When I used to work at Hewitt, I would pull some really late nights, and I mean LATE nights. If it was a 'prod load' night, I could be there until 1 or 2am. There were times I just stayed the night. Those days could be really draining and leave you feeling quite exhausted!
One evening I was pulling one of these late night shifts and it had been an intense night with lots of issues and many "fires" to put out. I ended up leaving work around 1:30 in the morning and I was totally beat. I worked in Lincolnshire, IL and had to commute home to Kenosha, WI which was about a 45 minute drive or so. I was driving with the window down most of the way, so the cold blast of air would keep me awake. I drifted a few times, but I managed to keep myself pretty alert. I was doing really well!
I made it all the way to my exit and I was only a few turns from home. I approached a red turn light and put my blinker on to indicate my turn. It was a little after 2 in the morning by this time. As I was waiting for the light to turn green, I leaned my head against the window, just because I was so tired...it felt like my head was a million pounds.
Next thing I know I hear tapping on my window...tap, tap, tap...tap, tap, tap...tap, tap, tap....and I finally came to and realize there was a police officer with a flash light streaming into my window and tapping on my window with a night stick. I was so confused. I realized I had drool streaming down one side of my face. What had happened?? I was kind of dazed. I rolled down my window and asked the officer "what's going on?" He replies "do you know how long you've been sitting here?" I had no idea what he was talking about, I was just waiting for my green light. So I replied "I was just waiting for the light to change officer." He chuckled a bit and he said "are you trying to tell me in the last 2 hours that light didn't turn green?" Two hours?! What?? I looked at the clock in my car and there is was "4:15am". Holy crap! I fell asleep with my foot on the break, turn signal on, and my head against the window! He had said he circled a few times in the last couple of hours and noticed I had just been sitting there.
I didn't even know what to tell the officer. I just said "I don't know how that happened officer, I had a long night at work, and I was exhausted. I guess I must have nodded off when I leaned my head on the window." He raised the flash light to my eyes and was staring me down. He said "Ma'am, are you drunk? Have you had a little too much this evening?" I exclaimed "no! I really did work very late, I can give you some co-workers to call and verify, really officer! I'm not drunk!" He asked me to get out of the car and go through a few sobriety checks. My balance wasn't the greatest (but that's because I'm me, not because I was drunk!). I managed to convince him that I wasn't drunk and that I really did fall asleep from pure exhaustion.
He was very concerned about my ability to make it home, but I told him I only lived a few more minutes away and I was wide awake now! He insisted on escorting me home and followed me until I got to my apartment complex and parked my car. As I got out of the car and grabbed my stuff to go inside, he rolled down his window and said "next time you might not be so lucky and your foot will slip off the break, it's a damn miracle that didn't happen! I suggest you either move next door to your work or find yourself a new job!" Words of wisdom officer.
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