Sometimes something happens that restores your faith in - - maybe I won't go so far as to say "humanity" but at least you know that people are on your side and it makes you smile.

Or laugh out loud for an hour.

We have here at work a thing called "PASSDOWN." What is that, you ask? Well, it's where throughout the night, all of us dedicated operators keep track of everything we've run on our machines and around 4am or so, I collect it all, type it up in a nifty, easy-to-read format and send it to the supervisors, specialists, engineers, operators and other people in charge. I've been doing it for 9 1/2 out of my 10 years here.

Well, Monday night the new supe decided that passdown was being sent too early and Heaven forbid in the hour or so between the time I sent it and he presented it to his big bosses that something had changed. Like a lot ending or a system going down to maintenance. So he told me not to even start working on it until 6:30 am! We HAVE to leave by 7 because we're not allowed ANY overtime so I had to call him and enlighten him to the fact that it takes me anywhere from 30-40 minutes to type the thing up, not to mention the end of the night is my busiest time what with catching up on all the summaries, getting the numbers in the book and readying for the next shift. So he graciously extended my time to 6am.

Wow. Thanks a heap, White Man.

So what I did was I got together with the other two best-known dissenters in our group and we decided to write a novel - the littlest thing that happened while we were working, we were going to write it in the passdown. It took me an hour to write - I added colors and a brand new format and everything. And guess what?

He thought it was the coolest thing since New England lost the Super Bowl.

So tonight, Big Mike, one of my rebel buddies, sent me his passdown (at 2:03 am, mind you! 4 whole hours EARLIER than Hitler said to give it to me)...this is what it said:

SUBJECT: BLOCK BUSTER

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION
Hot off the press. Another gripping best seller!!!!. Destined to be a classic !!!! By that (WELL ???) known author HEATHER KNIGHT. ((((( PASS DOWN 2 ))))) This thrilling epic takes over where ( PASS DOWN 1 ) left off. Read about the joys and the tragedies that befell the infamous B SHIFT. (ALSO KNOWN AS KNIGHT SHIFT )Was the system up or down ??? Did it make yield ????? Did she check every third wafer ??????? These are just some of the questions you will have answered when you read (((((((( PASS DOWN 2 )))))))). Now at selected terminals near you.

I loved it! That is the shit right there! :D I loved how he called it KNIGHT SHIFT! heheh. It was just what I needed to turn my yucky week up a little.

Labels: cool as shit, work

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But Collin said I should document this in case I need dates and such...so yeah, yet another story about the infamous new supervisor!!

We have a program that collects our data and shoots it to our computers but tonight it's down so 2 engrs and the IS guy said the info is out there, it's just stuck somewhere but it was okay to continue doing what we were doing. Okay. So during the passdown the supe asked me about it and I explained everything and he said, "How do you know if everything is going okay?" I said we could see everything on the screens....at this point I'm thinking that's a legit question...but then after my answer he said, "Very good, that's right!" like he was a preschool teacher!! Pissed me off!! I asked if that was a test and he said yes. So I told him I'd like to talk to him after the meeting since he didn't want me saying nasty stuff in front of everyone.

When we were done with the meeting, he came up all hot-eyed and asked what my problem was and I said, "I'm 37 years old, I do not need to be talked to like I'm 12!" He told me to "settle down" and that I obviously didn't realize who I was talking to. I told him I DID know who I was talking to but that didn't give him the right to speak down to me like I was a child in front of everyone. He kept saying that was my perception and that I was way too defensive, blah blah blah. I just told him out of all the supervisors this shift has gone through, he's the only one I've ever clashed with. He kept trying to tell me that was because I'd never had an actual supervisor before. He just doesn't listen when I tell him we HAVE had supervisors here all night before!!!! THEN, oh, this one really got me....he starts talking about how he has 2 sisters and 4 daughters and he gives them all the same opportunities as everyone else and he understands why I would think he was talking down to me because I was a woman. Well, I had NEVER thought that until he said it - - you should have seen his face when I told him that had never crossed my mind. I told him I got upset because he was speaking down to us as a whole.

He finally said, "I didn't mean for it to come out that way," speaking about the talking down thing. But neither of us ever apologized. I think my days here are numbered. He thinks I'm too defensive and I think he treats us like children.

There was more - much more - but I'm drained and I can't type this anymore. At least the argument is documented somewhat. I hope you all had a fine weekend!!

Labels: work

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I 've got the movie list for March almost done - it's not like it's long or anything but I've just been lazy. Today I am here to regale you with one more work-related story.

I'm sorry but that's all that seems to be going on lately.

We had a meeting tonight to discuss this new policy called 5S - I threw away the packet so I can't remember what the 5 S's stand for...Sort, Straighten, Shine, Something, Somthing....Shine is the one that gets me - - all I hear in my head is a soccer mom telling her little soccer star to "SHINE!" Ugh. So anyway, the sup is yammering on about this policy and I'm zoning for the most part but then he says, with the sneer in his voice that all of us in my area have become accustomed to, "You've never had a supervisor, so..." and my face crinkled up into a WTF look.

He saw it.

"I mean a supervisor that's been here all night with you."

"We've had them," I said. "At least three of them."

He kind of ignored me and went on with his spiel. After the meeting he told me he wanted me to train one of his people on my machines and the attitude came spilling out, mostly out of fear that I would be training my replacement. "We need to talk," he finally said. "Come to the office."

So to the office I went. He said I was "resistant." Well, hell yeah, I'm resistant! He's changing everything that's been the norm for 10 years and he thinks I'm gonna welcome it with open arms?? I told him how I felt and why I said what I did in the meeting. We have a reputation here at work (the 8 people in my area) for being non-protocoled slackers. Everyone else always thought that because we didn't wear the bunny suit or because we were allowed to read on the floor that we never did any work. This couldn't be farther from the truth and of all people now, the new sup should know that! So that's why I jumped in when I did. He actually apologized and said he didn't realize how he had come across. Shocker!

We talked for 45 minutes and I had a chance to tell him my thoughts and feelings on all these changes. He was as receptive as he could be. By the time I left I had agreed, with his promise that I wasn't training my replacement, to train a very sweet girl from downstairs. The only bad thing is that he said when I'm done training her, I have to go downstairs to train. Crap.

I really really hate change. Bet you couldn't tell that, huh?

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

Labels: work

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So we're now into our third week with the new fella as our supervisor. Changes are occurring left and right and all we can do is try & keep up. The sup has, lately, been kinda sucking up to me after our little disagreement about the new schedule. But that doesn't make me like him any more. Especially after tonight.

One of my co-workers lost his grandmother on Friday so he's taking Mon & Tues off as bereavement days. The sup didn't seem to have a problem with it but today told my co-worker that he needed a copy of his grandmother's obituary for his file. WTF????

That grated on me all night.

Later on, 3 of us went to the area we merged with for a tour. They have to wear different gear than us, most notably face masks which on Tues we will be required to wear all the time as well. I'm really really claustrophobic so I didn't know how I would react to wearing the mask. As we were suiting up tonight I looked at my friend who was with me and told her if I fainted she would have to catch me. The sup asked what I said and I told him, "I'm really claustrophobic so if I faint, we'll know there's a problem." He replied, "If the mask kills you I'll come to your funeral."

"Cool. I'll make sure you get a copy of my obituary." He didn't get it. But I got my dig in and I hope he gets it while he's driving home and congratulating himself on being Master of the Universe.

Labels: bullshit, work

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We had yet another "shake up" at work.  It started a month ago when we had a meeting with the "big guys" who informed us that our area would be merging with the area downstairs and the supervisor from downstairs would become ours as well.

Labels: bullshit, work

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It's amazing what timing will do - one minute later or earlier and I wouldn't have a blog post.

Anyway...I was at work tonight and I had to go out to go the bathroom. I opened the doors into the hall and turned right towards the restrooms. I saw Terry, a co-worker, walking towards me, on my side of the hall. My first thought was that he'd see me and move.

He got closer and I noticed two things:

1) He wasn't moving.
2) His eyes were closed.

I reached out my hand to keep us from colliding and yelled, "AHHH!" His eyes popped open and he reached out for me, grabbing my hand to steady himself as he juked to the left real fast.

"Oh my God, I was alseep," he laughed. I don't know just how asleep he really was but seeing as how we on the night shift sometimes don't get enough sleep during the day, it's very plausible that Terry really was asleep on his feet and moving by instinct back to the floor.

That was my laugh for the night, maybe the week!

Labels: Funny, work

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So I found out last night that there won't be layoffs at all in the Colorado Springs plant so my job is safe for now!! yay!

I know I usually save movie reviews for my end-of-month dealies but Friday night Collin, the kids & I saw The Simpsons Movie and I laughed my ass off! My face was tired from laughing after the first 30 minutes, it was that funny! I loved it and can't wait to see it again! If you feel like laughing and The Simpsons is your kind of humor, GO SEE IT!!

Hope you all had fine weekends!!

Labels: movies, work

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OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod
OmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigodOmigod

***okay deep breath***

Rumors run rampant throughout my workplace but this one has scared the shit out of me! Apparently 300 layoffs are happening next Wednesday morning (globally, not just our plant) and my area is slated to get "hit hard." I'm soooo freaked out. I start looking at my co-workers wondering if they would go before me and what can I do that they can't?

The truth is that anyone can do what I do, including train people and type up the passdown. That worries me - I'm not irreplacable although I'd like to be. One shiny star in this mucky sky is that I am the only buddy trainer who is certified to certain machines so...maybe I'll be okay.

Knocking on wood and pointing like Fred as I type this, I have never been laid off or fired from a job and I surely do not want to start now. My initial panic has subsided but there is an undercurrent of stress that is permeating everything I do this weekend....

Pray for me!!

Labels: work

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No...I didn't actually get a new job. It's more like a side project like Arcadia was to Duran Duran. I am now the new secretary for the Homeowner's Association where I live!

My dad, who is on the Homeowner's Board, called me up a couple weeks ago at work and asked if I'd like to be the new secretary. "All you have to do is show up, record the meeting, take notes and type up the minutes. Plus you get paid $50." OKAY! It sounded like everything I like to do with the exception of meeting new people so I said yes.

Last week I went over to the HOA president's house to go over my duties as secretary. There's actually a LOT more to it than what Dad told me!

-Attend the meeting & pre-meeting.
-Record the meeting.
-Take notes.
-Type up the minutes.
-Make 170 copies of the minutes.
-Distribute minutes to EVERY HOUSE in the complex.
-Type up & distribute the agenda before the meeting.
-Work on ballots for elections in Nov.

That's just a taste. Luckily, the meetings are only once a month and I get keys to the office and filing cabinet. The best part? They upped the pay to $75/month! Whoo! I'm nervous but excited.

And, don't forget to check out The Sweet Escape. Christina posted her first ever blog post last night! Feedback is always appreciated! Have a great Monday!

Labels: secretary, shameless plugs, work

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So it's like -5 degrees outside right now I'm freezing!!! What's really sad is that I'm inside and I'm still freezing. The facilities people here at work put in 2 new vents on my floor so it's now a constant 44 degrees. I'm thinking I could get sick from it being that cold. Of course compared to outside, that's practically a heat wave but tell that to my frozen fingers!

For Christmas, my friend Ginny made me a double fleece Bronco blanket. It's the warmest thing I've ever had on me and I'm about ready to start bringing into work, ESD rules be damned!!

Labels: weather, work

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Sometime last year at work we were told that if we met a certain monetary goal in the budget by the end of the year, there would be a plant-wide bonus.

Morale was high.

A few months ago we learned that the bonus was for fab only because our section "didn't participate in the last shutdown." We were told to continue working through the shutdown because we had a number of high priority products to get out the door - it's not like we had a choice.

Morale was low.

A few weeks ago, they started remodeling the hallway in our building. Obviously, this was what they spent the money on rather than give us a bonus. They painted the walls and ripped up the carpet, replacing it with fancy marble-esque tile.

The problems with the tile are many-fold.

#1) It's harder to clean now for the cleaning people. Rather than run a vacuum over it they have to sweep and mop.

#2) When it rains or snows, the floors will become wet & slippery. I mentioned this to Collin and he gave me great advice: "Move slow and stay low."

#3) We have a large number of people who work strictly in the office area and are required to dress nice which means a lot of the women are wearing heels. I foresee many twisted ankles in our future.

#4) It now needs to be maintained to keep it's sparkling brillance and therefore an outside waxing company is brought in. That brings me to the whole point of my rant today, ladies & gentlemen. The waxing people. It's two people, a man & a woman. The man is young and short and the woman is tall and mountainously huge. We're pretty sure they're married and the image is like Jack Spratt & his wife. Anyway, they were waxing the floor tonight but they started at 8:15pm which is when breaks start. They blocked off the WHOLE HALLWAY to wax, effectively trapping all of us inside our floor. A number of us, including me, tried to go out the back door off of my floor to get to a bathroom and were told by the surly man, "Floor's closed." That's a quote. I asked him "So...no one can go to the bathroom at all?" "10 minutes," he barked. Trust me, I really had to go so he got The Look. And not only were both bathrooms blocked but so were the only two entances/exits in the building! You have to wonder who's bright idea that was! There were alot of pretty mad people on my floor last night!

That's my rant for the day. Hope you all have a fine Wednesday.

Labels: work

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For a month now at work I've been doing what is known as hand testing. I hate hand testing. Everyone I work with hates hand testing. It's boring, tedious and unhealthy.

Boring = I sit at a table for 12 hours placing parts in a socket, waiting for the temperature forcer to get to where it needs to be then I hit "TEST." 60% of the parts I'm testing fail. That is why we're actually doing the hand test - to weed out the baddies at a hot temp. THEN, if we happen to get a pass, we have to place a little gold dot on the part with a paint pen. We used to have to pencil in the fail number on the bad parts but thank God they stopped that! The only good thing about this is I get to read while I do it. Otherwise I'd be completely non compos mentis by now.

Tedious = Pretty much the same thing as above. 12 hours, little parts, waiting, blah blah blah, you get the picture.

Unhealthy = I'm not making this up. After 4 weeks of constant handtesting, I'm pretty sure it will be the death of me one way or the other. My back hurts, my shoulder is in a constant state of cramping, the skin on my left index finger was actually peeling off the other morning from the heat on the socket and to top it all off - - I was looking at the new paint pen the engineer bought for us last night and noticed a little warning sticker: "This pen contains a chemical that is known in the state of California to cause cancer." Gack! Great!! Here I sit, dutifully marking the passes with toxic paint, breathing in cancer-causing chemicals!! And I'm not the only one. Ginny & Morris have been my constant companions in hand testing hell so they're doomed as well, not to mention the workers that come & cover us when we go to break. Soon, our whole shift will be dead.

I hope you'll come to my funeral.

Labels: work

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Seriously. "Eeyeew" is the only thing running through my brain right now. I'm at work and it's been a very busy night. I have three handlers running very fast tests and a handtest, which I detest (I was going to put "hate" until I realized "detest" rhymed, I'm weird, I know). I was working on one of the handlers, placing stoppers in the tubes, when I happened to look down at a bundle of fails that were already bagged from previous partials earlier in the week. There was something green and round and squishy looking in the bag. "What the hell is that," I asked myself, thinking that it almost looked like an eraser. But it also looked like gum. Chewed gum. I opened the bag and sure enough - pre-chewed spearmint gum. I could still smell the minty fresh scent. I removed the fails and put them in another bag then cut the offensive bag into little squares and threw it away. I had to cut it up because if the evil "C" shift found it in the trash and pulled it out and saw the gum there would be a ban on gum and that just can't happen!! It's still ooking me out. E.E.E.Y.E.E.W!!!

Labels: work

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The place I work has started this little contest. When you get your paycheck, if it says "Winner" in the message area, you win a prize. Well, this pay period I was a "Winner." I got my paycheck on Saturday so I had to wait until Monday morning when HR was open to claim my prize. That gave me plenty of time to dream about what it could be:

- A gift card to a nearby restaurant?

- A gift card to Borders?

- Gift certificates to the movies?

-CC Tiger hockey tickets?

- Money???



Monday morning finally arrived and I hurriedly gave my passdown to Iris, the day-shifter that was taking over for me. "Well, I'm off to claim my prize," I told her. "Oh, did you win a prize bag, too?" Come to find out, another guy on the day shift had won and he got a gift bag with a road map & a compass. Um. Yeah. Not what I had in mind. But! I love to get prizes and presents so undeterred I set off for HR. I showed the girl my paycheck and she went to the Prize Closet and pulled out a hot pink gift bag. Yay! Here's what I won:

- 3 mini Tootsie Roll Pops (can't eat cuz of the diet. I'll give them to Jordyn.)

- Leather car interior wipes (I have cloth interior. I'll give them to Dad.)

- A miniature first aid kit with bandages, antiseptic & gauze. (This is good. It fits in my purse and with my propensity towards blisters on my heels, this helps!)

- A patriotic-themed windsock that looks like it came from one of the many Dollar Stores around town. (It's cute, if cheaply made. I hung it in my dining room since my apartment complex frowns on anything being hung from our balconies.)

It sure doesn't replace getting a raise or a share in that million dollar bonus but it was nice to actually win something. They only pick 6 people per pay period and there's thousands of people that work here so - Woo Hoo!

Labels: work

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For about three weeks, we've been hearing rumors at work that we're all getting merit raises. This was excellent news - we had only had one raise in 5 years so this was great for our morale. We also heard that there was going to be a million dollar bonus distributed between all employees for meeting a December deadline in September. The news just kept on getting better!

Then we found out the truth. The raises and the bonus were only for a certain area, not the whole plant. They said the morale was dropping over there and they needed this kind of boost. Ummm...DUH! What the hell do they think is happening to OUR morale over here, hearing that we don't rate getting a raise or a bonus while all other employees do? To me this is bad business practice. Everyone is so mad over here...but we don't know what we should do.

And I'm sure if we did protest, they'd say, "Just be thankful you have a job." Blah Blah Blah.

Labels: work

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If you didn't read yesterday's post and think you might want to try your hand at how you'd survive a plane crash in the freezing Canadian wilderness, skip down and read the previous entry before reading this. If you are one of the handful of people who played, here's the "answers:"

First off, my winning team and I picked this order:

1) Canvas for shelter

2) Axe for chopping wood to make a fire

3) Crisco to burn in the fire

4) Lighter to make a fire with by the spark on the

5) Steel wool

After that came the clothes & newspapers for warmth after the fire was started, the chocolate and the whiskey (we figured the whiskey would calm us down), the map as a floor of the shelter and ending with the compass and the gun. For each "correct" answer we got a certain amount of points. The one with the lowest amount of points wins and we had 18 while the 2 groups of guys had 21 & 25. We then saw what the Army instructor's answers were and we were pretty close.

(By the way, none of you went the way of the Army instructor and I'm sure he would've shaken his head dismally at Derek's approach, as entertaining as it was)

The lighter was first even though there was no fluid. It said that just a spark on something like the newspaper or steel wool could start a fire or you could pour the whiskey in the lighter and use it as fuel. The Crisco was next for not only it's use as fuel but you could spread it on your body for warmth (ala Derek) and use the mirrored can lid to signal planes. The steel wool was third for it's use in starting a fire while the clothes & the newspapers were 4th & 5th. Everyone was saying they would drink the whiskey for warmth but the answers actually said that alcohol takes on the temperature of it's environment so drinking that bottle in 30 below zero degree weather would freeze your esophagus and stomach. Ouch.

The thing was, we won the Survival Game but we were also ensconced in a warm, well-lit meeting room and were all of sound mind & body while we were methodically thinking this problem through so sure, we survived on paper. I'm thinking it's more likely that Derek's scenario would be more apt to happen with the stress and the trauma and the freaking out. But it was fun. Thanks to all who played.

Labels: Quiz, work

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Last night we had another Buddy Trainer PAT Team meeting at work. The first 15-20 minutes of the meeting is always spent doing some kind of group building activity. This time was almost fun. We split up into groups of 5-7 people and played a game called "Survival." It's a situation game used in military training classrooms and was developed by a guy named Mark Wanvig, a former U.S. Army instructor. I thought I would post the game and see how you would do in this situation. I'm hoping this will generate some comments since the last couple posts, I haven't gotten that many. Are you guys bored with I post? Maybe this will spice it up a bit!



"You and your companions have just survived the crash of a small plane. Both the pilot and the co-pilot were killed in the crash. It is mid-January and you are in Northwestern Canada. The daily temperature is 25 below zero and the night time temperature is 40 below zero. There is snow on the ground and the countryside is wooded with several creeks criss-crossing the area. The nearest town is 20 miles away. You are all dressed in city clothes appropriate for a business meeting. Your group of survivors manages to salvage the following items:

- A ball of steel wool

- A small ax

- A loaded .45-caliber pistol

- Can of Crisco shortening

- Newspapers (one per person)

- Cigarette lighter (without fluid)

- Extra shirt & pants for each survivor

- 20 x 20 piece of heavy-duty canvas

- A sectional air map made of plastic

- One quart of 100-proof whiskey

- A compass

- Family-sized chocolate bars (one per person)"



Now, what we had to do was list the 12 items above in order of importance. Our first priority was to get warm then to summon help. It was made clear to us that we shouldn't attempt to walk the 20 miles to the town in the current weather conditions and to make due with what we had. We also knew that in time a search party would be sent out to look for us. Our group was comprised of 5 women, the other two groups were all men and we won the game. According to the "answer key" we listed our items correctly to survive. Now let's see how you do! Good luck!

Labels: Quiz, work

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We had a tough last night of work...we had a surprise layoff in which we lost 2 co-workers. One wasn't that big of a shock but the other was - a lady I really liked got the axe. What was bad was that we were told at the beginning of the night that no one was allowed to go home early and we had little to no work. So...to keep my mind off of the upcoming layoff and to keep myself busy, I grabbed the Nene Thomas book that Collin bought me and I started copying pictures out of it.

Nene Thomas's sister Ann-Juliette has some work in the book as well - pen & ink drawings of her sister's work. Those were what I chose to draw. I drew three full-page pictures and let Collin critique them. He then chose his favorite for display here:


This is called Orchestrals #3: Symphony In Black & White. I love her dress - her lips took me 15 minutes to do where I was happy with them and I'm still not satisfied. There was also supposed to be a thumb on the other side of her body but everytime I attempted to add it in it looked like a piece of bologne so I gave up.

To see the original, click here. Also, if you like her art, buy something from her gallery! I'm definitely going to!!

Labels: Pictures, work

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