Ugh.

Music: Group Therapy episode #17
5:30p

What a week it's been. I thought I had kicked this illness, but this weekend it decided to get its revenge, leaving me miserable not to mention exhausted. 

Thursday, I came down with an infection as a side effect of the medication I was on for the strep throat, which freaked me out, as that was the first time I'd encountered such a thing. I started medication for that, and so far, it's improving. I talked with some friends, and got some much needed advice (thanks, Dr. Heather), and felt much better. Another friend made me feel better, without even knowing they did it. I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another, and this weekend would prove that.

Friday, we did another 60 trucks. Folks from 2nd shift were with us for overtime, and the freight was great. I spent much of the day on D dock, on the shipping side. Production was out of control. I got a good machine that morning, and after getting a fresh battery, maintenance came and traded me machines, so mine could get its oil changed. I hated the machine I got: it steered terrible, and in order to get it to go, you had to wait for it to click. About two hours later, the guy found me in the middle of D dock, and traded me back machines. I could have kissed him. I started hauling back and forth between D receiving/shipping, and things were going great. That is, until I picked up two more pallets and hit the isles. Each pallet had a different location, so I started to pull in to drop off the first one. I pulled up to the side, and cranked the handle back to stop...and nothing happened. Remembering what happened the last time, I immediately pulled the emergency stop...right before I hit a pallet in the isle. What the hell?

I lowered the forks, and tried to reverse. Nothing. Oh, this is SO not happening! I tried to raise the forks. Nothing. I could go forward, but not far, as that pallet was blocking me. I turned the machine off, then on again. Okay, now I'm pissed; I am now stranded in the dead middle of the isles between shipping and receiving, and this machine ain't goin' nowhere. So I walked the long walk out of the isles and up to the desk. I called my manager, and his golf cart was down, so he was unable to come pick me up. Great. So back down the isles I went, turned off the computer on my now dead machine, and grabbed my box of stuff, and walked a very long walk to the C dock desk. I kicked the machine for good measure, not like it hurt it or anything *rolls eyes*

So now I'm not making production, and I need a home. Of course, they could have sent me to my home. I grabbed my manager and we decided to see if we could find me another machine, if the golf cart could get us there. I hopped in the cart, box in tow, and my manager joked that I looked like a homeless person with my box of stuff. We buzzed maintenance and let them know what happened, and I gave them my machine number, and location of the isle it was in. They tried to put me in a trailer, but everyone was already doubled up, as it was the middle of the day. The cart was about to die (we were getting outrun by a bicycle of all things), so I got dropped off back at the C dock desk, unable to find a free machine. I heard a lady say two girls needed help on D shipping putting poles on tier racks, so I walked all the way down there, just to find that all the poles were in place, but they needed a hauler ASAP, as they were now blocked in. I got on the phone, and screamed over the intercom. No one came. The unloaders asked me how come I wasn't hauling, and I explained. Crazy part is, all the tier racks were going just on the other side of the firewall of D/C dock. Easy hauls!! Easy production!! 

So finally, a hauler from my shift came, and pulled in to grab two tiers. The unloader asked him if he was coming back. He mumbled something unintelligible, and took off with the first load. Yay....wait a minute....He proceeded to move four rows down, and drop the load off. What. The. HELL. Okay, now we're kinda defeating the purpose, don't you think? He then comes back, grabs two more, and dumps them in the same place. THEN, he hops over to the next door, and grabs two pallets, and goes straight across to the isles. Our mouths dropped. It was time for our last break of the day, so seeing as the unloaders didn't need any help, I walked up front and took my break. After, I ran by the office and talked to my manager about our frustration with the hauler. He just shook his head, but said he'd talk to him. So I still needed something to do, so I went and did a live unload with one of the girls on my shift. It took us about 15 minutes to pull out 10 pallets of freight. Nothing to it. She went back to her other trailer she'd been working on, and I went back up to the desk. Hey, this is fun...I'm getting paid a shitload of money to walk around. 

I decided to sweep the dock for about 30 minutes, until my manager said I could go home, unless I could find another PE. He then broke off mid-sentence, and disappeared. The hell? Do I go home? Do I find another PE, knowing full well I wasn't going to find one (thanks to the overtime people, plus those newbies training on them)? I decided to walk all the way down to the RSR area to see what was there, if anything. I walked slowly, taking my time. I wasn't really looking forward to getting back on the machine, as production was already shot for the day, shame, too, as it had been a great day for it up until that point. I walked halfway down until I could see the open area where the RR's/PE's get parked, and there was absolutely nothing there, except for a couple of unmanned RR's. So back to the desk I went, and the clerk sent me home, as I just couldn't stand at the desk all day. It was 5:30 at this point, so I was happy to get out early for once. 

Saturday, I got my wish, and had the responsibility of C dock. Every hauler wishes for C dock, as production is usually always a breeze. But halfway through the day, my sore throat came back. I thought for sure that the strep I'd had two weeks before was rearing its ugly head again. I was mad; and had no medicine to take for it, only the few cough drops I'd packed in my bag after getting sick. I felt it getting worse, and really just wanted to go home. Since I started work a little earlier that morning (5 instead of 5:30), I left at 6, thanks to my manager. I came home, took some allergy medicine, and went to bed. 

Yesterday was not fun at all. When I woke up, I felt like I'd been twice run over. My throat was still sore. I had promised myself I'd go to work, and not call in (as that worked real well the first time *sarcasm*), and get through one more day. I got to work and downed a bottle of orange juice, and that made me feel a little better. I was assigned A and B dock, and that usually means a rough day for production, depending on the type of freight, not to mention location. B dock was super easy; all the freight was going to that same dock. A dock was a different story; about a million tier racks....all going to the very opposite end of D dock. Fuck. This is really bad for production. It all came down to hauling those tier racks. I had no strategy for how I was going to haul them, and still bring up my numbers; I was fucked. That is, until I ran into one of the veteran haulers, Earl. He told me how to work the hauls (called 'long hauls') in with my normal hauls, and bring up my numbers at the same time. I tried it, and it seemed to work. I'll know next weekend when I get my report. I was still super stressed out, but knew that those docks were my responsibility, and they eventually had to go sometime, might as well do it and get it over with. 

I was physically going downhill; my throat was now swollen, and I was knocking back cough drops left and right. My head hurt, I had chills, and I was at the point of exhaustion. I wanted to go home, but knew I just had a few hours left...I had to make it. I did eventually clear A dock (with the help of Sonia), and breathed a huge sigh of relief that that part was now over. I cleared B dock by myself at the end of the night, and when I looked at my paper, I was well over 250 hauls. Somehow, I made the numbers, but I was exhausted. After dropping off one last lone pallet, my manager released us. It was 7, and never was I happier to get out of that place. After a quick run to walmart to pick up Breaking Dawn, I headed home and collapsed. But I couldn't sleep; I kept waking up during the night.  

So now, I'm at home, trying to recover, and hopefully kick this crap once and for all. I want to go outside so bad, to see friends, and just get away from the house. So for now, until I get better, I'm just going to relax and rest, play my new Nintendo, and wait for my newest toy to get here. I can't wait!

*sigh* Trouble just seems to like finding me, or maybe I'm just a bad luck magnet? At any rate, you just have to laugh at the end of the day. Until next time, have a good week, I'll be back soon.