The third day at my new job started at 5:00 am and lasted for ten hours.

I’ll do it again, tomorrow.

The employment agency placed four of of us this week at a locally-owned manufacturer. Two of them failed to show up after the first day.

On the second day, I was placed on a two color offset press line, feeding sheets of cardboard into the hopper which produced printed boxes. I distinguished myself in the morning by keeping the line fed by myself. After lunch, they paired me with a girl, who did an excellent job. At the end of the day, we were asked and agreed to show up early. Unfortunately, she has dread locks and a nose piercing, which caused her to be repeatedly cautioned by the safety engineer. I hope they don’t dismiss her, as we are a very effective team.

Yesterday, we were trained to set up the press for each order and processed a big one before the end of day. This morning, we ran 2500 pieces, before the line went down, and we spent the afternoon waiting for it to be repaired. Regardless, we were asked to show up at 5:00 am tomorrow for another ten hour day, as a 7600 piece order awaits us.

We are told this line represents the meat and potatoes of the company and are proud to be a part of it. The Cuban who runs it has been there for eleven years, is a master of the art and spends a lot of time testing boxes, before he begins mass production. It is an old line and frequently jams, requiring us to shut down, break the presses apart and remove the mangled cardboard.

I’m in pretty good shape after my first ten hour day, probably because we spent the afternoon making ourselves useful, while the line was repaired. At some point, we will be required to hump it, but have already proven that we can, to the apparent delight of our supervisor.

At one point, this afternoon, my partner looked over at me and said, “This is easy money.”

I actually like going in early, as there is very little traffic. I’m supplementing my country ham, eggs and toast for breakfast with a bowl of oatmeal. I have a sandwich for lunch and trail mix on breaks. We were beginning to tire after lunch, probably from boredom, but rallied by quitting time. It remains to be seen how I will hold up on a day where the line runs without problems.

They have a water fountain with electrolytes and we make frequent use of it.