THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603300086
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
THE DAYLIGHT work-a-day world is hustle and hurry, a breathless Tower of Babel surrounded by patience-testing traffic.
The night people are divorced from that lifestyle. Claiming incompatibility, they wed themselves to the relatively lighthearted world of darkness, peacefulness, friendliness.
``Night people are more relaxed, not in a rush. I like night work,'' said Debbie Pippins of Windsor. ``During the day, everybody's busier and more uptight.''
During the day, she takes care of her four children while her husband works at Newport News Shipbuilding. From 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., she works at Sentry Food Mart No. 8, the bustling Pruden Boulevard truck stop where truckers sometimes mix with the good-time crowd.
``Many of our customers are the bar people,'' Pippins said. ``Bars close about 2. They come here for breakfast.''
Weekends, as might be expected, are busiest where food is concerned.
``People come out of the bars, then come here,'' said Tina Benton, who spends her nights working at the Red Apple, a full-service restaurant on Carolina Road. ``Saturdays, the Moose Lodge people are here from 12:30 to 4:30.''
For such visitors, night life is a lark, but they still may consider it a dangerous time to be earning a living.
``Aren't you afraid?''
``Never,'' Pippins said. She grinned and talked about the customers/friends who help make her feel secure.
``Some of the truckers are crazy,'' she said, ``but they're harmless.''
The feeling is the same a few miles down the road, at the Red Apple. ``I like my truck drivers, my night haulers,'' Benton said. ``I'll only work the night shift. I like all the people better.''
Evelyn Simpson, a cashier at Food Lion on Pruden Boulevard, echoes Pippins and Benton. ``We have baggers and customers in the store, a clean-up crew and a regular run of customers, so I feel comfortable at night.''
Some people work nights for the most practical reason. They save money as they earn.
``I have five kids. My husband takes `em at night - saves paying baby sitters,'' Benton said.
``I can baby-sit during the day,'' Simpson said. ``And, I like working nights.''
Night people seem enthusiastic about their lifestyle, preferring moon and stars over sunlight.
Buddy Jones, Red Apple night manager, puts it bluntly: ``I hate mornings.''
``I prefer nights over days. Nights are quieter, cooler. There are less people, so you get more done,'' he said, while alternating between scrubbing and sweeping.
Every night is a work night for Joseph White of Norfolk, who helps keep some area supermarkets spotless. Seven nights a week, he moves his cleaning equipment from one store to another, to make those floors shine.
``I don't have any time off,'' said the soft-spoken White. ``That don't bother me. I do three stores in one night. I prefer nights. It gives me something to do in the quiet. I sleep better during the day.''
Sleep is something Simpson said she can do without.
She works nights, baby-sits days, fixes supper for the family, watches a little television, helps her father, rehearses with the church choir once a week, washes, irons, vacuums, does the laundry.
``I sit in a chair and nod. If I get a good nod, I'm fine,'' said Simpson, 58. ``I don't feel tired.''
Truckers allegedly feel tired after 10 hours on the road. A federal law requires they take an eight-hour break.
``I sleep in the cab,'' said Tony White, a night driver for H&W Transport Co. of Elizabeth City. ``I like nights - less traffic, less cops, less inspections.''
He and Charles Spruill, a trucker for the same company, which covers 48 states, make Sentry Food Mart No. 8 a regular stop.
A trucker at Red Apple, preferring anonymity, said he likes night driving but usually does not follow the ``sleep for eight hours rule.''
Many truckers who do go by the rules follow a routine. They park in front of a truck stop, get a sandwich, sleep in the cab, come in and get breakfast, then take off down the road.
Debbie Cullipher parks her vehicle next to Red Apple, where she works, eventually going from waiting tables to waiting for children.
When she finishes her job, at sunrise, she gets behind the wheel of the school bus and makes the schoolchildren rounds.
Maurice Milteer makes the rounds on behalf of his company, Try Me Amusements, on Pitchkettle Road.
``I head out in all directions. Every night, I'm somewhere servicing the machines when they break down,'' he said, referring to his games and games of chance machines. ``I usually start at 5 after I finish my day job.
``One night I'm in Murfreesboro and Hampton - next night, Petersburg,'' Milteer said. ``I own 300 machines. I never sleep. It don't bother me. It's a mental thing.''
Some people could sleep after work, but they would rather play.
These are the night people pool shooters, some of whom meet, regularly, at Red Apple.
``They're off their jobs at 2, here at 2:30,'' Benton said.
Kevin Holland exits the cab of his pickup, carrying his cased cue stick.
``I stay about an hour,'' he said, ``or, sometimes, till the sun comes up. Sleep? What's sleep?''
Holland and four or five of his buddies from Amadas Industries often stay long enough to eat breakfast at Red Apple.
``I sleep when I can,'' said Steve Johnson, an Amadas employee who is also a volunteer fireman in Whaleyville and downtown Suffolk. ``I got to beat all these guys.''
Some guys exit the Ford plant at 4 a.m., ``then,'' Jones said, ``they come here for pool.''
Some night people help see to it that all is right with the world.
A few police officers, dispatchers and magistrates are among those who pull their eight hours after dark.
``I'm pretty bored tonight,'' said Jean Smith, a Suffolk Police Department dispatcher, ``but some nights are really bustling. Traffic details, storms and other bad weather mean a lot more wrecks. But some nights, like this one, we sit and talk, share a lot of personal things.
``At night, there's no one in the building. The brass isn't here. There are no administrative calls,'' she said. ``It's quiet, peaceful.''
The night people like it that way. They are less than thrilled about daylight, preferring the quiet, the solitude of after dark.
Many of them do not even seem to care about sleep, even during the day.
Patiently, they wait for the sun to go down, coming alive when most of us are sleeping. It's a different world. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover by MICHAEL KESTNER
Charles Spruill, left, and Tony White are ready for a night of
driving after loading up on fuel...
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
The Red Apple on Carolina Road is a popular place with truck
drivers.
Tina Benton, left, writes up a customer's check while Buddy Jones
mops the floor at the Red Apple.
Evelyn Simpson, a cashier at Food Lion on Pruden Boulevard, cleans a
counter during a lull at work.
Patricia Harrell, night cook at the Red Apple Restaurant, takes an
order from a waitress.
``Night people are more relaxed, not in a rush,'' says Debbie
Pippins, a clerk at Sentry Food Mart.
by CNB