Kit's Kitty Korner [2 to 30!]

[galled]

I'm getting the impression injuries are pretty common there. Would that be right?

No one wants anyone to get hurt!

[Kitalpha Hart]

Yup
I have three fingers on one hand and bottom of the wrist on the other bandaged, bruises on my thighs, and belly, and those are all from the boxes. Cardboard
Oh yeah and my palms ache from popping open the one box type we have here
Oh, and blisters on my toes. I probably should get new shoes but I'm gonna insist on steeltoes again. Not necessary, but considering how often I whack my toes at some areas, useful

[Kitalpha Hart]

*slams palms on table and then winces*
Today was a DAY. Gonna get a bit gross
Back on five
•Competent
•should not be here for medical reasons. But HR was giving her shit
•really slow for some reason
•me

The other girl, when tonight's supervisor saw her, he was wtf, you're in no condition to be here. But the whole HR thing, trying to tell her doctor's note or none she has to come in or be gone. And they told her should couldn't use her nose thingie because recovering from bronchitis. My friend saw her basically collapsed in the bathroom and the supervisor was "go home." So she's now in the ER
Competent guy set it more or less so he would be on bulkheads when I was trimming to help me when I inevitably fell behind. He had asked if I had trained on it, so I told him about how I was faring on that line
Normally competent dude, well, turns out he was trying to not vomit all day. Twenty minutes before shift end, it allllllllll came out. Poor guy. And because he saw so slow, he backed us way up. Like when he was trimming, he had it so backed up bottles were falling off inside the machine. I went over and helped, but I'm not at speed. And the machine was slowed down! But thankfully competent guy kept going over and helping because wow. Bottles were on the floor too. It was bad. And, of course, when he puked, he and I were packing so that got massively backed up. And a material handler came over and helped and they changed the order of a different thing to catch up
So basically by end of shift competent guy and I were the only two left of the original four. And the line was backed up still. Good luck to first shift

[npixelz]

Sounds like a stressful time

[galled]

Sounds like OSHA needs to have a look around if they haven't.

[Kitalpha Hart]

Well, HR dickery is more a labor board thing
And the sick guy? Should have called in instead

[Lemon Cheesecake]

oh no, oh no, oh no! What a day by the sounds of it!

Can they get you fingerless gloves with padded palms or something protective to use?

Hope you don't get sick! With the whole covid you think they would be worried about people coming in sick and the bronchial thing can be life threatening so am surprised they weren't letting her use the inhaler.

Do you get a couple days off or are you working the overtime?

[Kitalpha Hart]

Saturday was mandated
The one girl I mentioned was back, and so wired on steroids it was like she hadn't been out sick. Other guy was back too
So same line again. Me, that girl, a tall black guy, and a short white guy
Short white guy is slow as fuck. Like I'm first week and I'm faster. Dude. The other guy ended up calling the supervisor and telling him that he had a massive backup and because I was at tape with everything I could do done, I was spending most of my time waiting. So he got a very firm talking to
I had one too, over a thing I forgot. But, I'm new, still learning, common beginner mistake so my scolding was less scold and more reminder

[Lemon Cheesecake]

It's too bad they can't have people cycle through along the line so if they are done their portion they can go back and help with the other spots.

With your descriptions I realize I never really thought about those bottles I have a tough time opening. I just thought it was all done by machine.

[Kitalpha Hart]

The bottles themselves are made by machines
We just have to trim off the excess on the sides (and top and bottom spending on the bottle, on five the bottom is unnecessary and the top is usually good)
Those weed spray bottles with the hoses on the sides? Yeah. The nozzle the hose goes into has to be put in. The pump on top we put in. It if has to be printed, it has to be flame treated so the print stays on (when we had 200 printed i flubbed the flame treating of three, tho in all honesty those three may have simply had time to cool down and not an oops on my end. Thankfully there were about 14 extras for the printer to grab from), and then the rest of the stuff. For the embossed bottles, the instructions and the hose in a separate package. There's also assembling the boxes (popping them open with the emboss, a lot more work for printing), putting the stuff all in, and then sliding it through the tape machine. The line I've been on, the tape machine is a fair distance from the corner the packing happens at so there's a second person taping and putting in pallets
Is a lot of work, and god help you if you're a trainee and slapped with someone who will not help you whatsoever and then have the gall to complain that you're slow and unhelpful

Oh, we are supposed to cycle through all the stations. Every half hour. Is just the line I've been at is isolated from the others, so if someone is slow as all fuck, they back everything else up. If they're having an off day, or they're new and their trainer is guiding them, that's one thing. But this guy is on week three, he's had his training, and I, on week one, am faster? Oh, and he's basically pissed everyone off because he's shown no signs of improving. At all. As in even I'm irritated at his dawdling. He won't make union, and apparently they're looking to get rid of him sooner rather than later. But he's definitely going to be gone before he hits 90 days and thus union, where it becomes much much much harder to get removed
Unless he went through a temp agency. Then he's got 135 days of probation

Oh, and helping others on the other lines that you're not assigned to: first and second shift? Don't. You will get in trouble, even if you're well ahead and the person you're helping is struggling. Third? Naw man, go right ahead. Even quality will step in as long as you're making an effort. Or, if you're really struggling, the one material handler will also step in and help
Thankfully, with the tips and tricks I'm being taught, as well as adjusting, I'm picking up speed. When the line's backed up from second shift, yeah, anyone is gonna appreciate a second hand to catch up
First paycheck hits Thursday

[Lemon Cheesecake]

oh wow. Ya union jobs can be stickler for rules and not doing "someone else's" craft or position.

Glad you are feeling more confident at your work. Paycheck will be nice with the overtime!

[Kitalpha Hart]

Not so much the union itself as one or two way high ups on the corporate side being micromanaging pricks
And since basically no one above a certain place on the food chain knows what graveyard shift does, we have more freedom that way. And it's at least in part why they're the clean-up crew

[Watery Star]

Yay payday!

[Kitalpha Hart]

Payday is Thursday
Was a good check

[npixelz]

Hooray for payday