Working the Closing Shift

I saw a Tik Tok the other day where a girl described the walk through she does of her apartment each night, calling it the “closing shift”, and I realized I do the exact same thing.

Each night, after I turn the television off and start making my way to bed, I walk around my apartment, looking for things out of place.

When I worked in retail, the closing shift was in charge of clearing the cash registers, cleaning the fitting rooms, and folding and reorganizing the clothes on the sales floor.

When I worked the closing shift, I liked to move from the front of the store to the back, methodically checking off each rack as I restored it to perfection. These late-night shifts are the reason I still fold my shirts with perfect creases, and my jeans as if there are size tags needing to be visible.

In my apartment, I like when all the dishes are done. When there is nothing on the stove or in the sink, and only a few things on the drying rack for me to put away in the morning.

I plug in my computer to charge, putting it beside my notebook, glasses and Air Pods.

I put the TV remote in the center of the coffee table next to my journal, devotional and Bible.

I put my shoes away and hang up any stray clothes. I collect my sunglasses, keys, and anything else that belongs in my purse that might have spread out during the day and tuck it back into its place.

I arrange the throw pillows and my favorite blanket on the couch.

I clear off the counter in my bathroom and put all my jewelry back in its tray.

I shut the blinds and double lock the door, and I turn off all the lights.

In retail, you leave the store the way you want the customers to find it the next day. You leave the morning shift workers with no extra chores before they open the store and turn on the music. You give the day a fresh start.

In my apartment, the only customer is me, but in doing my work on the closing shift, I give my morning self a better chance at starting the day right.

Who knows how I might sleep? Maybe I’ll wake up in a bad mood or with a weird pain in my neck. But I’ll know everything is in the right place, and that I can move through the morning half awake, and come home in the afternoon and decompress without having to do any cleaning in between.

Maybe I am a little neurotic walking around at 11:00pm inching notebooks into the right place or zipping up every pocket of my purse.

But it’s worth it to make the customer happy. It’s worth it to give tomorrow its best shot at a good day.