Third Shift Notes-Our 9:00 am is your midnight!

wow, we're making the big time...

2005-02-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Interesting....
Our night crew chief, the one with rather large marriage problems, has been transferred to another store to replace another chief, who used to work at our store, because, as word would have it, he is recovering from an operation on his (I'm not making this up) balls. He will be out for at leset a month and maybe longer.

Remarkably enough, we are doing just fine. All the stock get on the selves and people are in a good frame of mind. For the first time in a long while, we had another "pot luck' chow time tonight. I made chill, which went over well.

Got an email from a student in California about doing a research project on third shifters. I did not mention this to my fellow workers as I do not want to suggest that my interests are any more or less than the ones they hold.

I found out last night that Lee, of the frozen food department, will be on vacation next week. Thus explaining why I'm working Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday nights.

But on the good side, we get a raise as of midnight tonight when I check in. For parttimers, that's another 25 cents an hour or two bucks a day.

So when I went to the library today I was told I have fine of two dollars. There goes the raise.

Saw Bill today at The Dutch. He's an old third shifter and told me that third shift workers, according to an article he read, can expect to live five years less than other workers. But I'll bet we get into few traffic accidents.

Not to sleep. Got to take over Frozen, if I live to get there.

I'm missing a Christmas party but it's 200 bucks

2004-12-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

They kept things rather tight lately. Keeping the hours up and the number of employees down. Which under normal circumstances would not be all that bad but my part time job is starting to cut into my full time life. Aside from the fact that I've not been able to do the things I should be doing, like updating the site on a regular basis, having sex with my wife and enjoying the day and evening, now I'm missing Kath's Christmas party. Oh well, off to Rye tomorrow to see Dorothy. I'll tell you about her later, if I get some time.

"It's hard work." from Bush during the debate

2004-10-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

What the hell did you expect, Mr. President, when you went after the job in the first place and then thought that starting a war would be such great fun.

Bush must have used this line a dozen times during the debate, suggesting he had nothing else to say worth listening to. That poor bastard. My heart just bleeds for him. "It's hard work".

I can tell you about hard work George. Hard work is throwing a few hundred cases of stock on the shelves from midnight to 8 in the morning and getting home dog tired to receive my monthly reminder from the IRS about sending in some more cash for the fools in Washington.

My wife can tell you about hard work. She's got to make damn sure that the few hundred sick and old people that rely on the VNA to be at their door to clean their toilets, shop for them, bath them and help keep them alive all are served regardless of who calls out, is sick or is stuck with a broken down car. That's hard work. She comes home dead on her feet.

Yea, lots of people have had to live their whole lived doing "hard work". There are tens of millions of them. They didn't have an oil daddy to guide them alone. None of them owned a baseball team. They just worked hard-year in and year out-and if they were lucky, real lucky, maybe they got to spend a few of their last years with their feet up in Florida.

Teachers know about hard work Mr. President. Cops, nurses, dirt farmers, the guys who pick up our trash on Tuesdays, truck drivers-even the kid who gets the shopping carts left in our parking lot in the driving rain-they all know about hard work, Mr. President.

But none of them started a useless war. None of them gave billion to rich friends. None of us made our country look like a bunch of fools. None of these hard workers have tried to make a bad war, that's getting worse with every passing day, seem like a bed of roses. We just sweat in the summer. Freeze in the winter. Wonder if the paycheck will keep the lights on for another month and hope to grab a few days off, if we can find a few extra bucks.

You're a spoiled brat, Mr. President. You've never had to really work, hard or otherwise, for your entire life. The trouble is, you don't realize it or don't care.

Yea, it's hard work George. You've got a job for now, for now. Be happy with that and stop the bitchin.

Reflections on being up for fifteen hours at 2:30 pm

2004-09-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

It rained like all get out while we were at lunch last night and got darn cold. Of course we've got it some what better than the folks down in Florida but I suspect that come January they will still think they are better off in the warm sun than we are as we survive our cold winter snows.

Over lunch there was some brief conversations on the upcoming election. While support for Kerry is some what mild, a number of my co-workers have taken up the flip flop line from the right wingers that sit in the White House, the thinking went along the lines that Bush is a failed president. As one said, if things are screwed up now have four Bush years, think how bad they will be after four more. I thought that comment hit the mark.

We had a large load last night and I'm dead tired. But I am getting better at throwing the stock in grocery. Everyone else on the night crew has at least five years more experience in throwing the stock than I do so naturally they do it faster. But each night I learn a little more about the thousands of things American buy to keep themselves happy and content, how big they are, how many go on a shelf and the best way to present them to the customer. What a stupid country we are. We buy all this crap and then wonder why we're overweight and in rotten health.

So I get home and deal with my two lame computers. I using the lap top now as I had to download and upload some copy for the sight that this one could only take as the desk top was very ill. Every once in the one this one decides to call it a day, I never know when, which mean that everything I've done goes down the toilet.

I slept for a while then went down to the Dutch for a beer and read the newspaper. (they get the Wall Street journal there and while I know they are a bunch of right wingers, they write well and I like knowing what the other one percent is doing and thinklng-if that's the right word)

So in comes Rev Dave and Peter from Church. I've been spending a lot of my waking hours doing church stuff and today I didn't want to talk. They seemed to understand that when I begged off their invite to join them. I just wanted to have my three beer, read the WSJ and veg.

The Yankees play a double header today, starting at four. I may make the first few innings of the first game but that will be about it. I'm doing frozen tonight at 11:30. Right now I'm going into the kitchen to do the dishes from last night-this is part of an effort to give Kathy more time to herself-as Kathy gets home in about an hour and I've an estimated work time in the kitchen of just shy of that.

So how the hell was your day?

Nowhere Left to Flop (washingtonpost.com)

2004-09-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Nowhere Left to Flop (washingtonpost.com): "KrauthMr. Krauthammer,

I enjoy reading your views nearly as much as I enjoy throwing the baseball for our black lab.

He, like you, has a consistency that is, well, nothing less than astounding. Day in and day out, he will go for the ball until my arm is ready to fall off. And like him, I can always count on you to keep going after that darn ball, however misplayed, even if your efforts might be better expended elsewhere.

Why? Because, until now, he has said everything conceivable regarding Iraq. Having taken every possible position on the war, there is nothing he can say now that is even remotely credible.

Your memory is failing again. (you really should see a doctor)

Campaign 2000 on the evils of "nation building"
USS Lincoln...Mission Accomplished
"We found the Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Later, the Weapons of Mass Destruction don't matter because we've got the evil one.
Before the war, an immediate danger to the country. (from the resolution sent to Congress)
Iraq's oil will pay for the war.
They will welcome us with open arms.
We don't need more troops.
We need more troops.
There is a direct connection from Iraq and 9/11
There is no direct connection with 9/11
We don't need a 9/11 commission.
I fully support the 9/11 commission.
The insurgents are just a small band of Sadam loyalists.
Oh, heck, we just went over a thousand GIs dead to the small band and there is no end in sight.

If these are not flip flops, then the phrase needs to be redefined.

Sir, if you are proud of this man and our country, please say so and explain your reasons. I served in the real Army and I've never been more ashamed to call myself an American.

I grow weary of Bush's dizzying contradictions --

Peter J. Roberts
New London, CTammer"

Ten nights in a row and they wanted more

2004-09-15T03:16:00.000-07:00

There are two reasons why I've not written anything here, or anywhere else, for more than a month.

First, the computer crashed and I lost everything. I mean four years of emails, a play I was writing, (never did that before) and tons of work on just about everything. I had to reinstall the entire system and it took a while to get over the fact that thousands of hours of work had gone up in one huge electric storm.

But the other reason has to do with work. Last night was the first night I've not worked in the last ten. That's ten days in a row. This is my part time job, remember.

We had a guy who was promoted to full time status and sent to our store in Cromwell. He was the "senior" part timer and he's not been replaced. Others have been on vacation so they've been adding more days and hours to my work week. That's good on payday but there is an obvious down side. Time.

Had the days been rainy then it would not have been too bad. It is ease to sleep on rotten days. Put the blanket over the window, set the clock and crash. But on nice days, and we've had a string of them, the backyard and the waterfront call. The days are getting shorter and we all know that winter's bleak, dark days are not far off. So I sit in the sun with a cold beer and a book and try to hang in until I just have to go upstairs and asleep. I get between five and six hours of sleep which is enough most of the time. But over ten days, that just isn't enough.

I was suppose to be off last night but they called to see if I wanted to go in. Foolishly I said yes but when Kathy got home and took a look at me we both agreed that it would be better to have a smaller check and a healthier Peter. I called them and said I would not be able to come in. I think I did about ten hours of sleep last night and I'm off again tonight. Too bad because today is suppose to be cloudy and rainy.

The talk over lunch for the last few weeks is about sex and Bush's guard duty. Everyone thinks he was a wimp then and hasn't changed much since he did his heroic service. It's easy to tell others to take the hill. Just has the Veep.
More on all this later. Now off for a run.

OK, I called out on Monday

2004-08-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

...but tonight I'm working. The hard part is it so darn nice today and I really don't want to go to bed so I can get up around ten. Of course, the upside of this is that for years and years, on beautiful days like today, I was in an office wishing that I could be outside enjoying the day.

I see that the numbers of people without health insurance is up again. And people wonder why I do what I do.

Vacation is really over

2004-08-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

I usually work two or three nights a week. That brings in some money and pays the health insurance. So I knew that I would be working tonight, Saturday, as that was posted on Wednesday. It's a union rule that they've only of late been following. But the rest of the work week is not posted until four in the afternoon on Friday. So this morning, before doing the laundry I went to the store to see what was up for the rest of the week.

I'll get a good check on September 1. I'm working tonight, Saturday for time and a half. I work Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night and Thursday night. That's 32 hour straight time and 8 of OT or 44 hours for pay this week.

Vacation is really over. It's around 4:30. We just rain in the rain, for the fun of it. The clothing is draped over the drying rake. Went to the Hamburg Fair before that. A good day all around.
The only mail we got was from the IRS. They are such nice people. It had to do with our 2002 taxes. We owe them money. Join the club.

Off to sleep soon.

Vacation news-53 and back down to a size 32

2004-08-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

The third day of vacation. (remember that old song?)

We went boating again today, up the Thames River. We getting very good at putting the canoe on top of the pickup and securing it so it doesn't fall off on the middle of the road.

We got an early start today and left the boat on the truck overnight, hoping that it would not be liberated while we were sleeping. It was still there when the sun came up. The eary start was encouraged by the weather reports that strongly suggested rain and, God forbid, thunderstorms in the afternoon.

None occurred but we stayed close to home.
We put the boat in at launch on the Thames River, right under the Gorton Bridge. A strange experience. A few hundred yards in the air is I-95, both directions, and you have to think about someday, everything bites the dust someday, that it will fall. (it happened in Greenwich twenty years ago) When you're under the bridge you hear the truck brakes and the traffic, you work to put the boat in the water so you can get away from it all.

Which we did.

Went upriver past the Coast Guard Academy but stayed on the western side of the river away from the Sub Base. I may be a little paranoid, but in this day and age, I have visions of gunboats opening up on us should we get too close to the big boats.

We saw some people down at the dock. I used to think that people like them were out of a job or on vacation. Now I have to reconsider, since I am one. They might be working on third shift.

We did some walking downtown New London and had lunch. Went to the Thrift Store, run by the Church, up the street and they were having a sale on summer goods. Got a pair of shorts, LL Bean, for two buck. Size 32. Fit like a glove. Went running and did my workouts this morning, before boating. A good day for an old chap of 53.

I go back to work Saturday at midnight. They call it Sunday, which it is but I'm still in the daytime mode of time thinking.

I'll be adjusting my sleep mode over the next few day.

Doing art museums tomorrow.

Rain

2004-08-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

As would be expected, on our first weekday of vacation, it rained. Of course we could be in Florida where it looked like it didn't rain today but I'd rather be up here in New London dealing with just one wet day and no 170 mile an hour wind.

Thanks N. for the comments. She reminded me a blonde I used to know, long ago and far away.
And such a sweet smile.
Boating tomorrow. Forecast is good.
Power Up

Worked last night but am to start vacation

2004-08-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

I should explain some things about my working on third shift.

It was never my goal in lift to do this for a living but things just worked out that way. I started when I was around 49, I'm 53 now, and I signed up for it at Stop and Shop for two reasons. Money and health insurance. The company is a closed shop and that means that everyone who works there, aside from management, must join the union. With the weekly dues, which are taken out of everyone's check, comes things like good pay, (I get over a eleven bucks an hour and more on weekends), health insurance, visitation's, personal and sick days with pay. And that is just for part timers, like myself. I work two, three or four nights a weeks and every Wednesday the money is put in the bank.

NOTE: It is 1:51 pm and I'm having chow. Not a late lunch but chow. Three big burgers just off the toaster oven.

I mostly work the frozen department but last night I worked the warm, dry stuff in the grocery department. The highlight of the evening occurred around six in the morning when a very attractive blonde came down my lane pushing her cart. I greeted her, as I do everyone I meet in the store and we had a fine conversation about our upcoming vacation and the storm, or storms, on the way. She was in her thirties and had a wonderful smile. Interestingly, I think we were both taken with each other. I used to be good at telling these things but I suspect I'm getting a little too old to really be good at it anymore. Although I would like to think otherwise, I'm sure she was making just early morning small talk to a guy who was starting his vacation.

In any case, she made my day. (yes, since our days are at night, she made an impression well into my late night hours.)

So, on to vacation, of sorts. The store in doing an inventory next week and I told them that if they wanted me to come in, up to Wednesday, I would do so. But after that, they can kiss my butt goodbye.

Working tonight

2004-08-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Work tonight. It is around 3:30 in the afternoon and I've had the cats outside for their afternoon adventure in the backyard. Hot and humid and they did not complain about going back in.

The Yankees play tonight, while I sleeping. I'll catch the score after I get up around 10:30. Working at 11:30 and I'm only two miles from Stot and Shop, so I'll have plenty of time to shower, chow down and get there.

Went for a run this morning but I don't expect to do so tomorrow when I get back. I suspect we'll have a good load to throw tonight and that will be enough exercise for me for the day. But the good part is that tonight will be the last night crew duty for the week. I suspect I'll have to work Saturday Night, meaning Sunday Morning.

I've got to wonder if Bush or Kerry know about working third shift. There are a few million of us out there but it is like we're in the shadows. People get up in the morning and things are just there. As they are supposed to be.

Reading a new book from the library. Rising from the Rails is about Pullman Porters, all of whom were black, and what they did to keep white America happy and content while traveling on the railroads up to 1969. While I work third shift, they worked all shifts. We count our blessings. The author is Larry Tye, who used to work for the Boston Globe, and he's got a web site, or so the liner jacket says. www.larrytye.com

Close to time to crash.
Later

First post

2004-08-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

It is 4:13 in the afternoon and I'm getting ready to crash. While I had a little on my hand today, I thought I start this darn blog to provide another avenue to explain to the world what it is like to work while everyone else, at least in these parts, are sleeping.
Speaking of which, it is time for me to really crash.
More, tomorrow when I hope to figure out just how far I want to open up on all this. There's sex, the elections and all sorts of things that take on a whole new aspect when viewed from the standpoint of someone who is without sleep.

Good night.