WESTSIDE — Anxieties are rising because of the upcoming time change this weekend. Yes, at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, it will be time to turn back the clocks to 1 a.m., giving some an extra hour to sleep but others increased anxiety.

A few graveyard shift workers said they are troubled over the fall-back time change because they have to work a longer shift and are wondering if they will get paid for the extra hour which won't show up on their time cards because the clocks will be turned back, erasing an hour, after their shift has started.

"I normally work an 8-hour shift and go home; but on Sunday morning, I'll have to work nine hours, and I'm not happy about it," said Leo Thimer, of rural Springtown. "I bet I only get paid for eight hours, too," he added in a grumbling voice.

Those who already have trouble sleeping and wake up in the wee hours of the morning will now likely wake up even earlier.

"I don't know why, but I'm up by 4 or 5 every morning and I can't go back to sleep," said Suzie Riser. "I don't know what to do that early in the morning, and I try not to wake my husband because he goes to bed late. Now, I'll be waking up even earlier, at 3 or 3:30, and have hours to wait until everyone else gets up and it's time to go to work," she added.

And if that isn't troublesome enough, we talked to some who were already starting to shake just thinking about trying to figure out how to turn all the clocks back.

"I wish they'd just leave the time alone," said Jim Driver of nearby Decatur. "In the spring and the fall, I have to figure out how to change all my clocks, and that can be a challenge. It used to be easy when a fellow could just turn the dial on the back or move the second hand on the clock, but now I have to find the instruction manual and figure out which buttons to push to get into the programming mode and change the digital time readout. It's a real pain in my car, too," he said.

Of course, some don't bother to change their clocks. They figure that, by the time they remember where the manual is located and make the needed adjustment, it will be close to time to make the adjustment back again.

"I don't even bother to change my clocks," Gary Altimer, of Colcord, Okla., told us. "The only problem I ever have is remembering whether I left my clocks on Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time. I still get up and milk the cows the same time every morning, regardless of what the clock says. I was late to church a few times last spring," he explained. "I guess that means I am on Standard time and might get there early on Sunday if I don't think about it."

The last group we talked to just complained because changing their external clocks didn't change their internal clocks.

"I hate changing the time," said Otis Howerly of Gravette. "Even when I change the clocks, it just doesn't feel right. And, about the time it starts to feel like the time it is, they'll want me to change my clocks again. I wish they'd just leave time alone," he complained.

One obsessive-compulsive individual complained about the time of the change.

"Why do they schedule the change at 2 in the morning?" asked Leslie Sharpton. "You'd think they could make it at a decent hour so I didn't have to stay up until the stroke of 2 to turn my clocks back to 1," she said. "And, the whole thing really throws off my cuckoo clock. The bird comes out and cuckoos twice and I turn the clock back to 1 and it comes out and cuckoos once again. It could make one wonder if it's 2 a.m., 1 a.m. or three a.m. What a mess!"

S.A. Tired covers fictitious news from an unrealistic perspective for the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. News and views in Spinning the News are claimed by no one else but the author.

Editorial on 11/02/2016