word!

With Christmas just a mere week away, I finally faced one of my fears and donated blood. No, not a vial for something med tech at the clinic. Nope.

This time is was a genuine contribution to the Red Cross. Albeit a dare of sorts. I think I convinced a co-worker that if she signed up for direct deposit of her paycheck, I would do it, as she bugged me about donating.

This is substantial on two fronts. First because for the better part of two years I’ve been trying to get said co-worker to sign up for this. She ‘said’ she handed in the form…. I’m doubting it because she laughed so as she was telling me this.

The other obstacle was that I am not particularly found of needles and the joy of having one stuck up my arm was not grand. I made a point of not looking at it because of it.

But I made it. I got a bit woozy and nauseous when I sat up, so they made me hang out for a bit before moving much. That coupled with getting a ice pack to the eye, really made for a memorable first experience.

I know it’s good to give, but it’s debatable if I’ll give in the future….

Wow, wow, wow.

Who’d thunk that 365 ago I would have started an endeavor that would one of the longer lasting things in my life? For my age, I’m not sure if it’s stupendously awesome and depressing mudane.

I have been gainfully employed by the same employer for the previous 365 days, supposedly. I say supposedly, because it’s all kinda relavent on what is considered employment anniversaries. I guess it was this time last year I started working again for Michael Foods. I accepted a part-time position as a Maintenance Dept. Intern for lack of better overall description. In this capacity, I got to wonder the whole of Michael Foods Gaylord Production Plant. Quite a feat in itself really. I got to catalog and recatalog almost every piece of machinery that is used in this production facility and then input into the computer system. For joy.

I whole-heartedly suggest standing on a black roof on a sunny day in the middle of August, trying to write down serial numbers of a giant intake fan, while trying to keep a bumch of papers from slipping from your grasps. Fun indeed.

From thence, I bounced around the internship gauntlet to HR, where I got to be the voice of the plant ~ “Good Afternoon, Michael Foods…. Michael speaking”. Although I think I only got a chuckle outta the one person who maybe actually asked who was answering the phones. If only I could’ve told them, yes I own the company and for fun, I occassionly run the phones. Ah, what a dream. Anywho, all these endeavors led to me applying and being hired full-time as a Microbiology Lab Technician for the Quality Assuarance Dept. some 7+ months ago.

So, I’m not really sure which dates anniversaries I should celebrate,
June 20th: my first day of employment with them
November 7th: my first day of full-time employment
or
Novermber 1st: supposedly the day they backdated my employment to.

Not sure. I guess the only importance is that I’ve made it this long which is kind of an odd feeling. But now I should be able to fully vest myself in a 401(k), which is very tantilizing in itself. Oh and the cantor for coffee/liquids and almost fancy certificate sure make me wanna keep charging forward.

Bring It On!

It’s funny how the company culture in America is changing. They say no one will stay at the same job for their career. Workers will average 6-7 different companies throughout their carrer as a result.

I guess that would be no suprise if one would be doing it for personal reasons; such as moving away, etc. But it seems that companies really are starting to not care about their most important assest ~ their people. They hire and fire so willynilly that who is to know whim or the why. Sure, they state some obscure reason like the world economy is in a downturn for your product or some other glossy excuse, but none of the execs take pay cuts or feels the pinch.

They also word their employee handbooks so loosely that if they really want to fire you, they will do their darndest to find something you are not doing correctly and out you for it. Yet in the next breath they’ll state they don’t have a good pool of people to choose from for replacements. Who would want to work for an entity that is willing to cut you loose for pretty much anything?

It seems kinda of cold and robotic the way managers and execs make these decisions. There must be a confidence that anyone can and will be replaced with someone of equal or greater value within a short turnaround. It just seems cold and heartless to do away with people that you deal with on a daily basis like that.

I’ve started anew an endeavor as a commercially liscensed driver this past week and it’s been enough to drive a man to stop driving completely. I am currently helping out UFC deliver fertilizer to the farmers around the Gibbon area. I’m helping out a friend, Jason, who’s manager at that location.

Having had little actual time behind the wheel of a big truck, I was a little hesitant and green but confident in actually attempting this small feat. So off I go from the plant and pull onto State Hwy. 19 and get no more than 500 yards and DOT decides to pull me over. I was really worried he’d find something wrong with my liscense (a temporary/seasonal, also first BIG liscense I’d had) or something wrong with the rig I was driving (not the newest or greatest machine). If he had, I was certain I’d quit right then and there. But I was let go with a warning for not having a seatbelt on. I’m almost that with certain these trucks; seatbelts were a late addon.

Anyhow, I got that outta the way and enjoyed a few days of learning the ropes of driving truck and working at a coop. Then yesterday (Saturady) I had the unique opportunity of wrecking a truck engine.

I was told to take out a bigger truck than the one I had grown accustomed to. Fine. Start out and get stuck in driveway (new soft gravel and very heavy truck = not good). Got that taken care of and start out. Never get this pile of junk above 20 miles/hr – due to weight or inexpierence I’ll never know. Doing fine, keep driving as slow as a turtle until I pull upto a stop sign and stop, naturally.

Then notice cloud of dust go by, fine, then a gray vapor starts coming up from under the engine. Get out and sure enough a gray liquid is pouring out – most likely cracked head gasket or head. La-te-da. What a week! I just don’t think things could get more peachy than that for starting out something so new and almost foreign. But I made it and had some good help along the way, otherwise I might never even started. And to think I honestly worried things like this would happen before I even agreed to help out.

Things can only get better right?

After attempting to apply online for a job with UPS for a temp position this Holiday season, I get to the screen:

Sorry, no appointments available.

WTF? After a extremely lengthy online application which asks for oodles of HR info to scout sucessfully for new hires, I get to this? Tell me the job is closed first you idiots! And the application was time sensitive, if you didn’t finish parts within certain time frames, they had you conviently start this process all over again! And no, no one officially considers Minnesota State University, Mankato as Mankato State…. get with the times UPS.

I’ve applied for this position before too. The last few years by phone, of course this job must be filled before it even reaches the masses, but they release the job posting for amusement I think. I even showed up to a booth at Minnesota State University, Mankato when I was in school there after seeing a the posting for positions with UPS ‘close to home’. Well, close to home was conviently in the Twin Cities. What twits to assume that the only people that actually live in Minnesota live in the Twin Cities. Idiots, total morons.

I’m fed up with this company. It’s drivers are no better. They race like homicidal maniacs down every road they frequent and often pull out right in front of you while they are double parked in busy downtown streets and look at you like you’re stupid for slowing down there day. Package delivery is another joke, they hide your package where ever they can hide it, often leaving to open to theft or destruction by the elements. I’ve heard a guy find a package the next spring after they ‘hid’ it in his grill and never mentioned that’s where it could be ‘found’. Pathetic.

They never even attempt to deliver it when you’re home saying they’ll get it there between 9 am to 5 pm. Well, I’m sorry, I’m expecting the Cable Guy!
UPS should cease and desist. They are a adbomination on the package industry as a whole.