The Strange Ones

3am It's a Friday night.
We've noticed a trend.
Anna always wants to eat after work.
Anita always wants a drink.

We stop at the 7-Eleven in Times Square.
This nice couple keep the place spotless. For real.
And they tell us numerous times how much they love working there overnight every night.
Maybe they thought we were from corporate.

Anna buys some sort of beef jerky thing.

But she is very very tempted to buy these delicious-looking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with pressed sides.
It's obvious a lot of care was put into making these packaged sandwiches.
Like everything in this 7-Eleven, we decide.


Next stop is Les Enfants Terribles, a sultry bar on the Lower East Side that's full of sweaty ex-pats.
It's the perfect place for us night shift people to hang out. They stay open late and the atmosphere encourages off-kilter behavior.

This is our co-worker Daniel dancing with a woman from Sweden who works for the W hotel.
We goaded her to dance by repeatedly yelling "Go Sweden".
She seemed to like the attention.



This guy kept making us clap our hands in some bizarre rhythm and when we missed a beat, he would throw his arms up in disgust and demand that we start over.
It was making us competitive and nervous.
He said he was European but Sweden spilled the beans when she told us he was actually from Philly.

Almost 5 am.
Anna is sober.


Anita is not.