Mike Causey

Salute to the Graveyard Shift

While most of us are sleeping soundly in our beds, a lot of people - police, firefighters, utility workers and national security types - are on the job so that ...

Federal News Network Staff

June 16, 2008 4:00 am

3 min read

“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” George Orwell.

Last Friday was not a TGIF day for yours truly. At least it didn’t start out that way.

I got a call at 4:48 in the morning from our associate producer, Ruben Gomez,at WFED. He couldn’t find the 60 second sound spot I record each day for the next day. The spot is played hourly on WFED and once in prime time traffic drive time by our big sister station WTOP.

Normally I record the spot, which is a teaser designed to bring folks like you to read the column, before noon. But studio space was hard to find Friday so I did it at a microphone in a cubicle and the sound disappeared. So I had to come before the crack of dawn to voice a 60 second spot.

Bottom line: Friday started out as a #)@*#*!!@#* day instead of TGIF. But it got better.

On the way to work I passed a very bad accident. If you know the DC area it was on Little Falls Parkway between Massachusetts Avenue and River Road. The parkway was blocked off and a half dozen or so fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. Probably saving somebody’s life.

At that point I felt a little guilty because I had been feeling sorry for myself.

Further down Massachusetts avenue, heading toward my rendezvous with a microphone, I came across a power crew working in the Woodley Park section of DC. That’s home to some of the area’s major players. Richard Nixon had a home there before he became president. A couple of astronauts live there now. Oh, and it has a Crate and Barrel store to die for.

Anyhow, the power crew folks were up on poles, in trees, and down in a sewer working away. We’ve had lots of rain here, and heat, and it has done some damage to the 140,000 street-side trees in DC plus the many more in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Trees fall down, with age, because of lightning or are toppled by winds. When they do PEPCO (Potomac Electric Power Company) and VEPCO (Virginia Electric Power Company) come to the rescue.

A friend in Annandale, Va., says she was without power last week until an emergency crew from South Carolina showed up to move trees and restore power. In true Southern style they knocked on every door and asked people if they were okay. I got the same treatment a couple of years back when a mini-tornado came through my neighborhood cutting power for almost a week. We were rescued by a crew from Georgia who made things right and asked each house if we needed food, water, etc.

By now I was feeling guilty for sleeping until 7 a.m. every day.

Almost at the radio station, I passed a Department of Homeland Security facility. The parking lot was about half full. People were coming and going.

For an allegedly 9 to 5 white collar area, DC has lots of night workers. And emergency teams who are on call 24/7. Lots of them are feds. Many of them work for local governments, or utilities. People we seldom see or hear about, but they are out there.

So, my short drive time was a learning curve. I went from woe-is-me to lucky me! I rarely get an emergency call that interrupts my increasingly badly-needed beauty sleep. But it made me realize that even as I sleep the sleep of the innocent (most nights) there are lots of tough, dedicated and sometimes very brave people who are watching over the likes of me. And you.

Good job nightside.

Nearly Useless Factoid

A new study finds that Friday the 13th is actually safer than other Fridays. Insurers received fewer reports of accidents, fires, and thefts. All this in the findings of the study by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics. And now you know why this is nearly useless.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com