The office: Chatter about your job

Don't have work tomorrow. Sigh.

Work yesterday was awesome. Everyone was all huggy and giggly. I love days like that.

Got another interview for a real job scheduled. Let's hope this one works out.

$30. Sigh.

Man been busy with work. Two weeks with a 12 hour shift and next week with an extra shift. thankfully most of it is going into the rent check side of my pay schedule then into my first pay check of the month.

This is what I did at my job last week.

Now, I work in timber framing. For the uninitiated, this means carving, milling, moving and otherwise wrestling with lengths of wood that would give Jenna Jamieson pause. So, We come up with all sorts of screwball solutions to problems no sane human would even tackle.

WARNING! I'm about to tell you about something!!

Problem: You've got a large hunk of wood.◊ In fact, you have a stack of them.◊ You need to flip them over without damaging any corner or edge. Now, given that each one of these motherfuckers weighs about 3,400 lbs (that's almost 2 freaking tons, in case your math ain't so good), this can get dicey.

What to do? Well, you can do what we did...and install something like this◊ on each end of the offending massive timber. Note: the plywood wheel is probably taller than you are. That steel bearing wheel assembly likely weighs more than you do, too. (I should know, I had to move the fucker around.)

Why would you do such a crazy-ass thing? Well, because physics actually does work once in a while. Wheels roll, and they do it without a lot of flopping and falling and the injury/property damage that goes with both. Instead of risk, pain and yelling, you get a nice smooth roll-over. Y'know, something like◊ this, really. Believe it or not, this really works!◊

It may on occasion be painful and dangerous, but I love my job. Why? Because I get to do cool shit like this. Daily.

It's fun to work for a living.

Used to work as a stock clerk at a Krogers until I got fired for reasons I still don't know, and better yet my manager didn't tell me. I had to find out from a store manager two weeks later after I had been fired that I was.

After that I worked at a scrap metal business my friend owns part of until I was laid off.

Now, I'm awaiting my ship-out date for the Army.

Friday, I declared via e-mail that I would be working from home today due to appointments.

I decided to get an early start on the work week and started at about 1:30 AM on my laptop, today.

I'm still working, but with some barely wine in a snifter at my side.

Dress code is currently a The Tick t-shirt, boxers, and socks.

I have two computers set up on my desk, and still had a spare monitor to hook up to my work laptop.

I love my life/work.

I moved to a new office on a different floor. Of course it's a government-paid job in a potato republic (which is what you get when you strip Banana Republic of sun, tropical beaches and jungles, and instead set it somewhere like Seattle or Detroit), so all the furniture was dragged out of the basement storage and is noticeably used, the plasterboard wall has a huge, sloppily patched-up gash right next to my desk and the watercooler is half a floor away, but at least the outer wall is a wall, not plasterboard covered with blackened sheet metal that turns into a fucking oven in the summer (my previous office was like that. Yeesh).

edited 27th May '11 7:05:36 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat

This weekend is going to be a bitch, I've got a full nine hours from 10-7 outside coming tomorrow, plus six and half hours on sunday and some time or other coming monday, and I'm already tired from today's measily six hours.

And I seem to have fucked up my thumb.

edited 28th May '11 12:54:00 AM by Deboss

Fun fact, they bring us food if we work on holidays apparently. Got me some sausage and cheetos.

We have "free beer fridays" at my job. 'tis a wonderful thing.

Well, it isn't truly free, but whoever showed up late has to buy the beer.

Fuck, why does it take so many interviews to get a first job. That counts.

So...I'm starting paid employment for the summer in the lab I did my undergraduate work in (and might be doing a Ph D in later on). I'm pretty excited, although I'm going to have to learn a whole lot of new techniques - which is a bit daunting.

"new techniques" are good. They tend to make you more employable for the next job.

This is true. They are also exciting, sexy new techniques.

I'm just a bit nervous about breaking things or wasting my supervisors time.

There is free coffee at my office, and when freshly brewed, it is kept at temperatures suitable for minor burns on skin.

My office also has stocked first-aid-kits that have stuff like burn spray and hydrocortisone cream.

These two sentences are related somehow, can you guess how?

Answer: Justice burned the hell out of his left hand, because he's just that smart.

Did I mention the management took away the free sports drink?

My time has shifted to working two days a month, max. Frustrating.

Ugh... really really wish my immediate manager would tell me why her and the property manager are going to be coming in first thing in the AM to meet with me (yay, night work >.<) rather than just leaving a note telling me it was happening.

Probably nothing good, though. Given that my wife and I just bought a house, wouldn't now be the perfect time to get fired...

Or they want to talk to you about the nifty new thing they just got?

Applying for very similar jobs at two places is confusing. Trying to clear my head here.

So yay I'm the go to guy for when somebody else has fucked up and they need help at work. Just like my old job. So maybe they will start training me as a baker now like I've asked, and put in background checks for?

Nah, probably not. Being a baker would give relatively fixed hours and that would mean I can't be called in to help when somebody doesn't show.

My suggestion for a product demonstration got turned down by the manager. Apparently, we're not supposed to take some lawn chairs up to the check out and tell the customers how comfortable they are to sit in.

Oh my goodness, I've never been so grateful for air conditioning before. We didn't have A/C for about two weeks until two days ago.

We had to fire one dude this week for unnecessary belligerence and negligent handling of very very expensive equipment. Great mood in the shop this week.