I can use my steel-toed boots for good or for evil...

[palmer_kun]

...and today I was tempted to use them for evil.

Work today was more inspecting (and sometimes replacing) cracked grilles in microwaves. All the other temps were doing that. I, being one of the few people competent enough to use a knife (I swear) and ZOMG! able to KEEP a knife (my own, brought in from home no less!)... my job was to cut the tape sealing all the boxes shut for all the other workers. I would go around and do this in advance on the top layer of boxes (the boxes were all stacked 2 high, which brings them up to about the bottom of your ribs, say 4 feet), and then come back and do the bottom layer as it became exposed.

Given that there was one knife-person (moi) and SEVEN other inspectors, I was fairly busy. For the most part, I could just keep up with people... I was almost always in motion, and the few times I got ahead, I usually spent slashing the shrink-wrap off the new incoming pallets and stripping them. But I was busy, non-stop. This was easy work in terms of load... I wasn't really lifting or exerting a lot opf pressure... but it was solid work nonetheless. I sweated, and it took a fair bit of energy. I was busy.

The other workers had to unpack the boxes, inspect the grilles for cracks, sometimes replace them (if we had the spare grilles) or otherwise tag them as damaged, then repack them. After that, they would pull them down to the ground level (about 2 feet) and then slide them along the very smooth floor over to the guy who would then tape them up and stack the pallets.

Pretty straightforward, all told.

Except for this one girl. If there was such a thing as an Entitlement Bitch EMPLOYEE, she would be it.

This girl flat out REFUSED to
Lift boxes.
Lower them to the ground
Pull them towards her (18 inches, from the middle row of the pallet to the outside)
OR slide them along the floor to the tape dude.

She wouldn't even try. She claimed they were too heavy. They were under 60 pounds. Yeah, it's heavy, but it's not hard to lower one two bloody feet (esp. when you can angle it and slide it down the corner of another box) or to even slide them on the floor (I could do it with my left hand). And it's not like I'm muscle man here... when I flex my biceps, they squish easier than jello - literally.

But yeah. Refused to do it. She would just sit there and make someone else do it for her. Mostly me. When I had no bloody time to spare.
It was annoying. But it continued, and she got worse. So I took to ignoring her, made plausible by the fact I listen to my mp3 player continuously at work (though at low volume so I can easily hear people). I also conspicuously helped others here and there.

Eventually she spent like 5 minutes trying to get my attention to take away her boxes. I ignored her. So she stopped what she was doing and walked over 15 feet to stand right beside me and TELL me to take her boxes. Well, she wants to be a bitch, I can be a fucking asshole right back.

I told her flat out to stop being lazy and damn well do it herself. Wah wah wah too heavy. They aren't. And then she gets into deep shit with her next excuses.
Excuse 1: "It's not my job to do that, it's your job."
No bitch, My job is to cut the boxes open, and I'm BUSY DOING IT. Don't try to tell me my fucking job. You've been here 2 days, I've been here EIGHT.

Excuse 2: "You are a man, I am a woman, so you must do it."
Gee whiz... out of 8 temps, FIVE of them are women. Moreso, the other 4 women? THEY'RE ALL DOING IT THEMSELVES!
Not only that, but most of them are stronger than me! And look at Jean! Not only is she doing it herself, but she's doing it with a HURT HAND (she stabbed herself with a tape gun by accident).

She then recycled Excuses 1 and 2 a bunch. I just told her off more and more. So then, she has the audacity to stop her work AGAIN (note that I never stopped my work even while chewing her out) to walk the entire length of the bloody work area (at least 30 feet) to complain about me to one of the regular emplyees (not even a supervisor, just Chad). From about 20 feet away, I could see him sigh and roll his eyes. He said nothing to her and she went back to her laziness. By this time, Johnny, Diane and Sherri were all telling her off too, and we were talking trash about her right in front of her. We didn't like her and made no effort to hide it.

Now, I'm a friendly person. I try to get along with my fellow temps, and generally do a good job of it. But she's just a lazy wench with entitlement mentality and a bad attitude... so my real nature comes out and bites her on the ass. You wanna be a bitch, that's fine, I can out-asshole you any day.

But yeah... SOOOOOOOOOOOOO wanted to use my boots for evil. First time I've ever wanted to.

But I didn't. And in the end, I didn't need to.

At the end of the day, only 4 of the 8 temps were asked back for tomorrow.
I was one of them. She was not.

Suck it, bitch.

Comments

[jamileigh17.livejournal.com]

*gigglesmooches*

[sunlit-mists.livejournal.com]

Watch that last line, it may have been what she really wanted to hear... and I think you should refrain from using it up as you may want that term later next week.. :) - you may want to ask nicer though.. girls tend to like the sugar and spice better.... :)

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Nah, not her. She's a carribean immigrant and her accent is still quite thick, and she bitches a lot about not having any time and other whiny shit. Then she gripes about having like 3 bucks taken off her cheque for EI. And then whines more about having to wait till friday to be paid. And... lets put it this way... if you had to put up with her whining, you'd be BEGGING for how little Chris whines.

Of course I'll ask nicer. Alli and I don't have that kind of relationship, we have a nice, friendly, mutually-respectful one.

[lady-zip.livejournal.com]

I wanna put her head in a microwave now >_>

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Poetic justice, eh?

[kitznegari.livejournal.com]

ha!

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

60lb makes about 30kg; here, if one employee lifts something that's heavier than 20kg, it's a violation of occupational health and safety laws. Pushing it around is fine, but lifting it isn't. This, however, isn't my point.

Don't kick people with your toes. It's bad for them. :)

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Those are some pretty strict laws then! The microwave boxes are clearly labelled 28kg, which is 61 pounds and change. I just rounded it.
Lifting those weights is common here - you'll see job ads for warehouse swamper positions and such that specify "Must be able to lift at least 45kg/100lbs" under requirements.

I've pushed up to 4 of those microwaves around at once - 2 in a row, stacked 2 high. THAT was hard. Never did more than 2 after that.
But yeah, I've been lifting over 20kg myself all week and last week. Like, constantly.

- - -

That's the beauty of steel-toed boots... the toe is surrounded by a cap made of steel, strong enough to resist a 20kg weight falling half a metre.

This means that if I kick someone in the kneecap using my toes with these boots... I won't feel it, except a dull jolt in my leg as a whole. They will though!

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

*nods* Very, but it's better than having half your workforce merrily hurting themselves. 28kg boxes are a two-person lift; more than 55kg calls for mechanical assistance or team lifting.

---

There is that, but it's better to use your heel on a kneecap. You can kick harder that way, too.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

This was supposed to be a reply, not a new thread. *headdesk*

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I lift over 20kg all the time even around the house. And like I said, I'm not strong by any means - my son is over 20kg and he needs carrying from time to time.

We often do have 2 people lift if 2 people are handy. The main thing is that none of these boxes is being lifted higher than a metre, nor carried further than, oh... 3 metres tops. We pick them up and put them down in less than 5 seconds 95% of the time.

- - -
But a toe kick you can lash out with much faster than a heel kick, gives them less time to dodge.

And it's not like you need a lot of force behind the kick to seriously damage a knee - these boots weigh over a kilo each, which adds significant heft to any kick.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

You're not supposed to kick with your toes, but rather pull them back and kick with the ball of the foot. At kneecap height, this is probably that little bit slower than a competent kick with a heel, and rather a bit softer.

But, no. A kneecap isn't the toughest of obstacles.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I have weak hands and arms, so I practiced various kicks a lot when I was young and bullied a lot... the best kick to use very much depends on the positions and distances involved.

This whole conversation amuses me greatly.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

In schools here, from years seven to eleven, 'sport' each week is compulsory but you get to pick what you do. Many hours were spent compulsorily learning how to kick folk.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I only wish PE (Physical Education) up here was so pleasant.

No choice in what you do, nothing resembling martial arts.
We had to do SQUARE DANCING. *shudder*

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

PE was entirely different, and is compulsory from 7-10. It involves silly, silly dances, drugs, sex, some fitness test thingy, running, swimming and more sport. It, I rather hated, but consistently came first in for knowing all there was to know about sex and drugs for tests and exams.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Sounds like me. I learned more than most people ever learn about sex by the time I was 12... by raiding my mother's poorly hidden stash of sex manuals. On the entire sex ed unit, I lost a whopping one mark (worth about 0.2% off my final mark for the unit) for misspelling menstruation on the final. That was it.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

I lost one for not-quite-remembering the effectiveness of one contraceptive or another. Not that I'm ever going to need any of them.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

You realize this has obligated me to ask "Why not?"

I can think of a few possible reasons, but I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. You, especially, have a way of popping up with utterly unexpected comments out of nowhere.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

This time, it's one of the more obvious ones. Or, possibly, the most obvious one. My sexual preferences simply don't run toward the menfolk, or at least any that I'm aware of.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

It was the most obvious one, but I couldn't rule out possibilities such as MTF transgendered, hysterectomy, asexuality, birth defect or even (seeing as I really know basically nothing about you, and for all I know you could be old enough) menopause.

Note to self: Do not flirt with Linda.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

I find myself impressed by your lack of inclination to make assumptions.

And you can try if you want to. I'm not about to have anyone shot for it.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I've known too many people who fit one or more of those alternate categories mentioned to make assumptions about something like that.
I do make assumptions, but only on things I have an extremely high level of confidence. As I said, I don't really know you, so I can't make any real assumptions yet.
Breaking myself of the assumption habit was part of taking Assertiveness.

Perhaps... but there's not very much point to it, even you are pretty well what I would consider raw sex appeal incarnate. :)
Plus it's best not to annoy you needlessly, let alone pointlessly.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

That, too, seemed likely from what I know of you.

*blinkblink* Well, then. Rawr. :)

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Whyfor the blinking? I simply spoke my mind, as I tend to do. Again, part of my nature. I just say what I want, and make no attempts at tact or whatnot.

Yes, you are oozing raw sex appeal. You read extensively. You write. You game. You're funny. You're nerdy and geeky. You like old video games. You're intelligent. You're well-spoken. You understand grammar and punctuation. You're funny. You're intriguing. And every single time you have something to say, I find it amusing, interesting, fascinating, delightful or worthwhile. Normally a combination of these things.

Like I said, raw sex appeal. At least to me, of course... I can't vouch for the tastes of the great illiterate masses.
Alas, you're out of reach in more than one way.

But yes. Rawr is you.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

It was the phrasing, I think. And that the comment looked a little bit silly without it.

[surrey-sucks.livejournal.com]

If the boxes were too heavy for her/she's not good at physical labour, then why did she agree to do this job, or sign up with this agency? I know that I can't lift heavy things, and I hate physical labour, so I'd never take on a job like this.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I told her, if she can't handle the work, she has no business being with Target. Even on my "light" jobs like restoration, I've often had to lift over 30-40 pounds. The one day in the warehouse unloading the truck, almost all those boxes were over 30 pounds.

It's funny... I can't lift heavy things for the most part (the ONLY reason I can handle these microwaves is because they're balanced and have handles) and hate physical labour - yet I'm doing well at it.

How odd.

[dulcinea12.livejournal.com]

jesus, I'm 4'11", have a bad back, and still made a living lifting 75-pound boxes one summer. It's easier, however, when you don't know how much they weigh. ;p