While you were sleeping
Homewood may not be the city that never sleeps, but it is kept running in part by the people who start their days when the sun has gone down.
From garbage collectors and road crews to doctors and security officers, night-shift and early-morning work is unseen but makes the day smoother for residents whose alarm clocks are going off as night-shift employees are going to bed.
This is a look at some of the night owls and early birds who work outside the 9-to-5.
Officer Mike Jeffcoat describes his partner at Homewood Police Department as a toddler. It’s not an insult — Jeffcoat is the night shift K-9 handler for HPD, and his partner is a 6-year-old Czech shepherd named Shiloh. Like a small child, Shiloh can’t talk, needs frequent bathroom breaks and loves to play with his toys.
Jeffcoat and Shiloh have been partners for about six months, so they’re still building their working relationship. But there’s already a lot of trust and affection. When Jeffcoat leaves his car, Shiloh’s eyes never leave him, and he whines or barks to rejoin his handler. The keys to Jeffcoat’s police vehicle have a miniature dog toy on the keychain, identical to a larger one that Shiloh chews while on patrol.
“We’re still a pretty young team. We have a good bond but it’s almost like any other relationship — it takes time to kind of feel each other out, to totally trust each other,” Jeffcoat said, noting that Shiloh has been a police dog for about four years. “He’s basically been training me.”
Jeffcoat’s shift starts about 10 p.m. and lasts about seven hours, with an additional hour of taking care of Shiloh’s needs. He starts the night with obedience drills and games for Shiloh, so his canine partner can let out a little energy and get him in the mood to work. They end the night similarly, usually with a game of fetch in one of the city parks.
Night shift, Jeffcoat said, is a whole different ballgame than day shift for police officers. Usually, he and Shiloh are a “roving unit” that travels throughout the city checking businesses for signs of burglary, making traffic stops and assisting officers on other calls. The night is usually when they see “heavier crime,” Jeffcoat said, and merely his presence patrolling commercial and residential areas can help deter crime.
“There’s an old saying, ‘Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.,’ and working this job I can attest to that. We see a lot more of violent crime at night, a lot more of, I guess, crimes against persons is the best way to put it, and more alcohol-involved situations,” he said.
Shiloh is one of three dogs at HPD trained in tracking, apprehension and narcotics detection. He only has been called to use his apprehension skills once while they’ve been a team, Jeffcoat said, but Shiloh’s nose is put to use every week. Because of the frequency of narcotics finds, Jeffcoat said he has to constantly keep up Shiloh’s training.
“These guys find narcotics on a regular basis. Apprehensions are few and far between, but when it does get to that point, they save property and may save lives,” he said.
While the job has its exciting moments, a lot of their time is spent slowly driving through parking lots, looking for the telltale signs of a broken window or unlocked door. As they work, Jeffcoat has to remember when his four-legged partner needs a break from the car. Though he can’t talk, Shiloh has learned to use his feet to make a lot of noise when he wants a break — or if a park is nearby, and he wants to play.
There are hard parts to working the overnight shift, including the more serious crimes. Every time he does a traffic stop, Jeffcoat said he never knows what to expect.
“The biggest challenge in law enforcement on any shift,” Jeffcoat said, “the person in that call that you’re going to, they know their intentions. They know if they have weapons; they know if they plan on dying tonight or killing somebody tonight, or they’re not going to jail, whatever. We don’t know if we’re walking up to grandma just speeding to church or if we’re walking into a hardened criminal.”
It also takes some adjustment for his wife and young children, who get home when he is waking up. Jeffcoat said he has to plan events in the afternoons, between waking up and going to work, or make the decision to skip his sleep if a family event happens in the morning.
“It’s not easy. I wouldn’t say that because there’s always concessions,” he said.
But night shift suits his personality so much that Jeffcoat has chosen to stay there for most of the past seven years.
“There are some plus sides. Less traffic — if we need to get to a hot call or get to an officer to help an officer, we can get there quicker. There’s less danger because there’s less traffic, less citizens out,” Jeffcoat said. “If you’re going to enforce traffic, it’s easier to do it with 100 cars on the road than 1,000 cars on the road.”
Plus, fewer calls at night mean he has more time for patrolling and seeking out potential criminal activity, which he prefers.
“It’s never been a challenge or a chore to me,” he said. “And you get to meet interesting people at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday.”
As Jeffcoat and Shiloh are finishing their last game of fetch and heading home, the employees of Holler & Dash on 18th Street are on their way to work.
General Manager Brandon Rogers and his crew arrive between 5:45 and 6 a.m. to prepare for the restaurant’s 7 a.m. opening. He gets to see the sunrise as he drives through a mostly empty city.
“You also get to see what places look like before they wake up,” Rogers said. “Homewood is very quiet. If you really take the time to look at all the architecture in the buildings and the businesses, it’s really, really cool to see the weird, diverse mixture here.”
Before Holler & Dash opens, the crew begins making everything from biscuits and fried chicken to grits and gravy, so it can be ready for the morning customers. They’ll continue cooking until the restaurant closes at 2 p.m., then clean up and head home. Rogers said after a few weeks’ adjustment, the early morning shift isn’t too difficult.
“The morning shift, it takes some getting used to, but it’s actually really great to get up early, get your day started and feel productive,” he said. “I’ve never been a 9-to-5 type of person. I get too restless.”
Like Jeffcoat, Rogers said his family has to adjust and he can’t be part of any late-night plans. But he enjoys the energy of the restaurant in the mornings and the music they sometimes play to help wake up.
Jackie “Brown” Evans, Holler & Dash’s biscuit chef, has been with the restaurant since it opened in the spring. It’s the first time she’s worked a consistently early job. She said it took her some time to adjust, but she said she enjoys that it’s peaceful in the mornings and the work that goes into every batch of the hundreds of biscuits she makes per day.
The secret to good biscuits: “To be firm yet gentle. Everything has a precise amount of measurement, but it’s also the feeling and the texture of the dough,” Evans said. “This is like my favorite thing to do.”
Evans said that between her job and her daughter, she doesn’t frequently go out after work. Sometimes, she sacrifices sleep for her art and stand-up performances. Other days she reaches home and is asleep nearly immediately.
“You’re kind of on everybody else’s schedule because everybody usually is on 8-to-5, so by the time you get off work, they’re still working,” Evans said.
For some people, the early start to their day actually works better. Bria Robinson is a UAB student and works in both the kitchen and the front of Holler & Dash. Leaving work in the early afternoon fits her school schedule and makes it easy to see friends. She said it’s no more challenging than a 9-to-5 shift would be.
“No one is awake at this time of the day, and I get off at 3, so when I’m getting off is when people my age are usually starting to do things,” Robinson said. “You just go get it done.”
To work odd hours, Robinson said it takes extra energy and positivity to be successful. But when that happens, Rogers said Holler & Dash feels more like a family.
“We have a really good time,” he said.