Not so lite

Since the change to workstations, WS5 has been referred to as "tetra lite" as it has fewer responsibilities than the old tetra zone but had nothing added to it.
Whenever someone came back from a long vacation in the past, they would be in the tetra zone, because it was busy.
I haven't noticed that as much lately, but last night was my first night back after a ten-day break, and I was in WS5.

There was one additional tetra line running, which MH took over in WS4, so I could have had it worse, but it was just like old times.

I made it eight hours before I started to lose it. Nothing was happening in one of the workstations, so Tea was able to take over for me and I went home and went to bed. I could easily have fallen asleep mid-medpass audit.

Creepy, awkward, charming

Last night Junior made the entire lab cry with laughter simply by rolling a squeaky-wheeled cart back and forth repeatedly.

If I were to describe her in three words, they would be: awkward, creepy, and charming.

Dread

When this week's schedule came out, I checked who I was working with each day and immediately knew that last night was going to awful.

I was correct.

There were four of us. Myself, our newest recruit (who is not fully trained), one freshly signed off training, and Tea.

I used to hate working with Tea, but she really held her own last night. The new guy was fine, got all his work done, tried to help out when he could, and asked intelligent questions when he needed help. The other one, however, somehow made herself extremely busy all night, but accomplished, as far as I could tell, at most four hours worth of work in the twelve hours we were there.

I do not understand.

Nightmares coming true

A few weeks ago, MH had a dream that one of our newer techs left a huge number of samples until the very end of the shift and was super busy and MH had to try to organize this neverending epic run.

Last night wasn't particularly busy, but we were short-staffed, so ESL seemed way busier than it otherwise would have. Both fillers were running, which is something new that we are all still getting used to, plus it was combined with the bag in a box zone.

Toward the end of the night, the epic run was completed, but it wasn't yet written up. MH was very concerned that her dream was a premonition.

Back on 12s

Last night was our first twelve hour shift of this round of twelve hour shifts (I hope it lasts more than a week...).

There were only three of us working, and all week there are combined zones and short-staffed shifts, even with the twelves . I don't know how they expected to leave us on our regular shifts this week.

In any case, it was just MH, SK and me. It was perfect.

Lately every time I'm one of three techs, I feel like I'm the one doing all the work and cleaning up other peoples' messes.

Last night was not like that at all. I kept busy, but no busier than the other two girls and we all still had plenty of time for breaks. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

JB goes to days

Last night was my last night working with JB. I am off tonight and she is going to first shift as of next week.

The strangest thing about this turn of events is that I am now the most senior lab tech on third shift. I have been working here for almost two years.

If I were to go to first shift, I would be the lowest in seniority.

Exhausted

I was honestly so tired I have no idea what happened last night, other than the fact that I somehow arranged things so I could go home early.

Next week we go back to 12s for real

When you are used to working 10 to 6 and you have to work 6 to 6, it can be a little rough getting to work the first day, but once you get through the first hour or so, it doesn't seem like you're there any longer than usual. When you are used to working 10 to 6 and you have to work 10 to 10, it feels like your shift will never, ever end.

Last night I worked the wrong twelve hours. Twelve bag in a box audits. Not much else. Easy night that felt like the longest, busiest stretch imaginable.

Extended Shelf Life

We test the shelf life, presumably of all of our products, but in the lab specifically, we test the shelf life of our ESL gable top carton products, namely milk and a couple of kinds of soy. (Also 4oz products recently, but that's another story.)

The company is currently doing a study to determine if we can extend the shelf life another five days. Basically that means that for however long they are studying, we are supposed to check the taste, odor and pH of a carton of milk per side per filler per flavor per codedate exactly 65 days after production.

Our shelf life test cartons are stored in the lab cooler. There are sections for each shift, but beyond that, cartons are basically put anywhere and then things are piled on top and it becomes a chore to find them 65 days later. People also tend to see all these cartons of milk and think, "ooh, I could use some 2% right now..." and the cartons disappear or sit open and half empty until testing. Ew.

Last night, MH and I (mostly her) organized the ESL shelf life.

We threw out overdue cartons, paired up same flavor same code, put everything on the correct shelves and put them in order by date.

It was about two full hours in a refrigerator. Awesome.

OK, DK

DK can be an utter bastard sometimes, but other nights he is chatty and funny and wants to be everyone's best friend.

Last night was a chatty-friendly night. When he is in that mood, he tends to stop one person and talk to them without pause for far too long.

Twice last night he trapped me and wouldn't shut up until I was late for an audit.

I can't interrupt him because he's my boss, but shouldn't he know I have work to do? He's the one who's going to yell at me when it's not done.