So yesterday...

[bellatrys]

It's getting to the end of the day, and nothing's happened *so* far, and then after I've been assembling manuals for almost two hours the boss comes up - has to go out of his way since I'm way in the back far corner of the shop - and says to me with a grin, "Having fun yet?"I make a non-answer about how many books are done vs left to be done since

Comments

[fledgist]

I take it that working the machine leads to low-level back pain.

[editrx]

"Having fun yet?"!

This is why I haven't survived a job outside my own office for a while, despite the pitiful amount of work I get on my own, because I usually try to take a swing at someone like that.

At least Jim Baen would yell, then call back and apologize for being "a bad boss." He was a crazy with a brain.

I admire your restraint and ability to deal with the Bosses. I never learned the trick of being a proper serf, and have paid for it all my life.

Well, back to grinding (no pun intended) on the worst book I've copyedited since I used to work on Cassie Edwards' deathless prose. No joke.

Can you bring in a piece of carpet to stand on?

[julifolo]

When I do my central-Illinois-to-Seattle bus trip (2.5 days each way), I have his 1.5 x 2 ft carpet piece to sit on when sitting in line and put down on the floor in front of my seat during the ride. It's only 1/3" thick (so it will coil & sorta fit into the shoe webbing on the outside of my duffel) but gives a great increase in comfort.

Here's hoping scheduling gets more sane, even if no help from the clueless boss.

Thanks, but there is carpeting in the building

[bellatrys]

and even a piece of "ergonomic matting" by the machine itself - it's just that even foam on concrete slab does nothing more than put off the point when it goes from being "uncomfortable" to "agonizing" by about an hour...

The problem is that the clueless boss is the cause of the scheduling problems, so it's never going to get any better. I would say this is a problem inherent to small print shops, but I've also experienced it in the craft shop framing dept I worked in, so that can't be the sufficient cause of it - it has to do with people being inured by their privilege so that they don't face the consequences of their screwups, not physically - all they see is loss of their profits, so that's solved by driving their employees harder to make up the gap. If they drive the business into the ground, well, they've always got golden parachutes (I'm seriously getting worried about the overall financial stability of the business, this guy doesn't seem to have a clue in a lot of areas.

[randwolf]

One thing that helps prevent or reduce back pain, in a stand-in-one-place situation, is a small box under one foot. Can't offer any suggestions for fixing the boss, however.

I take it you've never worked retail or assembly line before

[bellatrys]

Standing unbalanced is one of the best ways there is to create joint pain and/or injury to both sides of your body, sequentially. (I've done it to myself, and I've had it explained to me via physical therapist who treated someone I know who did it to themselves to the point of ending up on crutches after a minor sports strain.)

Also, it's almost never the case that you can stand in one spot without having to be able to walk, effectively immoblized, which a block under the foot would do - you have to be able to move around the counter area, or turn constantly from parts bin to machine to finished item storage, even if you're only moving in an area that's 2' x 2' square, you're still pivoting and stepping, so even if it worked and didn't cause more harm than good, it still wouldn't be a practical solution in any of the working-on-your-feet situations I've been in, in the seven different counter/mailroom/printshop production line jobs I've worked at in the past 20+ years that have required it.

I've done production, but it's been a long time

[randwolf]

however, that box advice is straight from my OTs and is also by the book. So go figure. But if you're walking, that's another matter; you don't need it. In any event, I'm glad to see you posting; I've missed you.

Link for you

[julifolo]

via a non-candidate discussion on Kos:

Edward Bernays and the Assassination of Democracy

the specific example is guatemala & the United Fruit Company (& the US-aided coup for the benifit of the later)

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/44.html