Is it tomorrow yet?

I am either fascinated with “time” or obsessed with it. I think about it a lot and have written about it often. And since I work 3rd shift, I regularly have a conversation like I did tonight, around 12:30:

Me: Thank you, Sir. Have a good night!
Customer: It’s not night. This is early morning! I need to get to bed.
Me: Ohhh-Kay.  (But I’m saying to myself, It’s night to me)

When does tomorrow begin? I know, I know, "Tomorrow never comes, because as soon as it does it’s today!" And I also know that our day, for some strange reason, runs from midnight to midnight. So that means, that technically, tomorrow begins at midnight.

Isn’t that strange? The new day begins at mid-night? I admit, I have never understood that.

There have been people who had their days set up differently. For them the new day began at sunset. Thursday ended at sunset and Friday began. The Jews understood it this way. That’s why the Bible says, Evening and morning were the first day. The Celts and Anglo-Saxons understood it that way. Christmas Eve was not the Night before Christmas Day, it was the night that belonged to Christmas Day because every day began with the night: December 24th ended with sunset and the 25th began with the darkness or night time (that is why the Christmas story is read on Christmas Eve and yet we say that He was born on Christmas Day - Christmas Eve belongs to the 25th!!). I like that. I would be comfortable with that.

But, as a third shift person, I look at it this way. I go to work at 11 pm Wednesday night and get off at 7 am Thursday morning. So, until I get off (or really the sun rises), it is Wednesday night. I think a lot of 3rd shift people think this way. If I am talking to a police officer at 3:30 am Thursday and he asks me, “Are you working tomorrow night?” we both immediately know this means, Are you working Thursday night? Makes it hard to talk to first shift folk.

So, for me, as long as it is still dark outside, it’s Night, no matter what the clock says. And I will wish people a good night. But once the sun comes up, Day has begun and my parting words often go like this: “Have a good night, uh, it’s day now, Have a good day!”

Is it tomorrow yet? I got off at 3 am tonight. It's still dark outside. So, No, it is still Thursday night! When I wake up it will be Friday morning.

That much being said, I will confess that working nights begets confusion. I have my way of viewing time yet the world runs by a different clock, so I am never quite sure what Day it is!