Friday, June 30, 2006

Day 6: Griffin On Board

The morning started off slow...me still without my orange sticker, and everyone else working inside the clean room. Brad and I stayed outside, receiving the grids (for the fans) that will eventually be installed in the ceiling. That's a tedious and boring job, cause we gotta get it lined up to go inside, and then cut it out of the shrink wrap. After that, we wheel it inside and then we wipe down, before it enters the inner chamber of the clean room. It takes forever in between grids, and Brad and I honestly fell asleep on our feet. I couldn't keep my eyes open and it was really creepy, since I've never been that tired and not been able to even sit down before.

It seemed like forever before the first break came, and Brad and I were so happy. I bought a Coke and we ate plenty of food to keep us awake. It was Griffin's first day today, but he wasn't done with orientation by the 9am break. Brady was gone too, cause he volunteered to translate for two new employees who only spoke spanish. He said he did alright, but had to talk around some things cause he didn't know the technical words in spanish. We all thought he was out of his mind when he offered to do it, as there were at least 2 people we know of that speak both languages fluently. He came out seemingly unscathed, so whatever. Our first break didn't last long enough and it was back to work.

Alex, our supervisor, sent us to work at the other pass-thru station, cleaning white tiles and pedestal heads for the workers expanding the platforms inside. It might have been the fact that we were all together, (Skye, Brad, Quinn and I...Brady showed up later) that made it go faster, but from 9:30 to 12:00 seemed infinitely shorter and more enjoyable--not to mention we actually stayed awake.

At lunch Griffin joined us and we talked and joked around, and we were all happy he'd decided to work with us. Lunch, although short, was much better than 9am break, and we left the lunchroom preparing Griffin for the crazy guy in the scissor-lift and everyone else we thought he should at least know about. By the way, the crazy guy in the scissor-lift, on Brad's first day as we were walking past, yelled down to Brad, "Hey Sunshine!" and we were like, "Uh...hello." Besides random stuff like that, he enjoys passing the time by just yelling...nothing specific--probably nothing more than a one-syllable random note. Brady calls him the Troll, just so you know. I forgot to mention the guy yesterday, who while we were passing hollered, "HEY!" like he wanted our attention, but when we turned to see what he wanted, he said "Hi." And that was it...

I lose track of the time we spend laughing about the crazy people we work with, but it's time well-spent...trust me.

Anyway, we prepared Griff for the experience ahead of him, and witnessed the afternoon "Stretch & Flex" firsthand. Always a good time, and in the running for the most enjoyable 5 minutes of our day. After the "Stretch & Flex" I went to ask Steve if he had gotten any more orange stickers. Unfortunately he hadn't, but Aaron was standing right there, and so Steve took Aaron's badge and ripped his sticker off, putting it onto mine. I felt bad for Aaron, who is kind of a right-hand man for someone. I dunno quite what his position is, but he sort of works with hiring through Brycon and associating with newer members. He's a cool guy and didn't mind. Now I have an orange sticker, except it's ghetto, cause it's like not even a whole sticker and it's in two pieces. I still have to find a new one, but odds are, I'll never get one.

After working a long time, while Brady went back to translate for the new workers in the Protocal Training session. Griffin went too, as he needed to be trained as well. Once he got back, I showed him around the workplace and told him just what we were doing. After a while, I finally got to gown up and go into the clean room. It's massive! And it's so cool inside--cool as in awesome, but also cold, since we need to keep fans going and keep it cool to maintain a low particle count. I helped wipe down tiles as we passed them through the station, and despite my minimal movement, it was unusually warm.

Jacob, an idiot friend of our idiot coworker, Colby, was forced to work with us, cleaning tiles. Alex brought him over and she told him to help. He wiped down like 3 and then disappeared for like 20 minutes. He randomely poked his head around the wall and said "I'm going to the bathroom, okay?" as if we really believed him...or cared. Then five minutes later Alex shows up looking for him. From what we gathered, he was not working like he should, and was giving her trouble before she placed him at our pass-thru. We told her that he had disappeared for like 20 minutes after wiping down a few tiles and then had told us he was going to the bathroom five minutes before she arrived. She looked perturbed and left. 10 minutes later she returned, asking us if we had a watch...we confirmed that we did, and she asked us to let her know what time he got back. Like 15 minutes passed and suddenly everyone was leaving the clean room. We were told that the particle count was way too high and that we needed to evacuate it immediately. The normal is like 65,000 particles or something like that. Skye said he had heard it was like 45,000 over...which is huge. Brady said he heard like 150,000 over, which is like...I dunno....just really not good, since it's like three times the regular count.

We thought it felt hot. Turns out the fans stopped working, and thus stopped ventilating. That was one of the problems, and we don't know if it was the only one or not. It was like 3:30 when we evacuated and were told to leave cause there was nothing left to do today. We got to go home a day early, but it was pretty crazy. Probably had something to do with Colby and Jacob...idiots. We're just waiting for them to get fired.

Great. My first day in the clean room was spoiled, but the blow was lessened by the fact that we got to go home an hour earlier. Woohoo! Today was good, I guess.


Quote of the Day:

"Almost all trolls are evil, Brady."
-Skye

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Day 5: Where Is My Dang Orange Sticker?

I honestly feel like a train hit me...in the foot. There's something wrong with my feet, and standing on them for 10 hours straight everyday couldn't be the best way to treat them. Speaking of treating them, my foot doctor, Mark Rogers, is the best. He's giving me an anti-imflammatory which, should help to kill the pain.

Today we began the day by standing around after the "Stretch & Flex" and waiting for one of the supervisors to make us work. Brad and I got left out, cause Jayson took all he needed, and Alex only took the ones who had the orange stickers and were thereby "qualified" to work in the clean room. Brad and I took the class and are actually certified, but since we don't have the orange sticker on our badges, we're not allowed in, according to IMFT. So we spent the whole day standing outside the clean room wiping down object after object. Then we'd move to the other side of the room and wipe down some other stuff. Everything we wipe down is then allowed to enter the clean room environment. We wiped down, among many other things: pedestals, steel grate floor tiles, large fan-holding metal wall thingies, buckets of bolts, screws and nuts, and Gypsie Runabout (lift machines). There were more, oh yes...many more things.

The times before and in between the two breaks went by relatively quickly, with some drudgery and monotony. But after lunch it seemed as though it would never end. I was so dang tired. Then, while we were wiping down a Gypsie, "Supernintendo" Steve (the Supterintendant) came over and only had 2 orange stickers with him. We hadn't received them yet, cause the lady yesterday sucked and forgot them. There were three of us there who didn't have stickers: Brad, Renae, and me. It was just my luck that when I turned my back they got the only two, and I'm still here, sitting before you, without a sticker. Steve said he would get me one, but yeah....like that was gonna happen.

Basically I'm dead on my feet, or was by the end of the day. We spent so much time standing, since were not allowed to sit. Brad, on our 50th trip back from the garbage at like 4:15 said, "Funny how you can tell it's the end of the day by the fact that NOBODY is talking cause they're so tired." I laughed....in my head.

I just can't wait for tomorrow. That was kinda true, cause Griffin joins the ranks, making our little crew, six men strong. That was kinda not true though....since I can barely stand. Well, hopefully tomorrow ends up being fun and less tiring. Maybe I'll even get my freaking orange sticker so I can see what the clean room really looks like.


Quote of the Day:

"Woah, that was the weirdest feeling of my life. My left cheek (butt cheek) was, like, vibrating. There must be something going on underneath the floor, making it shake."
-Brad

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Day 4: Brad Joins the Crew, and Grant Realizes His Mistake

Today was, at best, enlightening. Not in the academic and fully-uplifting manner I have come to associate the word with during our frequent intellectual discussions in AP Literature this year, but enlightening in the sense that I now understand the meaning of "an honest day's work."

I knew it'd be hard...I just didn't know it'd be that long. Ten hours, yeah, I knew it was ten hours; but I assumed that if I was busy doing stuff, the time in-between breaks would pass seemingly quickly. Nope. And it didn't help that I had periodic bouts of complete bodily shutdowns, where my mind wandered and seemed to leave my body altogether--then I'd be awakened by someone saying, "Hey, Rich, would you lift that please?" sounding kinda annoyed that it had taken three times asking to get me to respond. I only hope that I'll be able to eat a better breakfast and possibly get some caffeine into my body's circulatory system earlier.

I couldn't help wishing I was in Brad's shoes, no matter how bored and tired I knew he was. Although an hour early to Orientation, he was able to sit in a chair until like 10:30am, and then tour the facility and eat lunch all before 12:30pm, when he met up with us at our second daily "Stretch & Flex." He got an easy, though mind-numbing, morning, while I stood (because Steve doesn't like us to sit, even for the shortest time) and carried giant pieces of plywood and large steel grates to cover big holes in the ground, until lunch.

Lunch was good, but the fact that my lunchbox was a complete joke compared to everyone else's lunchboxes, which were like cooler's and stuff that could hold like three of my-sized meals. So I went and bought a bigger one today at Wal-mart, so I wouldn't fell emasculated anymore...at least in that sense.

Basically, after lunch, Brad and I headed over to Protocal Training, so we could work in the clean room that we're constructing. We'll just be wiping stuff down, you know, keeping stuff clean for the clean room...to be more clean. That was boring and I kept dozing off...so did Brad. So now we're "certified" to work in the clean room, though I don't really remember anything from the presentation. Eh, you learn more stuff onsite than in a classroom anyway.

After that, we headed over and spent a while wiping stuff down for the clean room, outside the clean room, cause the lady who certified us didn't have the authorization stickers, so we weren't really officially allowed, and we still aren't yet. After that, we went and caulked for like fifty years...or maybe just like, an hour and a half, but it was so dang long. We caulked those fallback grates that we had previously installed that morning.

Once we were finally done, and had cleaned up, we headed home and after Brad and I showered, we met at Panda Express to talk and eat a hearty dinner. Oh man...bliss. I was so full. Brad was exhausted, and I was like, "You're exhausted??? You sat in a chair for like 6 hours!" And then he said, "Well, I was in sleep mode those 6 hours, and then I had to try to wake up and it didn't work...and that caulking was crazy." So I took his word for it.

Hmm....I'm definitely ready for bed. Yep. Until tomorrow.


Quote of the Day:

Brady: "Grant, you're a Dick."

::Grant hangs up on Brady without saying goodbye::

Brad: "Woah there..."
Brady: "His first name's Richard...so he's Dick."
Brad: "Oh yeah."

Day 2 & 3: Brady, Quinn and Skye Survive

On Tuesday and Wednesday (June 20 & 21), while I was sitting comfortably in my chair at Allen's Camera, and chatting away about photography, my friends were enduring their first few days of grueling construction labor. They came out of it both tired and laughing about lots of new people that they'd met.

They seem to be enjoying their new coworkers, despite their foul mouths and bad habits. I must admit I'm a little jealous because of their new secret talk, while I'm left out of their chats about work...even though I was the one who found them the job...ironic.

Anyway, today is actually the day I really started (June 28), and I'm just catching you up on the job. Now I'll write about today.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Day 1: Orientation

Today we have been officially tagged as "young pups."

Starting a new job can sometimes be difficult. I mean, it's hard for me to leave Allen's Camera, after having worked there for just over a year. But I'm basically getting screwed over, making only $6/hr and working just as many hours a week as I was during high school when I had 4 AP classes and very little time for work. However, I am leaving and moving on to bigger and better things...namely: construction.

A job that was advertised as "Light General Labor" has transformed before my very eyes today, into something of a huge undertaking. What I felt assured would be a good day's work, yet still not too intense, became something very different as I sat in the orientation room this morning at 6am.

Brady Rice, Quinn Robbins, Skye Larsen and I all applied for work, which we all deemed appropriate for a summertime job. What was advertised as 40 hrs/week + 15-20 hrs/week overtime, evolved into 60 hrs/week (Monday - Saturday) faster than we could blink, during our first interview. We were all hired, of course, as Aerotek seemed unusually happy to have us aboard.

The highlight of my week was peeing in a cup, awkwardly enough. It was the first drug test I'd been required to partake in, and I admit, it was an enlightening experience. I got yet another witness to the stupidity of drugs and those who do them. To urinate in a little cup is demeaning enough, but to actually go through that all and test positive for drugs...that's just sad. I'd hate to be caught that way...through my urine. I'd much rather go down in some sort of heroic and rebellious manner, clutching my cigarette as the police haul me off the to slammer...or something like that. Not that I would ever smoke or use any sort of drug...I'm against that. It's just that peeing in a cup seems like the loser's-way-out.

Anyway, the four of us show up today, bright and early, groggy-eyed and wondering when the next break would be. We sat down in the front row, and were issued a hard hat and safety goggles, which we promptly put on. We must have looked pretty goofy up there in the front (obviously sucking up) with our hard hats and safety glasses, ready to sit there for three hours and listen to a guy tell us all about safety. The room was full of experienced veterans of construction, averaging about 35-40 years in age. You could tell that these men were going to hate us by the end of the summer...in fact, I wasn't too sure that they didn't already hate us. We were laughing and joking around, just enjoying ourselves the whole morning. I mean, we really must have looked as though we had no idea what was about to happen--and I honestly still don't, cause I had to leave early to get to my other job (Allen's) for one of my last days.

They gave us this book, put out by Hoffman, about safety around the workplace. It had all kinds of stuff, but we found a couple interesting pages with drawings, and since we're graduated, we're going to avoid reading as much as is humanly possible. One page had the hand signals for communicating with a Boom Operater. We quizzed each other on the different signals, just for fun. Thumbs-up meant Raise Boom, Thumbs-down meant Lower Boom, Rotating your hand in a circle with your index finger pointing up meant to Raise Load, the opposite indicated that we wanted the load lowered. There were some other weird ones that meant some other crazy stuff. Anyway, we messed around with that a while before the Orientation started.

Partway through the orientation the speaker, Michael, started to talk about misconduct, and horseing around--you know, how it is prohibited and stuff--and the following scene occured:

Michael: Now if you walk in and start messing around someone's gonna drop the boom on ya.
Me and Quinn: ::thumbs down::

I could only assume he was using some jargon, rather than referring to an actual boom, but whatever. We giggled about it, though, as it was funny at the time. You know that point at about 1am, when you and your friends are so dang tired, that everything anyone says is extremely funny, and laugh at the stupidest things? I usually refer to it as "laugh point." Anyway, I think that if you wake up early enough, laugh point can actually occur in the early hours of the morning, rather than late at night. We sure were close, if anything.

I think that the hardest task I had to deal with today was where on my helmet I should place my Hoffman sticker. I didn't actually see any action, like my peers. I've been sitting at Allen's all day, wondering what happened. I actually just heard from Quinn that the work is pretty hard, but at the same time...not. The impression that I got from the orientation was that the "Light General Labor" that we signed up for was actually hard-core, real-life construction. Like, this is the real deal...the big time. From what Quinn described, it's not that bad...but you never know what tomorrow holds in store.

I just pray that this doesn't turn out to be some huge Civil War situation, where the young and innocent teenagers sign up, thinking that it would be kinda fun to see some action, and that anything is better than sitting at home doing nothing. The last thing I'd want is to find out, like those boys who ran off to sign up for the army to have an adventure, that this is something much bigger than any of us ever could have expected. No, wait...I guess the last thing I'd want to happen is that I get killed like most of those boys did...the other thing would probably second to last.


Quote of the Day:

"Yeah, they told us that our number-one priority is to be safe...and our number-two priority is to get paid...so I'm just gonna go and stand around, and when they ask me what I'm doing, I'll tell them that I'm staying safe and getting paid, and that's all I need to worry about."
-Quinn