I have found out at over-night retail jobs that employees have no night life. Their night life consist of working. There’s no time for adequate dating, sharing, or caring. An average full-time overnight-er is compensated for their time per hour than an day shift worker. Nights are not easy for everyone.

Night-shift has been found too be hard for many. Many found it hard too adjust to sleep habits. An full time over-night shift employee actually spends time each day of the week except one. Although you’re not spending totally a full eight hours on the job, you’re still working some hours on a given sixth day. An overnight-er actually has two nights off, but not a full two days off. A night-shifter may spend more time trying to recover sleep during the day off, rather than enjoying the day off shopping, cleaning, or going to the gym.

As a night-shift worker there are some important factors to remember. You need to set priorities when you estimate in your life what is important. I believe you can say, “Making money to pay bills is the most important”; Well therefore prevent from performing possible hobbies that can interfere with your job. 

1. Hobbies: Have a hobby will prevent you from having a bored life. When you notice that your hobby is not appealing, maybe it’s time for another. I encountered co-workers who were excited about going to the gym. That’s a good thing, but months later, I can tell the gym performance seized. The question is why? Their answers may be, they found a relationship with someone which was the leading reasons for the gym, and not just for a work-out. Behaviour change can happen when a major event happen in their life.

I once I knew a co-worker who text-ed or called occasionally. But the phone calls seized and texts seized. The main reasons for the calls and the texts before was for reasons of boredom. But the reasons for the seized calls and texts was because the person found a mate, got married, and had children. So the modified life-style, also modified his habits and behaviour.

The human race naturally seeks completion where there’s void. Many night-shift co-workers may not have anyone at home to go home too. Many can find there life boring, time flying by fast, and single. Most employees that work at night, their spouses don’t want them missing throughout the night. But the family must work-it-out if the main source of the income is a night shift.

Try to avoid a hobby that could potential injury you or prevent you from working. Unless the hobby directly ties you to work. Example: A professional football player would be found in the gym, because it ties in with his work. But getting injured in a gym, affects his paycheck on the field, if he’s benched due to a physical injury.

2. Weekends: Another night-shift issue is working on the weekend. I found night shift workers when they’re young would wish one of the three major retail nights off. The three major weekend days are, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays. Most younger employees want one of those days off for their personal life. You will have priority if you considered all days were equal to you, and made yourself available for any day and time.

3.Sunday: The next issue about night-shift working into a Sunday, is the religious belief. Some employees want Sunday off or leave early, or get off on-time with no room for flexibility. They want to worship and go to church. A night-shift worker may find it hard to have worked that Saturday night into Sunday morning, and be back to work that night. If they go to church during that Sunday. You need to face the facts about retail businesses that operate on Sundays, the business first. They will staff the business with workers willing to work on Sunday to meet customer demands. Sometimes it requires bold steps to mention to the employer, you wish Sundays off. But the overall point is, business first, and able working bodies second.

4. Transportation: Having adequate transportation is important. You can have a job, but if you’re relying on a vehicle to get to work, it requires maintenance. I still hear workers borrowing gas money. It’s not the cost of the fuel, it’s the employees money issues. It can’t be the per hour salary, because the employee knew the pay at the hiring process. So what is it? Well it could be; #1. What kind of gas guzzling vehicle is the person driving? 2. How far does the person live? 3. Not having a gasoline budget or setting money aside for transportation issues. The list can continue if you don’t modify. Simply cut out some of the factors, example: carpool or move closer to the workplace. However carpooling means you’re relying on someone to be on time when picking you up, or leaving work at the same-time, so no ones waiting on the other. I found a retail business can careless how you get ot work, as long as you show up for your scheduled shift time. Some workplaces don’t consider your hobbies, gas, car, religious beliefs, you’re issues, or personal problems, as long as you show up to your job.

5. Manage Yourself: Truth: Most work places may not care or have time to manage your personal issues unless, it’s the workplace to care for clients businesses and issues. Most workplaces want you at work to work. However I found that co-workers in corporations wonder why you have no problems. It’s because you must manage you’re issues, so your company can manage you.

6. Stale: When you’ve worked at a place so long, sometimes you become one of the fixtures. The person knows all the gossip of every person and the different changes within the company. To me that person has become boring. I can have worked for a company the same amount of years as the other and still seem new, and revived, why? Because you need to be free from being stale or a fixture. Co-workers who continue to talk about things in front of their noses will never see the long-term goals. So their vision to me is boring. It seems like they’re bored. Even the company pacify them. But the real issue is that you’ve been working there for twenty years and nothings changed about you. You haven’t moved up, nor contributed to the company, you’ve just been there like a wart on a frog, and leaping around to nowhere. How boring! Employees like that are usually full of, “what the company should do, or this, or that” but changes never happen within that twenty year employee, I find them boring. Any co-worker can complain, but one whose been there for twenty years or more, move up, out, or shut up from complaining and  boring the new hires. The unsatisfied, been working for the company twenty year co-worker is like ice cubes in your supposed to be hot soup.

Billy Sunday and wife (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

Night Shift (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH JOANNE (Photo credit: marc falardeau)

Cover of Night Shift (Keep Case)

I guess that’s where signs come into play. Watching carefully you’ll find life’s signs. Some are more obvious that others with flashing lights and words. Others are more vague and have pictures that, as we pass, don’t exactly understand their meaning. Some may figure the meaning out in time while others don’t realize it till it’s too late.

Then there are the people we let into our lives. Simply put as a hitchhiker. We choose who we would let into our lives almost as if letting them into our vehicles. The decision should be thought about as well, for you could let the wrong people into your life which could lead you down the wrong road and easily get lost, off track, or again into a fatal situation.

This may seem like I’m just ramble of a sort, but to me there is a pretty simple similarity to be found in driving a car and living life.

          When I was growing up in Chicago in the 1940s I wrote school reports in long hand, listened to the radio for entertainment, had a telephone number with a name and just four numbers (ours was Wellington 2272) and paid five cents for a candy bar.  There were no cell phones, computers, Ipods, Smart phones except maybe in science fiction.

        Today, there are so many new things, things that weren’t even dreamed of  fifty years ago.  I wonder all the time …what next?  What seemingly impossible things will be commonplace in the future?  I try to think, what else could there possibly be?   What do we need or what would we like?    I’ve come up with a few ideas; I hope someone remembers, fifty years from now (when I’m not around anymore) that I thought of them first. 

        Cars and places to park them are a big issue today; there are more and more cars everyday and finding a parking place is next to impossible in some locations (like Miami Beach where I live)    The solution?  Cars will have a  little button on the dashboard;  push the button and the car miniaturizes, becomes a third of it’s size so it  can easily slide into a tiny parking space. Push it again and the car returns to normal size.

           Another parking solution would  be Airborne parking.     Every driver will have a sort of clicker or gadget, click it and the car rises up into the air and hovers over the street, sort of parking in space.  When it’s time to leave, click again and the car comes down to the street.  I don’t know   how cars in space will avoid crashing into each other but that’s a detail which can, I’m positive, be worked out .

            Gasoline is getting more and more expensive so cars will operate on “urine” power instead of gasoline.  Why not use a natural product like urine to power cars?  There has to be a way and there is never ending supply of the product

           Finally, someone will invent   a Facelift Pill.   No more surgery, cutting, shots, needles, creams.  Just take this little pill and voila, a smooth, unwrinkled, tight (but natural-looking ) face

                 Do these things sound silly, impractical, the stuff of dreams?      Well, I think it’s impossible  that I’m  sitting on the beach in Florida talking on a cell phone to my son in France and  listening to one hundred and two songs on an instrument small enough to fit into the palm of my hand and posting a message to my friend in Seattle and getting an instant reply but, I’m doing them  so I think anything else is possible.     

      Meanwhile, I’m going to sit back, relax and enjoy and use every new thing that comes along . I’m curious to know if anyone else has  ideas for the future?  Is so, send them along to Barbara@mysteryonthemenu.com. 

Exon Mobile is the most profitable company in history, more so than Andrew Carnigie’s steel empire and Rockerfellers extensive railroad monopoly. Many people believe that gas prices will reach $5.00 over the summer of 2012 and many blame the president. The reality is that Americans are lucky when it comes to gas prices. Europeans and Canadians are paying much more and politics does not play a large factor in determining gas prices.

Another shocking statistic is the number of people who simply don’t know who to blame for rising gas prices. The truth is that companies like Exon Mobile have found loopholes in the market and have basically established the first monopoly since the industrial age. In a modern world, people with cars NEED gas and regardless of how high the price is, for the most part, people will shell out money to fill up their tanks. Will gas prices hit $5.00? Probably. Will people suddenly stop paying for gas and start biking to work? Probably not.

The fact of the matter is, many of us Americans are lazy and as the most obese nation under the sun, I don’t picture bike stores recieving much more business than usual.

Chery J1

JAKARTA – Car China is now qualified with advanced technology. “The quality of China’s auto production in sub-standard, but it was 10 years ago, now we’ve learned and changed. (Production quality) have advanced our technology,” says Chery International president Biren Zhou said here on Thursday.

Zhou said that all global auto manufacturers to put China as the main markets and economic growth in China continued to rise significantly each year.

Chery has become a major player in China with total sales of 18 million units and Chery to produce 900 thousand units of vehicles every year. “In China, models of Japanese car manufacturers can not compete,” he said.

Chery will open 12 locations 3S outlet in Indonesia, three of which are in Serpong, North Jakarta and Central Jakarta. One contained unit Borneo, Bali, Sumatra and Sulawesi. The rest, spread on the island of Java.

Drunk driving is no laughing matter. The cost in lives, property and public resources expended for first responders and others is a serious business.  Yet you can’t help but smile at some of the excuses offered by people caught in the act and facing charges of driving under the influence (DUI). Some are much used, others are quite novel.  Others will have you scratching your head and wondering how the person obtained their driver’s license in the first place.

Here are the top 20 excuses compiled from a variety of sources.  You are welcome to add your own to the list.

Top 20

1. “I can handle my liquor”

2. “I don’t want to pay for a taxi”

3. “Leaving my car overnight is a hassle”

4. “I always make it home after a few”

Image via Wikipedia

5. “It’s only a short drive home”

6. “I’m OK to drive”

7. “One more drink won’t hurt”

8. “They only take your license if you’re drunk”

9. “I’m more careful after a couple”

10. “I wasn’t drinking – I only smoked a joint”

Image via Wikipedia

11. “I haven’t seen my boyfriend in three months and I got needs”

12. (similar to 11) “I’m out of tampons”

13. Driver to officer: “I suppose this will help you reach your quota, huh?”

14. “I’m sorry officer for speeding, but without my glasses I can’t hardly see the speedometer.”

15. “I just had my brakes repaired and it was so expensive that I don’t want to wear them down.”

16. “My wife ran off with a state policeman and when I saw your flashing lights I didn’t stop because for a second, I thought you might be the trooper who is trying to bring her back to me.”

17. “Sorry officer for throwing the beer cans out the window but I didn’t want my wife to see how many that I have drunk.”

18. “Oh, officer, I’ve been living in Germany for so many years now that I forgot how to read the signs in miles per hour. I sure am glad to be home and have someone remind me!”

19. “Officer, I saw your high beams and considered for a moment that you were a drunk driver, so I sped up to give you some room.”

And perhaps the all-time best:

20. “Hey officer how about I buy you a drink and we forget all about this?”

As I said, you’re welcome to offer you own best DUI excuse.

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So, is it that some people underestimate their alcohol consumption?  Or is it that they simply take a chance, thinking they will never get caught by the authorities?

If caught, the maximum penalty for drink-driving is £5,000 and an obligatory ban from driving for anything between 12-36 months.   If a death occurs from this there is also the possibility of 14 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

As well as the wrath of the authorities, it is estimated that around 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured every year due to drink-driving.

Yet, for some reason, the message clearly isn’t getting through to motorists, that as well as risking a fine, prison sentence, and a ban on driving, they are also risking peoples lives (including their own).

However, it is possible to have a good time AND avoid these above risks completely. If you are attending an event, intending to drink, and not sure how much you’ll consume, (for example; birthday parties, wedding receptions, or entertaining clients over drinks), then you’d be better off designating a driver for the day.  The designated driver will avoid alcoholic drinks altogether, leaving you free to enjoy your evening without the worry of driving home safely.  

Another option would be to alter the cultural perception of what it means to have a good time.   Do you really need to be intoxicated to  feel as though you are having fun?  Is it not enough to be hanging out with friends, sharing jokes, and having a laugh?  If this really isn’t an option, then your better off practicing the first suggestion, but the first suggestion isn’t really ideal on a day -to- basis, when you might want to hang out with friends after a long day at work.   

It is said that there’s no safe limit to drink driving.  Even if you have one small measure of an alcoholic drink, several factors affect how soon it will pass through your system. These include your sex, your height and weight, and when you last ate, amongst other things.  If you have no choice but to drive home, then it is advised you avoid alcohol altogether.   In fact, this is very likely how some people get caught out – they have a drink thinking they’re within their safe limit, then, when caught, they find they are over that limit.

flikr0424 (Photo credit: flikr)

If these suggestions seem a little extreme or far-fetched, remember, a death or accident that happens as a result of drink-driving is also extreme.  Following these suggestions, one can enjoy a night out without ever upsetting the authorities – or their conscious.

Years ago PNDs used to be much more complex and tough to use – because of this they even became to target of jokes in many comedic films. Yet, they have since improved dramatically and are now designed for persons with both a terrible sense of direction and little to no technical understanding. Additionally, you no longer have to spend thousands of dollars for a PND – there are several lower cost, and even free, options for you to choose from.

In short, if you have a tendency to get lost around every new corner and during every unfamiliar road trip, there is likely a PND that will be helpful to you, even if you’re on a budget. Here’s a look at your options:

PNDs Installed into Your Car

These PNDs were the first ever made and are permanently fixed near the dashboard of your car. There are several advantages to this type of system:

1.Big Screen – These systems typically feature a large screen that is easy to glance at while you’re driving.

2.Voice – Many of these systems also have an audio component that tells you when and where to turn, allowing you to not even have to look at the map.

3.Customizable – Most of these systems allow you to set preferences and download specific maps and directions.

4.Easy to Use – Over the years these systems have been modified to become incredibly easy to program and use.

While these PNDs are very popular and great for road trips, they do have a couple of major cons to consider before you invest. Mainly, that you cant easily remove them from your car; they’re not portable. They also remain generally quite expensive.

Still, if the vast majority of your journeys involve your car and you can afford it, then a PND that is installed into your auto is likely your best bet.

Portable PNDs

Portable PNDs are becoming more and more popular. A younger generation of big, city dwellers find them particularly useful. These gadgets are typically very light (weighing merely ounces) and thus can be easily carried or thrown into a book bag or purse. There are several pros to these types of devices:

1.Portability – take it with you wherever you go

2.Limited Car Use – some of these PNDs can be used with your auto

3.Ideal for City Living – If you live in a huge metropolitan area, such as New York City, and walk to most places, you’ll likely find a portable PND a lifesaver when trying to find a new restaurant, office or event.

Likewise, there are cons to this type of device – mainly, you can’t easily use it while driving. Small screens make it difficult, if not dangerous, to use portable PNDs in your car. Another issue with some brands of this type of PND is the cost. Some hand held PNDs can cost in excess of $400, like the incredibly popular TomTom Portable GPS. While this type of system is very nice to own, some Americans, especially during these tough economic times, consider this device an over priced map.

These same Americans are considering a new and increasingly popular option in PNDs – turning your cell phone or smart phone into a PND. There are several free or inexpensive personal navigation applications you can download right on to your cell phone. This method is not as luxurious as having a TomTom, and the complex interface does make navigation difficult according to users. However, this method is unbeatably cost effective and offers ultimate portability.

Jessica Drew is a freelance writer and editor who blogs about a variety of money making topics such as personal finance, debt management and houses for sale by owner.

It is easy to put together an outdoor role play garage in your outdoor area. Young children in the EYFS and preschool love to play out familiar experiences and I was surprised just how much they knew about garages and mechanics when we recently had a discussion prompted by a child who is mad about cars.

Resources for an outdoor garage should include

1.       Tools for children to ‘fix’ the cars and vehicles that arrive to be mended

2.       Overalls in the form of waterproofs or old adult sized shirts

3.       Clipboards and pens to be used when ‘inspecting’ the vehicles

4.       Tea and coffee making equipment, cups etc for when the mechanics are on their break!

5.       Seating, magazines and plants in the waiting area

6.       A reception desk with a telephone, notepad, ordering forms, customer booking forms, pens and pencils etc

7.       Sets of old keys – real ones if possible as they are better than plastic play keys

8.       Nuts, bolts, screw and other toolbox staples – kids love junk to sift through

9.       Cloths that can be used as oil rags

10.   Timers and calculators for working out engineering problems and testing engines

11.   Cd player for music while they work

12.   Mats for children to lie down when changing wheels and inspecting lower parts of a car or bike

13.   Old tyres and other scrap  that is safe for children to touch and use

14.   Old mobile phones

15.   Signs written and made by the children or downloaded signs from sites like sparlkebox or twinkl

16.   Posters of cars, car magazines like auto trader

17.   A till or cashbox and money. Children are happiest when working with real money of course but smallest coins will do the job.

18.   Plastic bottles and brushes for touching up paintwork or oiling wheels and engines. Bottles can be filled with coloured water.

19.   Crates and planks to make ramps and inspection pits. Obviously supervise this closely as children may try to wheel and get under heavy outdoor bikes but this is a chance to have health and safety conversations and fill in a garage health and safety form of course.

20.   Toolboxes to take out on ‘breakdowns’

21.   Cars, scooters, bikes and other vehicles for the children to mend

As with any EYFS and preschool garage role play, children will bring a diverse range of knowledge and experience to the area. Some children will naturally take the lead. Observe who your leaders are in the garage role play and don’t be tempted to step in too early. If children have not naturally led you to this idea then think about taking a trip to a local garage (risk assess this first of course) and let the children see a real working environment. You may be able to make links with a local college to do this or maybe a parent will have a contact for you.

All areas of learning can be covered through role play in the EYFS. This article has given you some ideas on resourcing your outdoor imaginative play and I will be sharing ideas on how to develop literacy and numeracy skills in further posts.

Other Early Years topic theme Planning ideas

Windy Day planning ideas

Tiger who came to tea planning ideas 

Weather topic planning ideas for early years 

Science Maths Princess and the Pea planning ideas