Bloomington 24/7

During the day, Bloomington buzzes with activity. Cars zip along the roads, people run errands and students slog to classes. In the evening, people slow down and return home, eat dinner and go to bed. The buzz quiets down to a hum.\nBut that hum is pretty significant. \nAll over Bloomington, all night long, the night owls are running their errands, going out to eat, renting movies and working. And those third shifters and midnight runners are a rare breed. For them, life goes on after the sun goes down.\nIt doesn't matter if it's a weeknight or if it's the weekend -- Bloomington is the city that doesn't sleep. \nBloomington resident Scott Currie works the third shift full time at the Mac's gas station at the corner of College Avenue and Seventeenth Street.\nSo what kinds of people come to the shop at 4 a.m.?\n"Madmen and lunatics," Currie said, laughing. "And are there drunks? Of course. This is Bloomington. It's inevitable. It's going to happen."\nBut Currie said trouble is a rarity. In his time at the gas station, he's never seen anything too crazy.\n"Most people stagger in, grab something and get home, especially if the cops are out. They just want to get out before any nonsense happens," Currie said.\nBut he also scoffs at those who see the third shift as something an unlucky worker must work.\n"It's not getting stuck with it," he said, "it's getting stuck on it. I get to sleep all day, and I get to see all these angry people going to work as I'm on my way home. It's a vindictive little trip," he said with a laugh. "I love it."\nJunior Kat McGlone is one of those who appreciate the availability of Bloomington's 24-hour stores. \n"Tonight, for example, I'm going to deposit my paycheck, I'm going to Wal-Mart to buy toilet paper and then I'm going to get groceries," she said at midnight. "I've even become friends with a late-night cashier at Marsh because I'm in there so often."\nMcGlone does her shopping so late because she is, by her approximation, nocturnal. It's both a preference and a biological issue.\n"I've always been a night owl. I like being up at night; it's dark and only cool people are awake," McGlone said with a smile.\nFor those cool people who are up all night, the middle of the night necessitates some munchies. And the choices are few but elite: Waffle House and Steak 'n' Shake. For many midnight munchers, Angela Maloney is a familiar face.\nMaloney is a trainer and server at the Steak 'n' Shake on College Avenue. She's been there for a year and a half, and has worked third shift the entire time. Her experience can be easily summed up.\n"It gets wild," she said, laughing. \nMaloney works the weekend third shift, which means that she sees more than her fair share of Bloomington's antics. But that doesn't deter her -- Maloney loves her job.\n"It's a blast -- so interesting. There's never a dull moment," she said. "College kids come in, and they're having a good time. Some get a little crazy, but you just have to take control. Little 5 will be a trip. Halloween was unbelievable."\nAnnie O'Conner, a third-shift server and Maloney's weekend sidekick, worked Halloween with Maloney.\n"Oh, man. On Halloween, there were people falling asleep in booths, people passing out all over the place," O'Conner said.\nBut Maloney and O'Conner run a tight ship.\n"Oh, we've whipped-creamed people, we've poured water on them. If they get sick, they clean it up," Maloney said. "I'm a server, not a mother. We have a lot of fun, but we keep things under control."\nThe fun moments are the ones the O'Conner appreciates.\n"We get regulars, people who come in to see us," O'Conner said. "We've been sung to. Some pledges for a frat had to come in and sing 'You've Lost that Loving Feeling' to us and videotape it."\nCVS on the corner of U.S. 45/46 and Third Street sees more than its fair share of late-night action, but it's not the usual kind. CVS has Bloomington's only 24-hour photo lab.\n"People leave the bars with a camera, drop it off and come get it the next day," said Chris Clock, the district category specialist for photo processing. \nBut does processing party pictures ever get old? \n"Never!" said Clock.\nCVS stays busy until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. every night, said Mark Brashier, store manager. Brashier said that the store cannot legally sell alcohol from 3 a.m. until 7 a.m., so business tapers off once the store stops selling it. \nBut this last week was a particularly busy one for the store, primarily because so many people were bringing in spring break photos.\n"We're telling people to come get their pictures at 3 in the morning, and they're fine with it," Brashier said.\nSo after a night owl has had a milkshake and some cheese fries and had their film developed, they're going to go home, right? Nope. \nDave Deboer, store manager at Top Ten Video on Walnut Avenue, said that the store is busy every night between midnight and 2 a.m. As far as he knows, Deboer said, Top Ten is open the latest of all the video stores in Bloomington.\n"People go out to the bars, go home, get bored and decide to rent a movie," Deboer said. "I'm assuming, but that seems likely."\nAnd late night movies seem to be a weeknight phenomenon as well, Deboer said. \n"Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday, it's always the same after 10 or 11."\nBut Deboer is also on the consumer end of late-night Bloomington, as he often does his grocery shopping after his late shift.\n"People make me stay up late so I like to keep other people up later," he said with a laugh. \nSmall-hour grocery shopping, anymore, is just common, even for junior Dane Lantz and sophomore Sydney Craig.\n"You don't really get to shopping during the day when you're a student," Lantz said at 2:30 a.m. at the Kroger on Second Street.\n"Yeah, we're hardcore 3 a.m. shoppers," Craig added.\nBoth are art students in the printmaking program and they have keys to the studio, so they're often there late. They said that while they often do their daily grocery shopping late at night, sometimes they have to make last minute "craving runs." That night, they were buying vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. \nWhile Bloomington may not be New York City, in this town, sleep is optional. And if you're ever up at 4 a.m. and have a hankering for french fries, go see Angela.