 1:00 or 2:00, which gives me plenty of time to get some more rest.
When, though? To get to work at 9:00 pm I'll have to catch the 8:30 shuttle, which means if I want to sleep as late as possible I'll want to make myself wake up at 7:50 so I can be ready to walk out the door at 8:15.
The EDR serves dinner from 4:00 to 9:00, so if I DON'T want to sleep as late as possible I could be eating until like 8:25 and still catch the 8:30 shuttle. Do I want to be eating that late, though? Would it be better to eat sooner? I don't know, but I am seriously glad that I will now be able to go to the EDR for dinner every night! The free food we can get at work is good, but the options are limited. Like when I thought I would be working my usual evening shift tonight, I figured I would order either a chicken quesadilla & regular fries or a chicken salad or just a portion of chicken. All of which are good (the chicken salad sounds particularly tasty right now), but they do get a bit boring when I eat them all the time.
But since I'm not working that shift, I went to the EDR and had some potatoes, beefy spaghetti, a chicken breast, and two King's Hawaiian rolls. SO MUCH BETTER!
I'll have to figure out what time to take my lunch break when I'm working overnight, and get into a habit of bringing snacks with me. The cooks might or might not leave me any food, which is fine since I'll be able to eat at the EDR three times a day now. I don't have that many snacks to choose from right now, but do have some arriving soon, but should probably go ahead and order some more . . .
Oy, it's only 9:12. Can I actually stay awake all night long? Ben happens to be gone, so if I need to I can do jumping jacks or something without worrying about bothering him. Obviously I'll watch something. I've had some gummies and would like more, but that won't exactly make it easier to stay awake all night, but I am planning to take a break from weed this week---
I guess I might want to order some energy drinks. And granola bars. What else do I want to eat or drink when I'm working overnight? Crackers. Trail mix. Rice cakes. If the EDR has free bananas, that would be fucking helpful.
One nice thing about this schedule change is that 9:00 pm to 5:00 am equals forty hours a week (actually less, thanks to mandatory lunch breaks, but still). In the weeks since my hours got cut, I have been quite content to have more time in front of my box fan in exchange for a little less money, but working overnight will be so much cooler that I am very pleased to get bumped back up to full time! Thanks, Chef.
(Still annoyed with you for the total lack of notice about this schedule change, though.)
I do need to find out exactly what I'm supposed to do every night. If I arrive at 9:00, I can help the other dishwasher (or not - business has been so slow lately that I'm usually done around 10:30, so they may not even want my help), but then what? Will Chef/Jeremy/Colleen/Chuck give me different tasks every night? Will I keep the entire kitchen's floors & walls sparkling and then also just clean whatever I feel like?
Another question! How am I supposed to write down my times on the sheet when I'm clocking in one night and then technically clocking out the next day? Each day has its own sheet, so---? I know that the sheet is really only there just in case the time clock ever malfunctions, so it's usually not crucially important, but I do need to clarify the protocol for this.
Okay, I think those are all of my concerns about this. So, to review:
5:00 AM - Clock out!
6:00 AM - Breakfast!
7:00 AM - Wrap up shower time, put on pajamas, sleep!
11:00 AM or 12:00 PM - Lunch, post office, maybe general store
12:00 PM or 1:00 PM - More sleep!
6:30 PM (?) - Dinner!
7:50 PM - Get ready for work!
8:15 PM - Out the door!
8: 30 PM - Shuttle
8:55 PM - Clock in!
I think that's my ideal schedule for tomorrow.
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