"MH, I have a great idea."
"Oh, what is it?"
"I know how we are going to get out of here. We learn the rules of curling, get really good at it and become Olympians. Bam! No more milk testing."
"If that doesn't work we could try badminton."
27 February 2010
26 February 2010
"oh god I've been on this shift too long"
During one of the very few short breaks in a main lab shitstorm tonight, I took out my phone and sent a text message.
V-dogg, who silly nicknames aside is actually a supervisor, happened to be standing there.
He said, "no cellphones in the plant...unless you're calling me."
I laughed and told him that #1 says the exact same thing all the time.
I've never seen V-dogg look so
disturbed.
V-dogg, who silly nicknames aside is actually a supervisor, happened to be standing there.
He said, "no cellphones in the plant...unless you're calling me."
I laughed and told him that #1 says the exact same thing all the time.
I've never seen V-dogg look so
disturbed.
25 February 2010
Twelve hours of nothing to do
I was on for twelve hours today rather than the usual eight, filling in for a second shifter. This was decided last night immediately after she called in. Someone from first would have to stay over and then I would come in early.
Great. Glad to help.
Except no one from first shift stayed over, because there wasn't really that much going on.
This has happened before and I have complained about it to supervisors before and of course I won't be so cranky about it when I get my paycheck and I've never any right to complain about getting time and a half for sitting around discussing Olympic hockey with JJ, but why couldn't someone have called me and told me not to come in?
It's as simple as picking up the phone and saying, "hey RC, we don't really need you to come in early."
Impossible.
But hey, at least I got paid well to do dishes and teardowns.
Great. Glad to help.
Except no one from first shift stayed over, because there wasn't really that much going on.
This has happened before and I have complained about it to supervisors before and of course I won't be so cranky about it when I get my paycheck and I've never any right to complain about getting time and a half for sitting around discussing Olympic hockey with JJ, but why couldn't someone have called me and told me not to come in?
It's as simple as picking up the phone and saying, "hey RC, we don't really need you to come in early."
Impossible.
But hey, at least I got paid well to do dishes and teardowns.
24 February 2010
No? Just me?
Have you ever had one of those days where it feels like someone's pouring 2% into your whole milk?
Or, similarly, one of those days when someone is pouring 2% into your whole milk?
Or, similarly, one of those days when someone is pouring 2% into your whole milk?
23 February 2010
Dishes
My particular brand of OCD is such that I basically refuse to believe that dishes could possibly be clean if I myself have not cleaned them. Because of this conviction, I end up doing a lot of dishes at home and at work.
There was a brand new scrubby brush by the sink at work today.
As it does every time we get a new brush, this was really, really exciting.
As it does every time we get a new brush, this was then really depressing.
Because I get really excited when there's a new brush...which is obviously upsetting.
It is an odd blend of emotions.
There was a brand new scrubby brush by the sink at work today.
As it does every time we get a new brush, this was really, really exciting.
As it does every time we get a new brush, this was then really depressing.
Because I get really excited when there's a new brush...which is obviously upsetting.
It is an odd blend of emotions.
12 February 2010
report card day
Today I got my annual review.
It was less than good.
My motivation needs improvement.
I couldn't argue, really. I do lack motivation.
Know how you can tell?
I haven't quit yet.
It was less than good.
My motivation needs improvement.
I couldn't argue, really. I do lack motivation.
Know how you can tell?
I haven't quit yet.
11 February 2010
one more day til vacation
I am so burnt out, tonight one of the blenders (who is one of the sweetest, least creepy, most pleasant of the department) almost made me cry.
Why?
Because he told me I shouldn't cut my hair.
Yeah. I need a vacation.
Why?
Because he told me I shouldn't cut my hair.
Yeah. I need a vacation.
10 February 2010
the kind of person who yells at me for being happy
Mr. G came in to the lab last night because there was a problem with the ESL chocolate milk (there is a problem with the ESL chocolate probably like fifty percent of the time we make it - nothing gross, just that the solids are often too high or too low because it's always a smallish batch and there's no agitation in the steritanks...).
We were talking and laughing and mid-conversation when he came in.
He was very obviously in a bad mood and of course we lab techs never learn, so we asked him what was wrong.
He launched into a tirade about how no one does their job and he is sick of it. He ranted for probably like five minutes and then stormed out.
The conversation we were in the middle of earlier was dead. There was no more laughter to be heard.
There was a brief pause.
"Wow, he really knows how to suck the fun out of a room, huh?"
We were talking and laughing and mid-conversation when he came in.
He was very obviously in a bad mood and of course we lab techs never learn, so we asked him what was wrong.
He launched into a tirade about how no one does their job and he is sick of it. He ranted for probably like five minutes and then stormed out.
The conversation we were in the middle of earlier was dead. There was no more laughter to be heard.
There was a brief pause.
"Wow, he really knows how to suck the fun out of a room, huh?"
09 February 2010
weird
So #1 apologized to me tonight. For 'barking at me' last night.
I remember the conversation he was talking about, but I have NO idea at what point or for what reason he said anything out of the ordinary. Definitely nothing I was upset or offended by, nothing that necessitated an apology.
For a normal person, this would be a little weird. For #1? Un-frickin'-believable.
Let's all keep in mind that this is the guy who kind of half-apologized in a text message when I called him out for being an ass after he completely ignored me for more than a month.
Now he comes up to me, looks me in the eye, uses my name and sincerely apologizes for something I don't even remember happening.
I have entered bizzaro world.
I remember the conversation he was talking about, but I have NO idea at what point or for what reason he said anything out of the ordinary. Definitely nothing I was upset or offended by, nothing that necessitated an apology.
For a normal person, this would be a little weird. For #1? Un-frickin'-believable.
Let's all keep in mind that this is the guy who kind of half-apologized in a text message when I called him out for being an ass after he completely ignored me for more than a month.
Now he comes up to me, looks me in the eye, uses my name and sincerely apologizes for something I don't even remember happening.
I have entered bizzaro world.
08 February 2010
super sunday
I was supposed to have off last night. After getting into this huge thing about how I never want to have Sundays off and KS actually listening to me and remembering it and giving me all these weekends, which is awesome, he gets even more awesome and gives me a sunday when I wouldn't otherwise have two nights in a row and when it is superbowl sunday. KS usually only gives drinking holidays off to the people he likes to drink with.
And then I had to switch.
Didn't go to any superbowl parties, just slept most of the day and then got ready for work. Missed the last five minutes of the game, because I had to leave for work.
And have I mentioned lately that I hate pudding?
And then I had to switch.
Didn't go to any superbowl parties, just slept most of the day and then got ready for work. Missed the last five minutes of the game, because I had to leave for work.
And have I mentioned lately that I hate pudding?
06 February 2010
tetra problems
On 3rd shift, there are two tetra supervisors. One of them I am kind of in love with and the other I don't know very much about, but I think he hates me.
Today, I was in the tetra zone and a product ended actually right before I came in - technically 2nd shift should have taken care of the whole damn thing because the ends were at 2155 and 2158 respectively. Anyway, they didn't, so I just picked it up with my regular audit.
Obviously my priorities are screwed up, but I usually do ends last of everything, because if there's a problem with the end of a run, you're just going to put stuff on hold, whereas if the problem is anywhere else in the run, it might still be occurring and need to be fixed.
So I did the ends last and discovered that the weights on one of the two fillers were more than 50 grams lower than the lowest acceptable weight. I called the tetra supervisor (I'm sure you can guess, internet, that this story is not about the one I love). He didn't respond. DK paged the tetra supervisor. He called back and copped an attitude. He's busy, if there's a problem, what took us so long? DK got warehouse to take out the last pallet, DK got a case from a few minutes before the end to make sure it was okay, DK issued a hold for those last few minutes. Basically, he did all the work. The tetra supervisor, after DK had done his work for him, was ungrateful, rude and snippy about it.
To make a long story slightly less long, DK called the guy a "little bitch" and it just totally made my night.
Today, I was in the tetra zone and a product ended actually right before I came in - technically 2nd shift should have taken care of the whole damn thing because the ends were at 2155 and 2158 respectively. Anyway, they didn't, so I just picked it up with my regular audit.
Obviously my priorities are screwed up, but I usually do ends last of everything, because if there's a problem with the end of a run, you're just going to put stuff on hold, whereas if the problem is anywhere else in the run, it might still be occurring and need to be fixed.
So I did the ends last and discovered that the weights on one of the two fillers were more than 50 grams lower than the lowest acceptable weight. I called the tetra supervisor (I'm sure you can guess, internet, that this story is not about the one I love). He didn't respond. DK paged the tetra supervisor. He called back and copped an attitude. He's busy, if there's a problem, what took us so long? DK got warehouse to take out the last pallet, DK got a case from a few minutes before the end to make sure it was okay, DK issued a hold for those last few minutes. Basically, he did all the work. The tetra supervisor, after DK had done his work for him, was ungrateful, rude and snippy about it.
To make a long story slightly less long, DK called the guy a "little bitch" and it just totally made my night.
05 February 2010
three weeks
In all the time that I have been working third shift, there has been one person in the entire plant who works nights that I really don't like. There are always people who get on my nerves, or who I complain about occasionally, but I can still come up with good things about them and I still probably defend them if anyone else is mean to them behind their backs. But there's just this one guy who I could not stand.
He was injured (non-work related) a while ago and missed about six months of work. When I heard he was coming back, I decided to clean the slate - when he returned I would pretend I had never met him before and hopefully I wouldn't be so irritated by his very existence anymore.
While I was genuinely trying to learn to like the guy, there was a part of me that wondered how long it would take before he started to piss me off again.
Three weeks.
He was injured (non-work related) a while ago and missed about six months of work. When I heard he was coming back, I decided to clean the slate - when he returned I would pretend I had never met him before and hopefully I wouldn't be so irritated by his very existence anymore.
While I was genuinely trying to learn to like the guy, there was a part of me that wondered how long it would take before he started to piss me off again.
Three weeks.
03 February 2010
message from...
MH's phone has a voice option where instead of a ring-tone, it announces the name of whoever is calling or texting. She does not know how to change the ring so that it doesn't do this.
Tonight, we had a fun time changing the names of people in her phone to the nicknames we use for them, so that it now announces "message from friend of a friend" in its cute little robot voice.
To see what else we could get it to say, she changed my name to 'fuck buddy' and had me text message her so that we could all hear it. Of course we were all amused.
I made sure she changed it back to my actual name before we left, but can you imagine if she'd forgotten and I texted her while she was on a date? Or at her parents' house?
Tonight, we had a fun time changing the names of people in her phone to the nicknames we use for them, so that it now announces "message from friend of a friend" in its cute little robot voice.
To see what else we could get it to say, she changed my name to 'fuck buddy' and had me text message her so that we could all hear it. Of course we were all amused.
I made sure she changed it back to my actual name before we left, but can you imagine if she'd forgotten and I texted her while she was on a date? Or at her parents' house?
02 February 2010
fat
Approximately three minutes into our shift, MH used the phrase 'elbow fat' to say that DK had pinched the skin over her elbow.
The entire rest of the shift was basically a long conversation about elbow fat and how fat someone's elbows could possibly be and what else you could call that extra skin on your elbows and had anyone else ever heard or used the phrase elbow fat and isn't that the funniest thing you've ever heard? Elbow fat is, I guess, our new thing.
Many hours later, EW, one of the dairy techs misheard something I said as 'I'm a walking stick.' I repeated what I had said and he said, "Oh, that makes way more sense, 'cause you're definitely not a walking stick!" As is my usual (joking) response to such things, I said, "Are you calling me fat?"
He said yes.
In better news for my self-confidence, MH told me that two of the filler operators had distinguished me from another lab tech with the same first name by calling me "the cute one...not the one with all the kids." Personally, I think the one with all the kids (two, by the way) is pretty darn cute, but what do I know?
The entire rest of the shift was basically a long conversation about elbow fat and how fat someone's elbows could possibly be and what else you could call that extra skin on your elbows and had anyone else ever heard or used the phrase elbow fat and isn't that the funniest thing you've ever heard? Elbow fat is, I guess, our new thing.
Many hours later, EW, one of the dairy techs misheard something I said as 'I'm a walking stick.' I repeated what I had said and he said, "Oh, that makes way more sense, 'cause you're definitely not a walking stick!" As is my usual (joking) response to such things, I said, "Are you calling me fat?"
He said yes.
In better news for my self-confidence, MH told me that two of the filler operators had distinguished me from another lab tech with the same first name by calling me "the cute one...not the one with all the kids." Personally, I think the one with all the kids (two, by the way) is pretty darn cute, but what do I know?
01 February 2010
napkins
We use these heavy-duty paper towels that come in individual sheets and there is a bundle of them folded and stacked in a package. We generally call them napkins because they are packaged more like napkins than normal paper towels.
In our CEMs, which are the machines we use to test total solids, we use these little squares of fiberglass paper.
This morning, #2 borrowed some glass cleaner and then went to look for something with which to wipe whatever glass he meant to clean. He started to take our CEM pads, which again are made of fiberglass and do not feel like paper at all, and then was insulted when we laughed at him because, and I quote..."I don't know what they are. I didn't go to college!"
I went to college, but I guess I missed the class where they teach you what paper looks and feels like.
In our CEMs, which are the machines we use to test total solids, we use these little squares of fiberglass paper.
This morning, #2 borrowed some glass cleaner and then went to look for something with which to wipe whatever glass he meant to clean. He started to take our CEM pads, which again are made of fiberglass and do not feel like paper at all, and then was insulted when we laughed at him because, and I quote..."I don't know what they are. I didn't go to college!"
I went to college, but I guess I missed the class where they teach you what paper looks and feels like.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)