A Little "What's What" On The Job

I'm a packer, which means I take a good look at the profiles (the fiberglass cut outs which are then shipped to paint detail, then vaneer, and then the window and doors department where the product is pieced together and complete), wipe them down with some chemical, and then stack them onto their repsective crates.

I've noticed that the longer I will work with this company the more familiar I will be with the routines and opporations; I will also become more familiar with the humor in each individual worker. I've grown to notice that there's a lot of absurdly funny things during my shift. For instance, last night one of the opporators gave out some hats with draw strings which look as if one might go out on a safari any minute during the work hours--but you can't do that for it is against company policy. "No imaginative safaris allowed." And even last night, another example sort of makes it's way into my recollection. At about 3 AM another opporator had put a sticker, which is used around the factory for work purposes, on his blue jump suit which said, "Do Not Stack." Thanks, man, it would have been bad for my credibility if I had tried to stack a human being onto one of those crates. Of course, most anything is funny at 3 AM.

Last week, when checking out the quality of one particular kind of profile, I noticed there was a bow in the 10-15 foot long piece; so I went to the opporator who ran that production line, and trying to put a little humor in the statement, warning him of the problem, I said, "Hey, you've got a rainbow in your profile." He looked at me with his eyebrows up and tried to analyze what I had siad. "A Rainbow?" I haven't said it since.

This morning I went to an employee training meeting with the company's HR lady, learning about the company philosphy (which is really the Golden Rule), the company's expectations from employees, setting goals, the quarterly evaluations that each employee (including supervisors) must take. I also applied for the company;s benfits package of medical, dental, vision insurance. I was pretty tired going into the meeting, my eyes felt as if they were burning, but I made it through in a coherent way; I am thankful to God for the chance to have such benfits on the horizon. God is preparing me for my tasks ahead, as He is preparing each of you.