Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Eight Hours

Today, after two months of unemployment, I spent eight hours of my day working in a plastics company, doing packaging and what-not. Eight freaking hours.

I used to work eight hours at the daycare all the time and loved it. I love working long hours and feeling accomplished. And it was super fun because it was eight hours I got to spend playing with little kid. What on earth could be better than that?

But these eight hours were different. Very very different. So here's a little play-by-play of how it went down.

3:00 PM

I receive a phone call from the temp agency that I had applied to that morning. They said they had a really great job doing production for a company. They needed someone right away to work from 3:50 to 12:20. Because I'm desperate for money, I agreed. And Chris and I left Home Depot, ignoring our errands, and headed back home so I could change and get to this job.

3:45 PM

I arrive at the job after feeling a little lost from the long drive in an unfamiliar part of town (technically not in town, it wasn't actually in Logan, but close enough). They greet me warmly and invite me in. I begin to watch the whole production process that I will be doing. By watching I'm able to figure most of it out.

3:30 PM

I have been working for a half hour and everything was great! I was on the first station, lying things in order on a conveyor belt. Simple.  It was easy and I liked it. The radio was on and I was singing along and sort of dancing around. It was great.

6:00 PM

I'm thinking, "Wow! It's six already! That went by way fast!" By this point I'd had already switched stations twice. I learned to put the bottles into the little gray things and put them on the conveyor belt with the hole on the right. I learned how to put the cap things on the bottles. And I was in the process of learning how to take the bottles off the conveyor belt, take the gray things off, shake the bottles to make sure they weren't leaking, wipe off any liquid and put the bottle in the box. Simple.

8:00 PM

We were given a break. At which point I was very relieved. I went into the break room and bought a water and listened to group of people laughing hysterically about something in Spanish (man I wish I could understand Spanish). I called my dad back after he had called me three times while I had been working. My dad was incredibly enthusiastic about the fact that I was working. He was saying how great it was and how excited he was for me. Then he put my mom on the phone and she recognized the tone in my voice saying that this job isn't all the great.

8:30 PM

Break is over and we head back to the production room. I learn the final station where you sit at the machine and put the bottle and the other things into these tubes and then they go into the plastic thing and then you press the thing with your foot and it seals the plastic and VOILA! the product is finished!

9:00 PM

I'm thinking, man my foot hurts. It was getting really annoying to press that thing with my foot. I can drive for hours but I can't press a knob with my foot for half an hour?

9:30 PM

We switch stations again and I'm relieved. I'm back to the first station, which I decided I like the best.

10:20 PM

I realize just how much my back, which already had a pulled muscle from working out, hurts. It gets really hard on your back to keep bending over and putting things on a conveyor belt. Also at this point I decide that I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to go home and have my husband hold me.

10:40 PM

IT appears...

The largest spider...

That I have ever seen...

And my heart starts beating a million beats a second. And I feel myself hyperventilating. And having a horrible anxiety attack. And for the next twenty-five minutes I'm working at a slower pace, keeping my eye on this giant spider to make sure it doesn't attack me. I HATE SPIDERS!!!

10:50 PM

Seeing the spider reminds me that earlier a giant fly flew into my hair. Which really irritated me, but it was a fly, so it wasn't the end of the world.

11:10 PM

I'm over at the other station, away from the spider. But I can't stop thinking about it...

11:20 PM

IT runs across the floor!! It stops in the middle of the floor and just sits there.... waiting to do something evil, I'm sure of it! So I continue working, but keeping my eye on the spider. Then I look at it, and think, this doesn't look like the same spider... Are there two spiders???

11:25 PM

 I get a bit closer and realize it is the same spider. But my panic attack doesn't end. I begin to think, "It's in the middle of the floor! How am I the only one who sees this thing? Why can't someone else see it and kill it and end my misery!!!!!" And while I turn away for one second to place the bottle on the conveyor belt... IT DISAPPEARS!!

11:30 PM

I'm panicking!! Where is this spider? What is it doing? I'm feeling itchy all over!! I'm freaking out!

11:35 PM

I see it again! It's behind the boxes! It's hiding, waiting to commit its evil schemes!

11:40 PM

Someone moves the box and the spider goes running! Why doesn't anyone else see it??? I begin to realize I'm the only one who sees this spider. And why? Why am I the only one who sees it? Why can't I be like everyone else? I think I would like that better, to have never seen it. To remain innocent. Why couldn't I have remained innocent?

11:50 PM

This boy is messing with the boxes and spider is just running back and forth and I'm thinking "WHY ON EARTH CAN'T THIS BOY SEE THIS SPIDER???"

11:55 PM

I start getting really excited realizing that all the people enter the room are there to take over my job! YAY!! I'm so ready to go home!!

12:00 PM

I'm sick of them training these people about the stations, just let them take over my job already! ...I still haven't forgotten about the spider. And I'm watching as the girl is sweeping the floor, waiting for her to discover its evilness. And then it occurs to me that my purse is sitting on the floor... on the floor... the same floor that this giant evil spider is crawling all over!!!!

12:05 PM

No one has discovered this spider yet! And worse, I don't even know where it is!! Where is this spider?? What is it doing? What are its evil plans? When will it attack???

12:10 PM

Times up! I'm done! I very slowly pick my purse off the floor and shake it a little.

12:20 PM

I finally get to leave! I run into the dark, into the rain to my car, freaking out that I'm in the dark in the middle of no where and I'm scared and freaking out!

12:35 PM

I realize I'm lost. Don't know where to go. It's dark. My car's lights are really bright. A creepy truck driver is following me. Where on earth is the highway?!

12:40 PM

I finally find the highway. It's a quick route back to my apartment. I'm so relieved!! I get to go home! I get to see my husband!!

12:45 PM

MY HUSBAND ISN'T THERE!!! Why isn't my husband home? It's 12:45 PM!!

12:55 PM

My husband walks in the door, I run to him, hold him tighter than I ever have before and say, "I know we need money, but please don't make me do that again."

____________________________________________

NOTE: I do realize that the last sentence makes me sound really selfish. But don't worry, it's not true, I'm just being dramatic. If they needed me to do the job again, I'd do it. But I'd maybe wear boots to make me feel more protected from spiders on the floor. OH!! And it was fun because I got to wear GOGGLES!!!


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