Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Page 54

It’s three in the morning, you’re hungry,
and you still have a long drive ahead of
you. Fortunately, there’s a gas station
shop open, with bacon-wrapped hot-
dogs, chips and coffee on offer. If this is a
situation you can relate to, Jón Þór Hall-
dórsson may have served you. He’s been
working at the Shell station by Perlan
for about ten years now, and has spent a
number of those years (the exact number
is lost in a fog to him) on the night shift.
For him, the night shift is a joy.
"To be honest, people that come in
during the night are usually in a bet-
ter mood than during the day,” he says.
“It's more of a fun way to work. You can
play your music. You can almost get lost
in just doing something. But the people
that come during the night are usually
the best kind of customers you want."
Not like television
For Jón Þór, it’s the customers especially
that makes the night shift special.
"The people, and the personal free-
dom, are the best things about this job,”
he says. “Being alone most of the time,
it's a lot more relaxed than being on a
day shift. There's a bit more camaraderie
between people who are awake at this
hour than regular people."
Those with a deeper knowledge of Ice-
landic television may already be familiar
with this particular setting, thanks to
Jón Gnarr’s cringe-comedy sitcom Næ-
turvaktin, which is also set in a Shell
station shop (albeit a different one from
Jón Þór’s). For the record, if you were
thinking Næturvaktin reflected the
actual work of an Icelandic gas station
night shift, you may be disappointed (or
relieved), to learn that “it has some par-
allels with reality, but it's still fiction."
The most difficult part of working
night shift anywhere is how it messes
with your sense of time, and your mem-
ory.
"There've been so many strange expe-
riences,” Jón Þór says. “I'm having a hard
time recalling just one moment, because
it's all pretty weird most of the time. Ev-
ery now and then you might catch teen-
agers trying to steal from the shop, or
some super intoxicated person inside
the shop lying on the floor or something.
But night shifts are so weird in general,
that when something especially strange
happens, most of the time it’s not some-
thing you want to remember."
What year is it?
Despite his glowing review of working
the night shift, though, it’s not a position
Jón Þór would go back to.
"I don't really miss night shifts,” he
says. “Not being able to sleep is some-
thing I will never miss. I would be work-
ing a week on and a week off. Most of my
week off would be spent sleeping. And if
you don't sleep, you just don't meet any-
one that week. You're not going to go out
and get a beer at what is, for you, essen-
tially 10 o'clock in the morning."
HOUR OF THE WOLF
CITY SHOT by Varvara Lozenko
The Night Shift
Is Always Weird
Night shift at the gas station
Words:
Paul
Fontaine
Photo:
Varvara
Lozenko
West-Iceland
54 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2018
Birgir Örn Guðjónsson on duty
Not even being nine months pregnant will stop some
people from racing in Reykjavík's New Years Run
DON’T ASK NANNA
About Weird
Icelandic
Names
Words: Nanna Árnadóttir
Dear Nanna,
What’s the weirdest Icelandic name?
James
Dear James,
James? Your name is James? Hahaha, what
kind of name is that? Who names their kid
James? Wow, your mum must really hate
you, to give you a weird name like that.
Maybe when you get around to having a
kid of your own James, you’ll consider giv-
ing him or her a nice regular name like
Bergljót or Steingrímur.
Nanna

Dear Nanna,
We spent New Years Eve in Iceland and once
the clock struck midnight it was like being
in a war zone; you could feel thrum of the
explosions in your chest. It was amazing to
behold. I’ll never forget it. But I’m surprised
that there weren’t more safety regulations,
and that civilians had access to so many
dangerous and loud fireworks. Is half this
stuff even legal? Why isn’t the government
or Emergency Rescue Services stepping in to
regulate these fireworks?
Pyrotechnic
Dear FUN POLICE,
Why isn’t Emergency Rescue Services
stepping in to regulate these fireworks?
Because they’re the motherfuckers selling
us these fireworks and any businessman
will tell you that if there’s demand, you
should supply. It’s a perfect circle of de-
struction and salvation.
Best,
Nanna
Don't email: nanna@grapevine.is
Don't tweet at: @NannaArnadottir