Working on the Docks

The first time I met E, I was struggling with a really stubborn trailer door and she materialized at my side to help me pull it up.  She's a forklift driver but she got off and helped me pull it up by hand.  Sometimes those things are so stubborn, it actually takes a forklift to get them up.  The first few days on this job, I found many doors problematic.  But now, I guess I'm getting in shape, and I have figured out how to leverage or push and pull just right to get the job done.

Tonight there was some drama that started while I was at lunch.  Usually, our own guys back trailers up to the doors but sometimes OTR drivers do and they are required to come and and declare that they are chocked and pulled off after they are indeed chocked and pulled off.  Only then it is truly safe for a forklift driver to enter the trailer.  But apparently, a driver pulled off while E was in a trailer and K, another forklift operator witnessed this and she wanted to file a formal complaint against the driver.  The trailer shakes and it is creepy for the forklift driver.  And maybe not safe, should the trailer actually start to move, but one of my duties is to lock the trailer to the dock, so it can't be moved.  I was back from lunch when K asked for the paper work to file the complaint.  I found somebody to help me find the form and by the time I did, K wasn't around but E was and her attitude was it wasn't a big deal and she didn't want to get anybody in trouble.  So she said she'd take care of the paperwork (probably throw it away and tell K it was handled) and she warned my to watch myself around K.  I had already had that vibe although dealing with K was much better tonight that the previous night.  I may be working this area regularly, so this would probably be good to have rapport with all the forklift drivers.

Overtime can be had for the asking here but I simply lack the stamina to work more than 8 hours, 5 days a week.  Maybe if I could sleep 8 hours a night, I could go for 10 hour days and 12 hour days are for the young.  Forget 7 days a week.  Maybe once I have my taxes done and the grass isn't growing so much, I could contemplate signing up for the overtime list.  People who can handle 7 12 hour days bring in 6 figure incomes.  I'd be scared of getting so tired I'd end up getting hurt.

That's the plan for my "weekend", gotta get the taxes done NOW.