The Dragon's Keep

"when it rains..."

You know, I never really got the full meaning of that old saying until today. Sometimes, you just have one of those days when something goes wrong and no matter how hard you try to tell yourself that the rest of the day will be alright, you just know that it's gonna be a bad day. Today was one of those for me, and it was a doozy right from the start. I didn't sleep well last night because I kept having bad dreams I don't even remember now, so I was way more tired than usual and considered just calling in because I had a feeling it was just going to get worse. But I really need the money, no matter how much my job sucks, so I just sucked it up and went. I decided not to pack a lunch, however, because I didn't think I'd be that hungry today. Fortunately, at least that turned out to be the case, because nothing else went right. The 20 minute drive to northeast Bakersfield was uneventful at first, though I was running a bit late. I got stopped for a train, but it was only a short one so no big deal. Then, about an eighth of a mile from the plant, just before the second of three sets of railroad tracks I have to cross, the back left wheel of my dad's Accord made a noise like I'd run over a huge pothole or something, but I hadn't run anything over so I didn't know what had happened, and even though I suspected what it was, I was like "nah, couldn't be." But sure enough, as I passed through the guard tower into work, the guard stopped me and said "hey, you know you're driving on a flat, right?" By now I was starting to get frustrated because I had planned on going to get some gas during lunch because I forgot to put some in yesterday after I ran some errands, and it was nearly empty. But I just took a deep breath, made sure there was a spare and a jack in the trunk, and told myself not to worry about it until after work, when it would be no big deal to change a tire, especially with my brother there to help. But I also knew my dad would be frustrated because he always is when stuff happens to his car. Ironically enough, everything that has happened has been when I'm driving, and so it's always *my* fault, even though stuff just happens.

Anyway, on top of everything, they stuck me with the one co-worker that I just can't get along with, and that's saying something because I usually get along with most everyone. Even in high school, I can honestly say there was only one person I just couldn't stand and couldn't get along with no matter how hard I tried. This woman is rude and impatient and doesn't know how to work with a team. The line I was working on is usually not hard to keep up with, but she had it going so fast that all six of the stacks of foam bowls I was supposed to be counting and bagging were completely full and there was no way I would get caught up. So I went and stopped the foam from feeding through the cutter so that we could get caught up, which was a perfectly logical thing to do at the time. Well the next thing I know, this woman comes running up to where we're all trying to hurry and get caught up so we could start it up again, and she's like "who cut the line?" I told her I did because we were all backed up, and she was like "no, there's no need to stop the line, just do it this way and it'll go faster." Then she demonstrated the way I had been doing it already, and when I tried to tell her, she waved me off and told me to go on break. And it was like that pretty much all day. I didn't dare stop the line again, so she let us get completely screwed with no hope of ever catching up or getting anything productive done really. And what gets me is that she never helps when we really need it. She thinks that because she's a line operator that means she doesn't have to do anything besides start it up and keep it going. So anyway, at 4:00, when my shift is over and I'm supposed to go clock out because they don't want to pay us overtime, she has disappeared again, and so I find another operator and ask him to stop the line so it doesn't get any worse for the next shift, and so that we can go. Then this other chick who is on the same brainwave as the obnoxious operator got mad that we'd stopped the line again and tried to tell us that we had to stick around until the next shift people got there to take over for us. I was so tired and frustrated, but I at least tried to stay calm and explain that the supervisors have told us that at 4:00 we leave, whether the line is going or not and whether the next people are there or not. She still said we had to stay and so I finally just waved her off and left because that's what I've been told to do. So if either of them complains to the supervisor, all I have to do is tell him what happened and I'm not at fault, so I'm not worried about that at all.

*pant pant* My stories are always so long, I know.

posted by Erin Duncan @ 11:57 PM