I got into work this morning and was greeted by most of the workers standing out in the yard. The back building that houses the electrical unit had caught fire. The fire spread through the back building and up the pipes and up onto the roof in no time due to the insane amounts of dust covering them. Was the fire department called? Nah. Two of the guys emptied our fire extinguishers onto the blaze and managed to get it out. According to one of them, "the last time this happened, the fire department showed up and had no idea how to use their truck". Key words: the last time, as in this has happened before and will probably happen again. I need a new job.
Worker #1 has been absent quite a bit lately because he's trying to get custody of his 2 year old daughter from his ex-girlfriend. He's been going to the child support office and the courthouse filing all of the necessary paperwork and seemed like he was really taking a step in the right direction. Then he decided to drink a case of beer (public intoxication) on a Tuesday night and get into a fight (assault) in the middle of the road. AND then decided to resist arrest adding one more charge to his already jam-packed rap sheet. He's a smart one, I tell you. His new concern - he's getting evicted from the apartment he just moved into last month. My new concern - what is going to happen to the poor little girl?
Worker #2 decided he was jealous of Worker #1 for getting a free meal and a free place to lay his head so that weekend, he started a fight with some random guy on the street, and picked up his 3 charges as well so he could spend the night in the warmth and comfort of the Graves County Jail. I am soooo jealous.
Worker #3 (Mr. Sober) has been absent on and off every week and earlier in July, it was a full week before we saw him again. We can't rely on him at all and it's getting to be a huge pain. However, for some reason, my boss has yet to fire him. He just came to me this morning, after having taken at least 12 days off in the last month, and puts in for his vacation next week. I asked him if he was going anywhere fun or had anything fun planned and he told me, "Nope, I'm just going to lay on my couch all week!" Unbelievable.
Worker #4 put in for vacation over a month ago for July 16 - July 22. He was to return to work on July 23rd. We have yet to see him. I called him yesterday and he told me in broken English that he's on vacation. I attempted to explain to him that vacation was over last Wednesday. He just repeated vacation over and over again until I gave up and told him I'd see him sometime soon hopefully.
Worker #5 quit smoking almost three weeks ago. So he says. He told me he wouldn't lie to me about it because he would only be lying to himself. Three people have keys to my bathroom. Last week, I noticed the strong presence of smoke in there. If it's not me, and it's not my boss (since he prefers the dipping form of tobacco) then it only leaves Worker #5. So I asked him about the smoky odor and he told me I must be imagining things. Hmm...Yesterday, I noticed ashes in the trash can. I must have imagined those too.
Worker #6 has been absent almost everyday for the past two weeks but for good reason - he has been at the hospital with his wife who was diagnosed with cancer. Problem: No health insurance. Two years ago, she injured herself while working at the Goodyear Tire Plant. They were recently offered a settlement which included two options. 1. Take $150K plus insurance coverage for the rest of her life. 2. Take $380K with no insurance. Which one do you think they opted for? Considering the chunk they have to pay at the end of the year for taxes, plus the new house they just bought and all the brand new toys and cars Worker #6 has recently acquired on top of the expenses from the hospital, I'd say that money is about gone. Sad.
One of the things we do here is recycle newspaper to make insulation. We accept paper from people in the area and pay them 2 cents a pound. It's a simple process. They drive up, let me know they are here, then proceed to drive onto the scale. I weigh them in. The workers unload the paper from their vehicle and then they drive back onto the scale where I weigh them out. Easy, right? Well today a carload of boys come in from a local school. I proceed to show them where to get on the scale. I weigh them in at 5500 pounds. The workers unload them, they got back onto the scale and I weighed them out at 4200 pounds. Only one small problem. Four of the boys are not in the car when they weigh out potentially lessening the weight of the car by 800 or so pounds. This is rocket science I swear to you. Let's look at this problem:
AT WEIGH IN
Weight of car: 4000
Weight of paper: 500
Weight of boys: 1000 (all five in the car)
TOTAL WEIGHT: 5500
AT WEIGH OUT
Weight of car: 4000
Weight of boys: 200 (since 4 are no longer in the car)
TOTAL WEIGHT: 4200
5500 - 4200 = 1300 x .02 per pound = $26.00
However, this is how it should have worked out.
AT WEIGH IN
Weight of car: 4000
Weight of paper: 500
Weight of boys: 1000 (all five in the car)
TOTAL WEIGHT: 5500
AT WEIGH OUT
Weight of car: 4000
Weight of boys: 1000 (all five REMAIN in the car)
TOTAL WEIGHT: 5000
5500 - 5000 = 500 x .02 per pound = $10.00
I sat here in my office for a full 10 minutes trying to explain this simple mathmatics formula to five boys who could just not process this through their feeble minds. I'm not even sure if they knew I was speaking English. I finally just gave up and told them I was going to give them the higher amount even though they didn't provide us with that much paper. One of them had the nerve to eye the money as I was handing it to him and say, "This is it? This is all we get?" I vow never, EVER to have kids and raise them in Western KY. Promise.
wow that is a stellar crew there!
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