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So apparently it takes calling in sick to be able to post again.
I am ... somewhat employed. By which I mean that I'm working at one of the local potato factories by way of a temp agency. So I am *working*, but not necessarily permanently employed. Which is one of the many reasons I haven't been around lately.
I've been working at this place for just over two weeks now. We have a rotating schedule, which SUCKS, because it means I work a certain shift long enough to get my body adjusted to it, have a day off, and then work at a completely different time. (Currently, I'm working 4:00pm-12:00am.) The work itself is boring and monotinous, 'cause I spend a lot of time pulling rotten potatoes off a conveyorbelt. Or cleaning. Which really just means I have a lot of time to let my mind wander into dangerous areas.* Occasionally I do manage to plot stories, but it's hard to work on them when I only have breaks, 'cause I'm pretty exhausted by the time I get home.
Last week though, was The Week From Hell. Possibly even THE WEEK FROM HELL.
On Tuesday, we started a new shift. I was informed they were going to start training me into a permanent position. (YAY JOB! \0/) I was very happy with this, and cheerfully went where I was told, which, irony of ironies, happened to be the very same place in the plant where Brother works.
My trainer turned out to be the person he's been complaining at me about since before I was hired. I was kind of dubious about this, but I decided to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Then I very swiftly changed my mind. First, because he refered to Brother - the guy who he's supposed to be working very closely with and should know well - as 'The (Job Title) Guy'. (All the permanent employees wear their names on their headgear. If you take the time to look them in the face, you already know their name.) My second clue was when he was explaining some paperwork to me, and I asked about a certain part. He told me he didn't know what it was for, so he always just wrote 'Okay'.
At that point, I decided he was an inept moron, and my opinion of him as the day went on only got worse. He wandered off randomly, took an unnecessary detour so he could flirt with one of the co-workers, and pretty much abandoned me to do the one thing I understood on my own. I got frustrated enough that I stopped asking him for anything. I tried asking the area supervisor something once and she didn't know, so from then on I asked Brother whenever I had questions. He seemed to be the most knowledgeable person in the area, and I know that he was actually one of the last people to do this particular job before he got promoted to a new position.
On our way home that night, I learned that Inept Moron complained to one of the managers that Brother was 'interfering in my training'. (Basically, because he'd warned me about a hot pipe I hadn't noticed when I was sweeping up while Inept Moron disappeared on me again, and because I decided to just ask Brother when I had a question, seeing as he was the only one around who seemed to know.)
The next day I got a new trainer, which was good. But the first thing I was told was that I am not allowed to ask questions of anyone who is not my trainer. I tried to explain why I'd been asking Brother - because I already knew they seemed to be assuming I was asking him because we're friends, and one of the managers seems to think we're a couple - but she blew me off. Luckily this trainer was *awesome*, and incredibly helpful, so I learned a lot.
Which is of course, why I learned toward the end of the day that I was 'done' being trained. No one asked if I felt competent, if *he* thought I was trained enough, or anything else. No one asked why I'd blown off the trainer from the day before. 'Two' days of training was supposedly enough. (Personally, I still refuse to count the first day as actual training.)
I found myself being trained in a new area the next day. -Rolls eyes- I was originally supposed to be trained by this very nice guy who turned out to have *just* started working in that spot by himself, so they thankfully switched to the awesome guy who had trained me before instead. Essentially I spent the first two hours building these massive boxes that are almost as big as I am and way about 25lbs or so each. (I think I swore more in those two hours than I had in the entire previous month. c.c;;;;) Then I had an hour with the awesome guy explaining the machines and how the area worked to me. Then the area supervisor decided to have me spend the next couple hours running the entire line *by myself*, while the guys corrected anything I did wrong.
Obviously, you can guess how thrilled I am with the 'training' methods of this place by now. >.<++++
In all honestly, the only reason that area was kept up to speed that day was because 'correcting me' turned into pitching in as much as possible, for which I adore all three of them. (The forklift driver helped out, too. ♥) I was *mostly* able to handle things, except that the boxes take awhile for me to put together because they're so big, and we have this machine at the end that seals the lid on which weighs about 15lbs. I have trouble picking it up one-handed (which I immediately told my trainer, because I thought I was going to drop it on my foot or something). He asked Brother if he had any suggestions for a better option, and Brother suggested using the older model instead, which is considerably lighter. The area supervisor complained it doesn't work as well - even though it did, because we tested it first - and made us switch back. Which also lead to Brother getting talked to about interfering again, even though *I* hadn't even been the one to him about it.
(For the record, I did end up dropping the damn thing. Rolled it over my thumb, which hurt like a bitch but didn't cause any serious damage, thankfully.)
Friday I was left to fend for myself as Brother's helper. We managed to work together enough that he explained things I still didn't understand, and I only marginally panicked whenever an alarm went off because I had no idea what it meant. I spent a lot of time finding things to clean, actually.
Unfortunately at one point I bumped into the manager Inept Moron whined to, who also happens to be the highest up manager on our shift. She asked how things were going, and I automatically replied with something to the effect that I was managing before adding 'Brother hasn't yelled at me yet, so I figure I can't be doing too bad.' Which I immediately felt like an idiot for, because she sort of stared at me, and I abruptly remembered that this is the one who thinks we're dating before wanting to smack myself.
Surprise surprise, guess who was told to run the second area all by herself on Saturday! >.<++++++ And it went bad. Oh, did it go bad.
First of all, I didn't even know how to turn on the damn machines, so I had to wait around for the area supervisor to come over. I was still asking questions on what I was supposed to be doing from her and the forklift driver for awhile. But I *did* do my best to run everything once it was started, because while the job sucks, I do actually want to be employed.
The first disaster struck when it started raining potatoes on my head. This isn't actually cause for alarm; it just means that you have to stop the machine for a minute and go unclog something. The *problem*, was that while it was pointed out to me where to go unclog things, no one showed me how to get there. Which means I ended up climbing up a twenty-foot ladder for no reason, only to discover that I was stuck on a balcony to nowhere.
I'm afraid of heights, and have been for years. I'm honestly amazed I managed to get myself down from there. I had a panic attack in the process and was in tears by the time I made it to the floor, but I did. So, yay me.
No one noticed how upset/freaked out I was though, or that I had tears in my eyes, which I'm still rather pissed off about.
Shortly following, the second disaster struck. The huge boxes are stuck on pallets, both of which are run down a conveyorbelt. (Which I'm told the mechanics say was NOT meant to have pallets on it at all.) Three times in a row the pallet caught on something and the box tried to keep going. Leading to me frantically putting myself in front of it and trying to shove the thing back in place before it could be filled, at which point it would weigh 600lbs. However this was again, a conveyorbelt, which means the boxes kept coming at me, the pallets slammed into me a few times, and I was nearly run over several times. Which lead to second panic attack, because these things are large, it *HURT*, and the entire time I'm trying not to fall/get caught in any of the moving parts I'm standing over.
I had just finished getting one of the problem boxes sealed up and was heading back for the next one when the area supervisor walked by and told me I needed to hurry up and load my next box on the belt.
I lost my temper, and I admit it. I was freaked, stressed out, and in pain, and I yelled back at her that I knew, and stormed over to take care of it. I ended up throwing the next pallet on, which is when she came over, looking all shocked, and asked me what was wrong.
I finally told her I couldn't do this by myself. It was too much, too heavy, too fast. And then I started to cry.
I'm not a crier, especially in public, so I'm still rather mortified by this. But that's how stressed I was. I ended up sobbing and sniffling while she went off to call the manager. Brother saw me and came over to give me a hug and try and calm me down. (Which is also when I learned that there's a tool I could use for when the pallets stick like that, which NO ONE ELSE TOLD ME ABOUT.) I calmed down enough to stop crying, but I was still really shaky for awhile after that.
The rest of the day didn't improve. The Manager showed up to talk to me, and told me that if I couldn't handle that line by myself, she can't hire me on as a full employee. (I think she was trying to convince me to suck it up and go back, but I was a mess by that point and I wasn't putting up with it anymore.) I spent the rest of the day helping Brother in his area, which sucked because the area supervisor would come over to snap at me to go do something anytime she saw me stop to take a drink of water because I was trying not to get overheated.
I've been back in the temp spot sorting rotten potatoes ever since. I *do* kind of miss the other area because there was more to do, but I'm not going to put up with that shit again. I do not appreciate being given Trial By Fire Training, and I'm not going to let them run me into the ground to 'prove' myself either. As it is I'm *still* bruised and sore.
I was incredibly depressed by the end of everything Saturday, but there has been a good thing to come out of it. See Brother's little brother and sister-in-law both work at this same plant, and sister-in-law is on our crew. He ran into her on one of his breaks and told her about what had happened. Now, sister-in-law went through this same bullshit when she was first hired, except that she *did* suck it up and refuse to let them get rid of her. Her response to him was 'We'll see.' I saw her myself a little later and told her more about what happened, which cheered me up a lot because she looked like she wanted to maim people. Then she waited until the manager for the next shift's crew showed up and told *her* about everything. The end result is that whenever I'm not needed for the temporary position on this crew anymore, that manager is going to specifically ask my temp agency for me - she even wrote my name down - and is willing to work with me to find another job I can do.
I so love her. ♥
It's going to be a bitch since I'll be on a different crew, which means I'm going to have to ask Brother's little brother to carpool and I won't see Brother as much, but I've already met and like this manager, and if she's willing to work with me, I'm happy to work with her. It should be about a month or two from now. I'm actually hoping I can switch sooner rather than later just because I'm tired and annoyed with everything, but we'll see when it happens.
Sorry for the ranting to anyone brave enough to read it. I haven't really had a chance to vent yet, and I'm still pretty pissed. >.<
As for why I'm home today, I have a really bad head cold combined with nausea and cramps. I was trying to convince myself to go in anyway before the dizziness made me almost faceplant and I decided there was no way I'm working around heavy machinery like this. I'm thinking I either caught it from sister-in-law, or just from all the stress. Possibly the weather.
I'm going back to saving fanfics to my flashdrive so I can curl back up in my bed and read. I think I'm in another brotherly/family fluff mood, which is the only explanation I can come up with for why I'm looking at The Outsiders fanfiction. (I hated that book. >.O) I'm also browsing anything with Bruce Wayne and Dick Greyson (because Philippa is awesome and evil and addictive), and some Harry Potter. Maybe Harry Potter/Gundam Wing. Or Chonicles of Narnia. They have good fluff.
-Is babbling-
I miss you all SO MUCH and I love you! ♥
* My first day was spent trying to imagine what Zhane would do if he worked there. Which turned out to be complain about hairnets, and then somehow I had the mental image of him sticking forks into a pair of potatoes and making them do the can-can. Another day I was incredibly tired, and started plotting the Teenage Mutant Katate Potatoes, Villains of the Harvest. I decided on shapes, and was working on names and a theme song. (Yeah. IDEK. o.O)
** Never has this icon been more appropriate.
I am ... somewhat employed. By which I mean that I'm working at one of the local potato factories by way of a temp agency. So I am *working*, but not necessarily permanently employed. Which is one of the many reasons I haven't been around lately.
I've been working at this place for just over two weeks now. We have a rotating schedule, which SUCKS, because it means I work a certain shift long enough to get my body adjusted to it, have a day off, and then work at a completely different time. (Currently, I'm working 4:00pm-12:00am.) The work itself is boring and monotinous, 'cause I spend a lot of time pulling rotten potatoes off a conveyorbelt. Or cleaning. Which really just means I have a lot of time to let my mind wander into dangerous areas.* Occasionally I do manage to plot stories, but it's hard to work on them when I only have breaks, 'cause I'm pretty exhausted by the time I get home.
Last week though, was The Week From Hell. Possibly even THE WEEK FROM HELL.
On Tuesday, we started a new shift. I was informed they were going to start training me into a permanent position. (YAY JOB! \0/) I was very happy with this, and cheerfully went where I was told, which, irony of ironies, happened to be the very same place in the plant where Brother works.
My trainer turned out to be the person he's been complaining at me about since before I was hired. I was kind of dubious about this, but I decided to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Then I very swiftly changed my mind. First, because he refered to Brother - the guy who he's supposed to be working very closely with and should know well - as 'The (Job Title) Guy'. (All the permanent employees wear their names on their headgear. If you take the time to look them in the face, you already know their name.) My second clue was when he was explaining some paperwork to me, and I asked about a certain part. He told me he didn't know what it was for, so he always just wrote 'Okay'.
At that point, I decided he was an inept moron, and my opinion of him as the day went on only got worse. He wandered off randomly, took an unnecessary detour so he could flirt with one of the co-workers, and pretty much abandoned me to do the one thing I understood on my own. I got frustrated enough that I stopped asking him for anything. I tried asking the area supervisor something once and she didn't know, so from then on I asked Brother whenever I had questions. He seemed to be the most knowledgeable person in the area, and I know that he was actually one of the last people to do this particular job before he got promoted to a new position.
On our way home that night, I learned that Inept Moron complained to one of the managers that Brother was 'interfering in my training'. (Basically, because he'd warned me about a hot pipe I hadn't noticed when I was sweeping up while Inept Moron disappeared on me again, and because I decided to just ask Brother when I had a question, seeing as he was the only one around who seemed to know.)
The next day I got a new trainer, which was good. But the first thing I was told was that I am not allowed to ask questions of anyone who is not my trainer. I tried to explain why I'd been asking Brother - because I already knew they seemed to be assuming I was asking him because we're friends, and one of the managers seems to think we're a couple - but she blew me off. Luckily this trainer was *awesome*, and incredibly helpful, so I learned a lot.
Which is of course, why I learned toward the end of the day that I was 'done' being trained. No one asked if I felt competent, if *he* thought I was trained enough, or anything else. No one asked why I'd blown off the trainer from the day before. 'Two' days of training was supposedly enough. (Personally, I still refuse to count the first day as actual training.)
I found myself being trained in a new area the next day. -Rolls eyes- I was originally supposed to be trained by this very nice guy who turned out to have *just* started working in that spot by himself, so they thankfully switched to the awesome guy who had trained me before instead. Essentially I spent the first two hours building these massive boxes that are almost as big as I am and way about 25lbs or so each. (I think I swore more in those two hours than I had in the entire previous month. c.c;;;;) Then I had an hour with the awesome guy explaining the machines and how the area worked to me. Then the area supervisor decided to have me spend the next couple hours running the entire line *by myself*, while the guys corrected anything I did wrong.
Obviously, you can guess how thrilled I am with the 'training' methods of this place by now. >.<++++
In all honestly, the only reason that area was kept up to speed that day was because 'correcting me' turned into pitching in as much as possible, for which I adore all three of them. (The forklift driver helped out, too. ♥) I was *mostly* able to handle things, except that the boxes take awhile for me to put together because they're so big, and we have this machine at the end that seals the lid on which weighs about 15lbs. I have trouble picking it up one-handed (which I immediately told my trainer, because I thought I was going to drop it on my foot or something). He asked Brother if he had any suggestions for a better option, and Brother suggested using the older model instead, which is considerably lighter. The area supervisor complained it doesn't work as well - even though it did, because we tested it first - and made us switch back. Which also lead to Brother getting talked to about interfering again, even though *I* hadn't even been the one to him about it.
(For the record, I did end up dropping the damn thing. Rolled it over my thumb, which hurt like a bitch but didn't cause any serious damage, thankfully.)
Friday I was left to fend for myself as Brother's helper. We managed to work together enough that he explained things I still didn't understand, and I only marginally panicked whenever an alarm went off because I had no idea what it meant. I spent a lot of time finding things to clean, actually.
Unfortunately at one point I bumped into the manager Inept Moron whined to, who also happens to be the highest up manager on our shift. She asked how things were going, and I automatically replied with something to the effect that I was managing before adding 'Brother hasn't yelled at me yet, so I figure I can't be doing too bad.' Which I immediately felt like an idiot for, because she sort of stared at me, and I abruptly remembered that this is the one who thinks we're dating before wanting to smack myself.
Surprise surprise, guess who was told to run the second area all by herself on Saturday! >.<++++++ And it went bad. Oh, did it go bad.
First of all, I didn't even know how to turn on the damn machines, so I had to wait around for the area supervisor to come over. I was still asking questions on what I was supposed to be doing from her and the forklift driver for awhile. But I *did* do my best to run everything once it was started, because while the job sucks, I do actually want to be employed.
The first disaster struck when it started raining potatoes on my head. This isn't actually cause for alarm; it just means that you have to stop the machine for a minute and go unclog something. The *problem*, was that while it was pointed out to me where to go unclog things, no one showed me how to get there. Which means I ended up climbing up a twenty-foot ladder for no reason, only to discover that I was stuck on a balcony to nowhere.
I'm afraid of heights, and have been for years. I'm honestly amazed I managed to get myself down from there. I had a panic attack in the process and was in tears by the time I made it to the floor, but I did. So, yay me.
No one noticed how upset/freaked out I was though, or that I had tears in my eyes, which I'm still rather pissed off about.
Shortly following, the second disaster struck. The huge boxes are stuck on pallets, both of which are run down a conveyorbelt. (Which I'm told the mechanics say was NOT meant to have pallets on it at all.) Three times in a row the pallet caught on something and the box tried to keep going. Leading to me frantically putting myself in front of it and trying to shove the thing back in place before it could be filled, at which point it would weigh 600lbs. However this was again, a conveyorbelt, which means the boxes kept coming at me, the pallets slammed into me a few times, and I was nearly run over several times. Which lead to second panic attack, because these things are large, it *HURT*, and the entire time I'm trying not to fall/get caught in any of the moving parts I'm standing over.
I had just finished getting one of the problem boxes sealed up and was heading back for the next one when the area supervisor walked by and told me I needed to hurry up and load my next box on the belt.
I lost my temper, and I admit it. I was freaked, stressed out, and in pain, and I yelled back at her that I knew, and stormed over to take care of it. I ended up throwing the next pallet on, which is when she came over, looking all shocked, and asked me what was wrong.
I finally told her I couldn't do this by myself. It was too much, too heavy, too fast. And then I started to cry.
I'm not a crier, especially in public, so I'm still rather mortified by this. But that's how stressed I was. I ended up sobbing and sniffling while she went off to call the manager. Brother saw me and came over to give me a hug and try and calm me down. (Which is also when I learned that there's a tool I could use for when the pallets stick like that, which NO ONE ELSE TOLD ME ABOUT.) I calmed down enough to stop crying, but I was still really shaky for awhile after that.
The rest of the day didn't improve. The Manager showed up to talk to me, and told me that if I couldn't handle that line by myself, she can't hire me on as a full employee. (I think she was trying to convince me to suck it up and go back, but I was a mess by that point and I wasn't putting up with it anymore.) I spent the rest of the day helping Brother in his area, which sucked because the area supervisor would come over to snap at me to go do something anytime she saw me stop to take a drink of water because I was trying not to get overheated.
I've been back in the temp spot sorting rotten potatoes ever since. I *do* kind of miss the other area because there was more to do, but I'm not going to put up with that shit again. I do not appreciate being given Trial By Fire Training, and I'm not going to let them run me into the ground to 'prove' myself either. As it is I'm *still* bruised and sore.
I was incredibly depressed by the end of everything Saturday, but there has been a good thing to come out of it. See Brother's little brother and sister-in-law both work at this same plant, and sister-in-law is on our crew. He ran into her on one of his breaks and told her about what had happened. Now, sister-in-law went through this same bullshit when she was first hired, except that she *did* suck it up and refuse to let them get rid of her. Her response to him was 'We'll see.' I saw her myself a little later and told her more about what happened, which cheered me up a lot because she looked like she wanted to maim people. Then she waited until the manager for the next shift's crew showed up and told *her* about everything. The end result is that whenever I'm not needed for the temporary position on this crew anymore, that manager is going to specifically ask my temp agency for me - she even wrote my name down - and is willing to work with me to find another job I can do.
I so love her. ♥
It's going to be a bitch since I'll be on a different crew, which means I'm going to have to ask Brother's little brother to carpool and I won't see Brother as much, but I've already met and like this manager, and if she's willing to work with me, I'm happy to work with her. It should be about a month or two from now. I'm actually hoping I can switch sooner rather than later just because I'm tired and annoyed with everything, but we'll see when it happens.
Sorry for the ranting to anyone brave enough to read it. I haven't really had a chance to vent yet, and I'm still pretty pissed. >.<
As for why I'm home today, I have a really bad head cold combined with nausea and cramps. I was trying to convince myself to go in anyway before the dizziness made me almost faceplant and I decided there was no way I'm working around heavy machinery like this. I'm thinking I either caught it from sister-in-law, or just from all the stress. Possibly the weather.
I'm going back to saving fanfics to my flashdrive so I can curl back up in my bed and read. I think I'm in another brotherly/family fluff mood, which is the only explanation I can come up with for why I'm looking at The Outsiders fanfiction. (I hated that book. >.O) I'm also browsing anything with Bruce Wayne and Dick Greyson (because Philippa is awesome and evil and addictive), and some Harry Potter. Maybe Harry Potter/Gundam Wing. Or Chonicles of Narnia. They have good fluff.
-Is babbling-
I miss you all SO MUCH and I love you! ♥
* My first day was spent trying to imagine what Zhane would do if he worked there. Which turned out to be complain about hairnets, and then somehow I had the mental image of him sticking forks into a pair of potatoes and making them do the can-can. Another day I was incredibly tired, and started plotting the Teenage Mutant Katate Potatoes, Villains of the Harvest. I decided on shapes, and was working on names and a theme song. (Yeah. IDEK. o.O)
** Never has this icon been more appropriate.
