Working the Nightshift at the Ramada

Ramada Inn’s brightly lit lobby with its glossy, tiled floors glows in Devonshire’s 10 p.m. darkness. It may uplift or revitalize the average passerby. But it by no means symbolizes the work being done.
 
Quiana Fenty is tired. Her fatigue is almost palpable. She speaks wearily and slurs her words slightly while sometimes cracking a bashful grin.
 
Fenty had been handling check-ins and checkouts since last August.
 
“It’s a lot different. It’s a lot slower,” she says, comparing it to day work.

Bianca Medina, 35, also works Ramada's nightshift. She has been employed at the Ramada since June. 

Fenty works only once a week. This allows her to keep in touch with friends and family. But this one-nightshift-a-week schedule poses the hardship of a nightshift preceding a dayshift.
 
“It’s really tiring,” Fenty says.
 
The 25-year-old currently attends Pierce College and pursues a degree in Nursing. So her situation is compounded by her schoolwork.
 
The nightshift has also impacted her diet. Fenty seldom eats during her nightshift and never has time to do so before school resumes that morning. She usually sleeps for five to six hours.
 
When Fenty does eat during her nightshift, her snacks consist of fruits.
 
“Whatever keeps me awake,” she says.
 
The fatigue of a nightshift never hampers her work performance. This is because her responsibilities, if any, are straightforward.
 
“Wait for guests to come in. That’s about it,” Fenty says.
 
She is quick to agree that she’d prefer the dayshift. One of her most trying challenges is persevering through the nightshift boredom.

But Fenty never foresaw the toll it takes on her energy.
 
“I thought it would be easier,” she says.
 
“But I’m really, like, tired during the day.”
 
Fenty works from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and attends school from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., leaving her with about five hours of sleep. She shares that this leaves her struggling to focus in class.
 
“I have school the next day. So it’s probably gonna be really hard to pay attention," she says.
 
Yet, Fenty disagrees that taking on school and work has reduced her grades.
    
Innumerable amounts of reporting and research has spotlighted the health impact of working nightshifts. But much of it, such as a study from the American Journal of Epidemiology, has focused on nursing.

And Fenty is unfazed about these perils since she only works one nightshift a week.  
 
But her father, who once worked nightshifts at LAX, has been concerned by the difficulty of working nightshifts.
 
“He doesn't want me to work this shift. Nobody does,” says Fenty, who is not eligible for health benefits because of her part-time status.
   
When not at school or the Ramada, Fenty plays basketball. She also coaches it at South Pasadena High School, but for meager pay.
 
Her life goals consist of someday graduating and landing a job in nursing.
 
Meet, Bianca Medina, 35, also works Ramada's nightshift.

On this Tuesday night, she’s been working the front desk since 11 p.m.

Medina isn't new to nightshifts. She once assisted an assembly line at a BMW plant in South Carolina.
 
So unlike Fenty, she is hard-pressed when trying to pinpoint any unforeseen challenges from working the Ramada's nightshift.

Nonetheless, she finds resuming work after time off is hard. Medina struggles to readjust to nightshifts after a few days off. Tonight, it is her first shift in three days.
   
“So it’s probably gonna be a bit rough,” Medina says.
 
But she remains confident that she will readjust.
 
Nightshifts have affected her diet too. Medina never feels hungry at night and sleeps during the day. So she’s left eating only two times a day, rather than three.

Medina eats one meal before her five-hour sleep and the other two hours after she awakes.
 
But her daily regimen involves no more than just eating and sleeping. Before Medina gets her shuteye in the morning after work, she takes her son to school. After Medina awakes, she returns to school to pick up her son. And before long, it's back to the grind.
 
“So I don’t sleep very well,” she says.
 
Medina declines the company’s health programs for cost reasons, yet enjoys their dental coverage.
 
Medina also disagrees that working the night while fatigued has impacted her performance. She attributes her resilience to her history working at night.
 
The work never derails her social life. Medina remains in touch with friends and family. And Medina declines to change her hours.

“I have my son. And I have to take care of him," she says.
 
For Medina, the best part of the working nightshifts  is the calm atmosphere.

“The bad thing is just staying awake,” she says.
 
She has also been informed about nightshifts’ health dangers. Medina explains how the brains, but not the heart, can adjust to the irregular pattern.

“That’s the only thing I think about,” she says.
 
Medina offers some levity. She jokes that the only other health issue would be calling her during her sleep.
 
“That would be very stressful,” she says with a laugh.

But the Ramada, as a whole, has encountered its own problems that simply come down to its location.

The hotel is flanked by two bars. One is the neighboring McG's Irish Pub & Grill. The other is inside the Ramada as an offered amenity.

To make matters worse, the Ramada's bar and its lobby are linked by a short hallway that enables inebriates to totter in, especially on weekends.
    
“Totally different people,” Medina says.
 
But some issues occur on weekdays too. Tonight, a set of the lobby's double-doors at its end of the hallway are latched shut with a sturdy, wooden stick though each of the handles
 
Medina sometimes feels sympathetic for inebriated guests.
 
“Believe me. I understand that everyone has a bad day,” she says.
     
Yet, Medina mentions that customers who disrespect her or other patrons, have forced her to call the cops. However, her calls turned out fruitless.
        
“I have called the police, but the police in Chatsworth are terrible,” she says.
 
Medina recalls an incident that involved those she thinks were gangsters.
 
“Three hours, four hours passed. They never showed,” she says.
 
The cops finally responded, but with only a 6 a.m. follow-up phone call. The Ramada has since resorted to private security.
     
Medina’s hobbies revolve around her son. Medina practices baseball and soccer with him.
   
She sets one of her goals in life as seeing her 7-year-old recover from what she repeatedly calls a “condition." Medina seems to prefer not explaining further.
 
“I don’t wanna be doing this all my life, you know. Probably go back to school. But right now, I’m a little bit stuck,” she says.