it's true, though

I checked one last silo before my shift ended this morning. The blender was standing in the lab, just waiting for the results. I told him it was good and gave him the number. There was just the slightest little pause before his face lit up and he said, "you're the shit, Rach!"

so not kosher

A soy tanker came in last night around 2am. #1 brought in the paperwork. The new guy, GR, was in main lab but it was his first night on his own and he had never received soy before, so I offered my help.

In order to accept a soy tanker, we need to have it's number on a list that says it's kosher. This particular tanker was on one such list, but it said on the list that those tankers were only acceptable if they also had a kosher wash ticket.

I asked #1 for a wash ticket. He said they didn't have one. He said that our sheets were out-dated and that they didn't need one anymore. He was so sure. I almost believed him. He tried to pull up an e-mail saying so, he offered to write a note and sign off on the sheet, he told me to call DK and ask him and even found his cell number and offered me his phone to text (because my battery was dead and I was too scared to call DK, who has been unbelievably crabby for a week.)

I asked the other techs, but no one was sure. None of our supervisors or any of the blending supervisors were working until morning.

Poor GR, whom I was trying to train, didn't get the best learning opportunity. #1 was very persuasive, but I held my ground - I wasn't going to allow this tanker to be received unless I had PROOF.

I think #1 was kind of insulted. I felt bad about not believing him...until a lab supervisor, KS, came in at 6 and I asked him about it and he printed out the e-mail saying absolutely YES we need a wash ticket.

I showed the e-mail to #1, who persisted and said that KS could talk to the blending supervisor, SW, because he was definitely right and we don't need the certificate anymore.

I left it at that, not really caring as long as it was out of my hands and not my responsibility anymore, but I had to laugh when I ran back into the lab at 0645 because I had forgotten my phone and there was SW explaining how we can't accept the tanker unless we get a kosher wash ticket from the company.

#1's truck was still idling in the parking lot when I left.

holidays

The worst thing about holidays when you work third shift is that if you actually have to work on a holiday - you're only getting paid double time and a half for two hours of it. Ten to midnight.

The best thing about holidays when you work third shift is that if you work the night before the holiday - you're getting paid double time and a half for six hours of not working a holiday. Midnight to six.

The best thing ever is if you work the night before a holiday and then have the holiday off.

Happy Thanksgiving, internet.

smarty pants

Last night, #1 proved that not only is he the ONLY one capable of blending pudding, because he is a GENIUS at everything and everyone else is stupid, but also that he can do science, too.

But no matter how many science experiments we do...sugar-free pudding still tastes like poison.

the uniform

At my job, like many factories, we wear a uniform. Our uniform is thus: navy blue pants and a light blue snap-front shirt with an embroidered name tag on one side. There is also a navy blue jacket, again with the name tag.

You may recognize this uniform as being the standard for many auto mechanics and gas station attendants nationwide.

As horrible as this uniform looks and feels when I, for instance, run into Starbucks to grab a froofy girl-drink before work, it is...uniform. Everyone at work looks the same and you become very adjusted to the way everyone looks in their horrible, shapeless, unattractive outfits.

When someone comes in wearing their street clothes (their 'civies' I like to say), it is WEIRD. Even if it's someone you've seen outside of work before, they just seem so out of place it's incredible.

#1 was supposed to be off tonight, but he came in for a few hours (I don't know why, because when I asked he said, "just to see you.") and he was not in uniform.

I could not stop staring, but I am relatively certain I would have had the same reaction to a less attractive co-worker in normal-people clothes.

gelatin

Every time I have to run gelatin, the blender will have me check it and then I will tell him how much water to add and he will refuse to add that much and add however much he feels like and then I re-check it and it calls for exactly the difference.

Why do they even bother asking?

snarky

Two significant events last night:

Deciding to go to lunch, despite three lines that were supposed to start up (none of them did), I left a note at each filler to tell the stacker how many cases I needed. For example, "Please save 3 cases for the lab!!" I turned the two exclamation points into a smiley face on each note.
Returning from lunch, it was reported to me that #4 was upset that I had "stolen his smiley face." Obviously, no one has ever drawn a smile under two exclamation points before. I would love to see the copyright he has on that.

Secondly, I taught my boss a new word. The schedule wasn't out and it was getting toward quitting time. I said to DK, "If I ask you a question will you just give me the answer instead of some snarky comeback?...What's the status of next week's schedule?"
Rather than just answering me, he spent probably two full minutes wondering if 'snarky' is really a word.

blender preferences

I noticed something kind of funny tonight. One of the blenders in the raw dairy (I cannot refer to him by his initials because I have absolutely NO idea what his last name is) frequently calls into the main plant to talk to one of the blenders in charge.
He used to page either Beavis or #1, since they are the shift leads and that...makes sense.

The past couple of days, I noticed that when #1 is working, he pages #1 or sometimes #1 or VM, BUT when Beavis is working, he pages VM every time.

Beavis said something about this to VM while I was in the room. He was just joking until I blurted out, "I noticed that!"

just doing my job

Nearly everything that could possibly go wrong tonight went wrong tonight. It was not busy or even that stressful, it was just...bad.
There was burn-on in the milk, which has been a problem for a few nights in a row now. I was told we are the only plant that even checks for sediment. One of the supervisors, we'll call him Mr. G, complained that we put milk on hold for sediment because it's not like anybody filters their milk to check for sediment at home. I've used the same argument for things like high fat or low volume...no one checks this at home. The difference is, if I found somehow that my liter of soymilk contained four milliliters less than the volume on the label, I would a) not care, b) pay the same price for it, and c) have no qualms about drinking the product. If, however, I were to find out about burn-on in a carton of milk...well, I sure as hell wouldn't be drinking that milk.

Anyway, they separated off to do a wash, which got rid of the sediment, but when they separated back on, the cryo dropped out. Mr. G had to go and pull samples for me to check from before it went bad to find out the last good time. Every one I checked was fine. Finally, he brought in a carton from the exact same time I'd gotten a bad result. It came out good, too. Mr. G was not exactly happy that he'd had to search for cartons for me and they were all okay.

Finally, after several minutes of whining and sarcasm, he conceded that I was just doing my job.


...how dare I.

trendy

Just over a week ago, #1 (I guess we're friends again now. It's kind of weird) spent like ten minutes trying to convince me that on my day off I should come to the strip club with him. He was supposed to go with GP, but GP couldn't find a babysitter or something and he still really wanted to go.

Tonight, #3 text messaged me to ask if I was doing anything on Friday, because it is his birthday. I gave him a non-commital, it's my night off but I might have plans, let me know what you're up to and maybe I'll come out. He told me he is going out with a big group of people and I should defnitely come.

Where are they going?
...a strip club.

I've never been invited to a strip club before in my life (except once, but it was in Canada and the strippers were male and I ended up not going anyway), did someone suddenly declare November to be ask-RC-to-go-see-ladies-take-their-clothes-off-month?