Changing Jobs After 50

I've had two days on my new job.  I went from being the smartest person in the building to the dumbest. This job has physical aspects, some trailer doors are bitches to open or close.  There are major safety aspects- a lapse in attention can get myself and someone else hurt or killed and I can get fired.

There hasn't been any book training, mostly I have watched her and then she watches me and corrects me when I mess up, which seems to be every time.  Once I think I know what's going on, some exception pops up- a detail gets changed and I'm lost again.  She assures me it will become second nature to me but all too often she is doing the work because when the time comes it has to be done NOW.  There are long periods of down time on the nights I have worked so far, and then up to three trucks can be ready to go at once.

I get home after midnight, and I'm tired, so it's a light snack an off to bed.  Without the after-work drinks, I can sleep through the night easily.  So there you go- alcohol, even just one drink- can disturb your sleep.  And I'm going to need rest to recover, my upper body is getting quite a workout- I will not be trying to do P90X any time soon.

At my new place they still do the vacation picks in March.  They were shocked to hear we could only pick three weeks total.  They said I'd still get mine that is already approved but I needed to bring in my signed slips.  Then I remembered I'd left them on my desk.  I pictured my boss, sweeping his arm over my desk, putting everything into the trash.  He's been doing that sort of thing, he cleaned out a file cabinet full of forms we still use and put them in the trash.  I ran over to work after breakfast and to my relief my folder was still there.  I grabbed it and left.  So I'll get a little Mustang time in April if the weather is nice and I'll get my track weekend in July unless something else hoses that again.  And if they aren't stingy with annual leave in this place, maybe I can get other track weekends in.

I am supposed to be able to use a bicycle in my job, so I can get to the dock doors quickly.  The procedure for getting a bike is murky- "Just take one with an empty basket.  Except that one by the break room, so-and-so is in there, so it's probably his bike.  Another time a guy took my bike and I had to yell at him, only our kind is supposed to use the bikes."

Great, I have no way of knowing if a bike is in use or if someone is using it is supposed to be using it.  But I'll probably get to yell at someone soon, I guess there are a few people around who like to try you.

So my immediate goal is to not do anything that can get me fired.  And be tough.