Running a hotel from the inside

The night in the title is the one on which the day is closed, and German does it with a verb that leads a double life. Behind the desk abrechnen is bookkeeping: the night porter rechnet die Kasse ab, matches every guest account against the till and hands the early shift a finished day, den Tagesabschluss. Give the same verb the preposition mit and a person as its object, and it stops counting money. Mit jemandem abrechnen is to settle a score, to get even, and a headline like Die Ministerin rechnet mit ihrer Partei ab promises a reckoning rather than an invoice. Both senses keep the picture of a final account with nothing left open, so the object decides which one is meant: a till, a shift or a bill means arithmetic, a person means a grievance. The noun die Abrechnung can carry either, which is why der Tag der Abrechnung is not a payday.