As Mary Connolly busily makes drinks, she also dances and sings along with the music that is playing in the bar. Although she is exhausted from school, she has to entertain her customers. The friendlier she is, the bigger the tips.

Connolly, a communications major, bartends at the North Beach bar Impala and waits tables at Mel’s Drive In, all while taking 16 units.

“I will be taking 20 by the end of the semester,” said Connolly. “I have always worked that much. I started waiting tables when I was 16.”

Many students are forced to work late-night hours in order to pay for the high cost of living in the Bay Area. While the pay is good, their health is paying the price for it all.

According to The National Cancer Research, working graveyard shifts may actually shorten your lifespan. Breast cancer increased among those who worked during the night when metabolism levels increase.

Although there might be health risks, the pay is good.

Connolly typically pulls more than $250 a night bartending, but very rarely gets a good night’s sleep. She often works from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m. and will sleep for about three hours. She compensates for missed sleep by taking naps throughout the day.

Erika Downs, 26, has also suffered the effects of pulling a graveyard shift.

“You lose weight because your body’s metabolism is adjusting,” said Downs, who also works at Mel’s. “You become pale and have dark circles under your eyes.”

The drain on her body began to take an emotional and physical toll.

“All you do is work and sleep,” Downs said. “You can’t see the daytime so you get depressed and you can’t eat; you have no social life.”

When Downs first started working at the diner, she was stuck with the weekend graveyard shift, which starts at 9 p.m. and ends around 6 a.m.

As soon as the bars closed, around 2 a.m., the restaurant would fill up with individuals who had reached full intoxication.

One of the more unpleasant duties of a late-night Mel’s employee is grabbing a bucket when a customer looks sick.

“Drunk people are rude,” said Downs. “They don’t care if they throw up, they’re trashed.”
Another downfall of working at an all-night diner is the readily available jukebox.

“Drunk people always sing,” Downs said. “It’s horrible.”

Hospitality management major David Christianson, 21, also worked late at Mel’s Diner for about six months when the pressure became too much and he had to cut out the unforgiving shift.

“My grades started slipping,” said Christianson. “It was too hard to switch back to go to school during the week.”

Although he met some interesting people such as a few porn stars, and even a Backstreet Boy, he was forced to find a new job with better hours.

Waiting tables are not the only all-night jobs. Students in a variety of jobs are often expected to work through the night.

Sophomore nursing student Elyse Harthorn works at American Eagle and has to work all night long when the store is preparing for a new floor set.

“It really screws up my body clock,” Harthorn said. “I get so used to working during the day and sleeping through the night that when I have to change my routine I end up wiped the next day and all I want to do is sleep.”

The hours flip Harthorn’s schedule upside down and make it impossible for her to get sleep and finish homework.

“I don’t really like working late hours, but these are just some of the sacrifices we have to make as working students,” Harthorn said.