an attempt...
I'm completely dead, both physically and mentally, but I'll make an attempt at a post.
Work today was pretty bad. Well, actually, I suppose that it wasn't any worse than any other day, but that's not saying much. There were only three of us to unload the truck today. Which I suppose isn't too bad, since the truck was small, but it's better with four or five people. Fortunately, there was only one truck. That said, the day started on a pretty bad note, the first thing we had to unload, right at the back of the truck, was a pallet of this stuff, and one of the buckets had been damaged at some point and had leaked a big pool of tar right in the middle of the truck. As a result, we ended up tracking it everywhere. (OK, technically that's not tar exactly. It's a latex based tar replacement. But it's black, and as about the same consistency.)
The sad part is that's pretty much a standard day. Maybe not tar, but it's always something that gets spilled. Paint, stain, paint tint, something. It's always a mess, and it always gets everywhere.
On a similar note, I said a week or so ago that I'd write a post about work that maybe wasn't quite so bitchy. I've already failed, but here's more what I meant to write
Thoughts and Observations on my First Two Weeks at Lowes:
1) No one at Lowes is happy with their job.
I have not met a single person who says that Lowes is an excellent place to work, or even a semi-decent place to work. The short list of things they complain about: The store manager; the district manager; the people in the Distribution center for sending us too many trucks; the people in the distribution center for sending us THIRTY FIVE pallets of rugs, even though we already had five, and hadn't even sold that many; the people in receiving for blocking in delivery/special order items; there not being enough space in receiving to have all the freight, delivery items, appliances, special orders, etc organized; and so on. You get the idea.
(Apologies for grammar/phrasing on that last one, I know it is terrible, I'm just too tired to figure out the right way to say it).
2) Everyone is in it for the money.
Practically everyone I've talked to says that if I stick with Lowes, I could retire young and be very well off. Frankly I'm a bit skeptical, since getting that rich involves stock options a lot, and frankly, if the employees aren't that happy with Lowes, I wouldn't trust it to be around long enough.
3) Very few people, especially the good ones, can put up with the bullshit.
The turnover rate for employees at Lowes (at least the store I work at), is very high. Two or three people leave pretty much every week, either to a different Lowes store, or to a different company completely. Usually, these people are the really good ones too. The ones who are really good at their jobs, but really bad at putting up with the BS and who don't try to suck up to the managers to get promotions.
4) In spite of 1 and 3, I can see how someone can get stuck in a job like this. You get just enough money to live (somewhat) comfortably, and the job leaves you so fucking exhausted at the end of the day, that you just don't want to do anything. Every day seems agonizingly long, yet I cannot believe it's been two weeks. The days just kinda run together and the monotony actually makes time go faster rather than slower.
5) Forklifts are big, but surprisingly easy to drive. They are rear-steer, which takes some getting used too, but they will pivot around either front wheel. It's a bit like driving a small car, except that it's rear steer, weights 5 tons, and has two three foot spikes on the front. Still I've gotten pretty good at using it, considering i've only used it for about two weeks.
6) I miss theater (I may have said that already).
7) I miss my friends. I haven't really had time to see them, even if they were around.
There may have been more, but I got distracted and I've forgotten.
that's all I can think of, I'm just too tired.
EDIT:
Additional thoughts-
Probably the biggest thing that bugs me about this job is that I'm not actually doing anything. I mean, I'm a really bright person, and I really need to put that to good use. The people I work with, though they are very good at their jobs, cannot understand something like quantum mechanics, the theory behind computer chip design, or differential equations (wait, i don't get that last one either). Anyway... my point is, I do, (or could) understand those things. I feel like I'm wasting my energies hauling boxes around. For that matter, I feel like I'd be wasting my energies doing anything in the retail sector. I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out what I want to do with my life. I've got a very sizable list of things I don't want to do, but I haven't figured out exactly what I do want to do.
A big problem I've discovered I have is that I get bored with things very easily. I don't even mean that i get bored on a daily basis, more that I can't be doing one thing for too long before I want to do something else. If I spend too much time in cville, I want to go home, and after a few months at home, I'm ready to do something else. I think that's part of what drew me to theater; it changed a lot so I didn't get bored. Every few months, I got a different show, and thus a new challenge. Unfortunately, when theater stopped being a hobby and started being a job the shows started running together. Every show was basically the same and thus it was routine and boring. (God I'm afraid what's going to happen after a few more weeks at Lowes...)
The result of this is that I will find it very hard to stay in a single job. After a while it just gets boring. I hope that I will manage to find a job that satisfies all of my requirements, and thus won't ever be boring, but so far that remains illusive. (I actually have thought that "Freelance Inventor" might just fit the requirements fairly well, but then I'd have to be able to come up with ideas that were not just interesting, but build-able and profitable).
Another problem, one that greatly complicates the first one, is that I'm afraid of change. I avoid it at all costs. Note: this statement isn't 100% accurate, there are many changes that I embrace, new gadgets being one of them, but I'm speaking more about things that change my life. Things like getting a new job, moving to a new town, starting at a different school, making new friends, asking someone out on a date, anything that may make me less happy than I am at the moment, even if I'm completely miserable. I don't take chances, would be another way of saying that. Sooo... basically, I want to do something important that makes a difference in the world, but I can't stand working any one job for too long and I'm afraid of taking chances. I think the next few years of my life should be a very interesting battle of wills. Which is stronger, my fear of change, or my desire to make a difference?
Work today was pretty bad. Well, actually, I suppose that it wasn't any worse than any other day, but that's not saying much. There were only three of us to unload the truck today. Which I suppose isn't too bad, since the truck was small, but it's better with four or five people. Fortunately, there was only one truck. That said, the day started on a pretty bad note, the first thing we had to unload, right at the back of the truck, was a pallet of this stuff, and one of the buckets had been damaged at some point and had leaked a big pool of tar right in the middle of the truck. As a result, we ended up tracking it everywhere. (OK, technically that's not tar exactly. It's a latex based tar replacement. But it's black, and as about the same consistency.)
The sad part is that's pretty much a standard day. Maybe not tar, but it's always something that gets spilled. Paint, stain, paint tint, something. It's always a mess, and it always gets everywhere.
On a similar note, I said a week or so ago that I'd write a post about work that maybe wasn't quite so bitchy. I've already failed, but here's more what I meant to write
Thoughts and Observations on my First Two Weeks at Lowes:
1) No one at Lowes is happy with their job.
I have not met a single person who says that Lowes is an excellent place to work, or even a semi-decent place to work. The short list of things they complain about: The store manager; the district manager; the people in the Distribution center for sending us too many trucks; the people in the distribution center for sending us THIRTY FIVE pallets of rugs, even though we already had five, and hadn't even sold that many; the people in receiving for blocking in delivery/special order items; there not being enough space in receiving to have all the freight, delivery items, appliances, special orders, etc organized; and so on. You get the idea.
(Apologies for grammar/phrasing on that last one, I know it is terrible, I'm just too tired to figure out the right way to say it).
2) Everyone is in it for the money.
Practically everyone I've talked to says that if I stick with Lowes, I could retire young and be very well off. Frankly I'm a bit skeptical, since getting that rich involves stock options a lot, and frankly, if the employees aren't that happy with Lowes, I wouldn't trust it to be around long enough.
3) Very few people, especially the good ones, can put up with the bullshit.
The turnover rate for employees at Lowes (at least the store I work at), is very high. Two or three people leave pretty much every week, either to a different Lowes store, or to a different company completely. Usually, these people are the really good ones too. The ones who are really good at their jobs, but really bad at putting up with the BS and who don't try to suck up to the managers to get promotions.
4) In spite of 1 and 3, I can see how someone can get stuck in a job like this. You get just enough money to live (somewhat) comfortably, and the job leaves you so fucking exhausted at the end of the day, that you just don't want to do anything. Every day seems agonizingly long, yet I cannot believe it's been two weeks. The days just kinda run together and the monotony actually makes time go faster rather than slower.
5) Forklifts are big, but surprisingly easy to drive. They are rear-steer, which takes some getting used too, but they will pivot around either front wheel. It's a bit like driving a small car, except that it's rear steer, weights 5 tons, and has two three foot spikes on the front. Still I've gotten pretty good at using it, considering i've only used it for about two weeks.
6) I miss theater (I may have said that already).
7) I miss my friends. I haven't really had time to see them, even if they were around.
There may have been more, but I got distracted and I've forgotten.
that's all I can think of, I'm just too tired.
EDIT:
Additional thoughts-
Probably the biggest thing that bugs me about this job is that I'm not actually doing anything. I mean, I'm a really bright person, and I really need to put that to good use. The people I work with, though they are very good at their jobs, cannot understand something like quantum mechanics, the theory behind computer chip design, or differential equations (wait, i don't get that last one either). Anyway... my point is, I do, (or could) understand those things. I feel like I'm wasting my energies hauling boxes around. For that matter, I feel like I'd be wasting my energies doing anything in the retail sector. I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out what I want to do with my life. I've got a very sizable list of things I don't want to do, but I haven't figured out exactly what I do want to do.
A big problem I've discovered I have is that I get bored with things very easily. I don't even mean that i get bored on a daily basis, more that I can't be doing one thing for too long before I want to do something else. If I spend too much time in cville, I want to go home, and after a few months at home, I'm ready to do something else. I think that's part of what drew me to theater; it changed a lot so I didn't get bored. Every few months, I got a different show, and thus a new challenge. Unfortunately, when theater stopped being a hobby and started being a job the shows started running together. Every show was basically the same and thus it was routine and boring. (God I'm afraid what's going to happen after a few more weeks at Lowes...)
The result of this is that I will find it very hard to stay in a single job. After a while it just gets boring. I hope that I will manage to find a job that satisfies all of my requirements, and thus won't ever be boring, but so far that remains illusive. (I actually have thought that "Freelance Inventor" might just fit the requirements fairly well, but then I'd have to be able to come up with ideas that were not just interesting, but build-able and profitable).
Another problem, one that greatly complicates the first one, is that I'm afraid of change. I avoid it at all costs. Note: this statement isn't 100% accurate, there are many changes that I embrace, new gadgets being one of them, but I'm speaking more about things that change my life. Things like getting a new job, moving to a new town, starting at a different school, making new friends, asking someone out on a date, anything that may make me less happy than I am at the moment, even if I'm completely miserable. I don't take chances, would be another way of saying that. Sooo... basically, I want to do something important that makes a difference in the world, but I can't stand working any one job for too long and I'm afraid of taking chances. I think the next few years of my life should be a very interesting battle of wills. Which is stronger, my fear of change, or my desire to make a difference?