Dear Abby: For workers on graveyard shift, daytime is bedtime

DEAR ABBY: I just read the letter from a fellow frustrated night-shifter, "Working a 40-Hour Week at Age 73." I have worked 12-hour shifts for many years to accommodate our family life.

I thoroughly agree that the rest of the world does not understand! I've had the strangest requests from people because I'm home during the day. My solution has been to turn off our home phone. This year I made a laminated sign for my front door, asking for peace and quiet. It says, "Please do not ring my doorbell. Night-shift worker sleeping at this time."

- Sleepless in Wisconsin

DEAR SLEEPLESS: Thanks for your letter. Your fellow night- shifters were in complete agreement with you. My newspaper readers comment:

DEAR ABBY: There's nothing unusual about "Working's" problem. I worked the graveyard shift for years at different jobs in different states, and it was the same. In my case it was usually my mother, not my husband, who kept waking me up. Even worse, it wasn't unusual for bosses to call and wake me.

What surprised me was the number of people who think that sleep is optional rather than necessary. They seemed to think that they sleep at night because there's nothing else to do.

- Laura in Pollok, Texas