Another week at Ferdinand's

Grossest thing someone ordered last week: a mint pineapple milkshake (I checked three times to make sure I heard the customer correctly.)

Best mistake of the week: a co-worker accidentally poured the raspberries in the blackberries. The mixture created a delicious milkshake.

My new favorite flavor: huckleberry (we also added watermelon to our milkshake flavors this week and it was quite popular)

In other news of the week, FFA arrived in town Wednesday night and took over the campus. Beginning Thursday at 11 a.m.ish, we had a line out the door until closing. On Friday, we had a line out the door from open to close. Some of the kiddies returned multiple times each day. That's how much there is to do in Pullman.

Finally some summer plans

I'm staying in Pullman over the summer. After a month of not knowing what I was doing this summer, the decision was essentially made for me in two days. I called Ferdinand's to see if they had any job openings, they called me for an interview the following day, and yesterday they called and offered me the job.

It was either serving ice cream or going back to the plywood plant. While I think last summer's job was a valuable life experience, the idea of experiencing it again isn't entirely appealing.

So I'm staying here. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this turn of events, but it's how it's going to be. I've already found housing via subleasing from a fellow co-worker, thankfully. It will be hard not to see my family this summer. That's the biggest down side. I haven't seen them since spring break and with my youngest sister entering high school in the fall, I wish I could be there for her.

Things at home have been a little rough and I feel guilty for not being there to help. My father has accepted the new arrangement and is supportive as always.

I sign paperwork on Tuesday. My finals should be finished by then so I may start right away.

O Hemlock tree

Since I have been working at the plant, the only kind of wood I have plugged is Douglas Fir. There were some good loads and some bad loads, but overall the Fir and I got along. Today, I had to plug Hemlock which is an evil, evil tree. The sheets were covered in knots, the wood was rough, and the ends were split. Hemlock did not make a good first impression at all.

Should find yourself at the mercy of a forest some day, remember this lesson: Hemlock is evil.

Can't Seem To Get It Right

So once again it seems I am pissed off at the moronic happenings of the world and I'm relying on AH to help me vent. Two weeks before I was to move back home, I came back for Memorial Day weekend. During that weekend I went into Big 5 to fill out all the necessary paper work so I would be ready to start when I returned in a couple weeks. The paper work process takes about a week, then they have to put me on the schedule. I was totally excited because they had given me a raise and promised me more hours and I would have Wednesday nights off for softball. We decided I would start on Wednesday the 13th. I thought I was set. Oh how naive I can be.

I came home two weeks later and called my manager, Troy, to find out when I would be working that Wednesday. Turns out my main manager, Paul, forgot to put me on the schedule. "Of course he did," I think. I was annoyed and expressed so to Troy. He sympathized and promised I would be on the schedule the next week. Sunday the 17th rolls around and I call Troy again to find out when I would be working that week and he says "Ariel, you're going to be so mad at me." *Silence* I couldn't speak. I knew what he was going to tell me and I was already pissed. All I could eek out was "No way Troy."
"I'm so sorry. Paul told me he didn't know what your availability was, so he couldn't put you on the schedule and now I'm looking for your information and I can't find your employee number or anything. You're not on any of our new hire or re-hire lists."
"Why not," I asked trying to stay calm.
"I have no idea."
"Okay...now what? I need to work Troy. I'm now two weeks without pay. What's going on?"
"I don't know. I'll figure it out though. I'll take care of you don't worry."

Well it was too late. I was beyond worried. My mom had taken that week off for my sister's graduation and decided to take me to Olympia to job hunt while she went shopping. I spend the week applying online and at location, and looking through the paper for something to do, but no one has responded. On Tuesday the 19 (the day of Ali's graduation) I called Troy again. He told me I had to come in and take care of some things I had previously been informed I didn't need to bother with. I went in and took care of business like always, and on Wednesday Troy finally called me, instead of the other way around. He asked me if I could come in on Saturday for a training day. I absolutely could. I didn't need a training day because I was already trained, but this way he wouldn't have to take hours of the schedule and I would still get paid. Plus they were going to teach me how to use the cash register, so I guess it really was a training day. While I was on the phone with him, again, I asked if I was on the schedule yet. He said no, but he had gotten a few people to give me some of their hours. Great. So naturally I asked him what days. He told me Tuesday and Wednesday. "That's it," I thought. Yup. That was it. 10 hours. That's it. I need MORE THAN THAT!!!! Fine. So, when I went in to work on Saturday I told Troy I was looking for a second job, because he had screwed me over. I hope they feel bad.

A Busy Busy Bee

Tuesday night - Capital 2007 Graduation.
Wednesday night - I made enchiladas for dinner.
Thursday night - I went to Ariel's and sorted through her old clothes. Then we went to my house and played pool.
Friday night - I came home from work (so glad that it's Friday) and realized I haven't blogged in a while.

The above are my excuses as to why you have not heard from me recently. Also, this entire week I was on the plugger with the yellow paint. It was depressing.

His name is not Jeff

I hope at some point I run out of embarrassing work stories. For the time being they just keep coming. It's as if getting a random phone number, accidentally staring at someone's lazy eye, and being asked it I like paint fumes isn't enough. Oh no, this also had to happen:

The plant is very loud so everyone wears ear plugs. It's quite difficult to hear and nearly impossible to talk to each other on the floor. My machine jammed up so I called the millwright so he could come fix it. I called him on the little red phone on the post and said, "#8 has a plug stuck."

The millwright came and he fixed. As he was leaving he said, "By the way, I'm Jeff."

"O," I replied, "I'm Christina."

"No, I'm Jeff."

"I heard you, I'm Christina. Nice to meet you. Thanks for your help."

"No, I'm deaf."

That's right. He wasn't telling me his name at all, but rather trying to let me know he was deaf and his hearing aid didn't work well on the floor. When I call, he said just to say the plugger number, and not the problem. His real name, I am still not sure of.

Have someone say "I'm deaf" to you while wearing ear plugs and you will understand how it can easily be mistaken for "I'm Jeff."

A Special Mind Set

There is one, and only one, part of the job I look forward to every day. It is the only task I derive real enjoyment from. After I finish plugging a stack of wood, I get to replace it with another stack. I then have to mark the new stack so that the grader (who sorts the wood after I plug it) knows which sheets came from my stack. I mark the wood by spray painting two corners.

After tapping my foot for two hours, the chance to step down and spray paint something is a welcome relief. My favorite paint to use is the silver. The worst color is the yellow because you can't even see it on the wood so you might not as well spray paint the wood at all.

It's a good day for me at work when I get to use the silver paint. It's a not so good day when I have to use the yellow paint. In the world of plywood making, there is little to derive enjoyment from.

I decided to briefly tell the grader how much I look forward to my brief spray painting moments. He looked at me with a straight face and said, "Why do you like it so much? Is it because of the fumes?"

I silently shook my head and went back to work. I recounted the tale to my father and he said I just have to get used to that kind of mind set in my particular work place. In the future I think I'll just plug and keep my comments to myself.

New Story for an Old Lunch Pail

I take a very special lunch pail with me to work every day. It is the lunch pail my grandfather took with him when he worked at the mill and the one my dad used during his brief employment with Simpson. It is an old lunch pail, a little grungy with rusty hinges. Still, I simply keep my food wrapped extra well and set it on the break room table with pride. My lunch pail has a history. It also has a new owner's experience to add to its being.

I set my lunch pail in the same spot on the same table every day (or so I have for the past six I have worked). Today, however, as I went into the lunch room to retrieve it, it was not in its spot. There was a retirement party occurring, so my pail had been moved to make way for a cake. I looked, but couldn't find it.

"It's on the window sill," a boy I work with volunteered.
"Thank you," I said.

I picked up my lunch pail to walk to my seat and discovered a piece of paper tucked under its rusty handle. I slowly unfolded it and turned bright red, I'm talking instant flush. I admit now that perhaps I over reacted. Someone had written a phone number on the piece of paper. There is no name, just a phone number. As I am on a first name basis with approximately two people at the plant, my supervisor and my trainer, I have no idea who it came from.

You might think it came from the boy who so gladly volunteered my lunch pail's location. Perhaps. But why not begin by saying, "Hello," or learning my name. What am I supposed to do with a phone number with no name, face, or person attached to it?

Also, as much as I would like to be, I am not that flattered. I am the only female I have run across in the plant's vicinity under the age of 35. If it did indeed come from one of the boys I work with, they don't have very many options. I'm about it. I also don't hesitate to admit that after working for 8 hours in the heat and dust, I am not in my most attractive state. I feel absolutely no need to wear make-up to work at a plywood plant. I'm a little confused actually as to why I recieved the paper in the first place.

I have yet to decide what to do. I am left with a random phone number. No other information included. But at least it adds one more piece of intrigue to my lunch pail.

I am a Line Plugger.

My orientation went well yesterday. We watched a movie and took a test on what was covered in it. We were allowed to take notes and use them on the test. It was not that difficult. I began my very first day of work today at the plywood plant. I finally learned exactly which job I would be doing.

I am a Raimann line plugger. I control a machine which punches out the bad knots in very thin sheets of wood and replaces the hole with a non-knotted plug. I control the plugger/punchy-outy part (I don't know technical terms yet) with a foot pedal. There is a second foot pedal which controls a tape dispenser so if the edges of the board are cracked I can tape them.

The job is not too difficult, but I still have to learn which knots have to plugged and which can be left. I also have to learn how to keep the wood at the highest grade possible. The number of knots and plugs and cracks changes the grade. The most difficult part for me is dealing with the size of the sheets. They're 8' by 4'. They're not heavy, but large. I'm not tall enough to punch both sides of the sheet, so I have to spin it around each time. Veterans make maneuvering the sheets look easy, but it is not. My arms are even a little sore.

For the first few hours today, I actually just sat in the break room because everyone was too busy to teach me. My supervisor told me I couldn't leave the room until I was properly trained, but I really needed to go to the bathroom as I had coffee before work. I got paid to sit in a chair, but it was a bit uncomfortable.

I spent all of the afternoon being trained. I have more training tomorrow morning, but I don't know when I move to my own machine. I also am off Friday through Monday because of Memorial Day weekend. I can see how the job will quickly become boring, monotonous, and that time will pass extremely slowly when plugging., but all this was expected. I think my paycheck may make up for it. It'll be a couple more days of work before I know for sure.

A Job I Hadn't Considered

Also, while on the subject of jobs, I was provisionally hired today.

I found an ad online yesterday seeking temporary college hires for the summer. The job is mill work, something I had never considered before, but the job pays much better than any other I might hope to get this summer. I'm not afraid of hard work and I think in the long run it will be good for me to take this job. It will make me appreciate things in the future.

Tomorrow all I have to do is pass a drug test and another test after an orientation and I'm hired. I better not have jinxed myself by assuming I have the job already. I worry that somehow something will go wrong. I'm just relieved to have a job that I really want this one to work out.

What tool would you be?

As usual, I have fallen behind on posting. I spent the weekend with Ariel and have since continued my frantic job search. I've been looking for, applying for, and interviewing for jobs since the Tuesday after I got home from school. That was May 8th.

Today I headed out yet again in search of a job. I put in an application at a local juice bar. After handing in the application the girl behind the counter said she had to ask me a question that they have to ask everyone.

"If you were any tool in a tool shed, which tool would you be?"

I coolly hid my slight annoyance at so silly a question and said I would be a rake.

"Then I'd get to work in a garden and I would make such nice neat lines which dragged on the ground."