Here’s what one of my routine night shifts looks like, just to give you an idea of what it involves — the order of meals, patrols, and when and how much coffee I drink during each night shift, to be exact, every night.
I start work at 10 PM. First, I check the computer to see how many guests are currently staying and how many new ones have arrived. I also check their birth years, because the most problematic ones are usually between 18 and 28 years old — although there have been older guests who were even worse than the younger ones, but that’s rare.
Then I gear up with my self-defense equipment: a strong flashlight with strobe light, pepper spray, and a stun gun.
After that, I patrol the campsite and the area around the hotel. Then I return to my office, where I have access to the security cameras — the most important one being the view of the entrance to the campsite and hotel. That stays on the screen the whole night, until I go home at 6 in the morning.
After the patrol, I eat a sandwich or pastry I usually buy on the way to work from a nearby bakery. Then I make a coffee — about half a liter — and that keeps me going until morning. Sometimes I’ll also make a green tea in between.
Then I grab my coffee, play a movie on my phone, and watch that while also keeping an eye on the camera feed on the computer. During that time, I usually have a protein yogurt, and later around 3 AM, after I do a light workout (a walk and some exercises with a resistance band), I drink another protein shake. I bring two bottles with me every night.
Of course, I always bring a thermos bottle of cold water, which quickly wakes me up, and mosquito repellent because there are so many of them. At the entrance to the reception, I light a mosquito coil, and I spray my arms and neck with mosquito spray—otherwise, they'd eat me alive, haha!
I also carry menthol candies with me — when I feel a bit of insomnia kicking in, they somehow wake me up. Probably just a placebo effect, but they help me stay alert.
Around 5 AM I eat a banana to get a little vitamin boost, and then I wash all the dishes so everything is clean for the morning shift. I turn off all the lights except for the main one in front of the reception, drop off the key at the hotel, and slowly head home.
And so it goes, day after day, always the same — just like the movie Groundhog Day, haha.
