A Day in My Sad Life

 Story by Tango Allejandro

Illustrations by Tango Allejandro

The events that I am about to share with you are mostly true. Some names have been changed for legal reasons and to protect the innocent.

As I have said before, I have taken a part time job with a tool company that is a national company. Lets just call it Tools-R-Us.  I have nothing against the company. I like working there. It is fun and interesting and best of all, it puts money in the bank.

Part time work is great for me because my shifts are usually 4 hour shifts. For example. We get a semi truck every week with merchandise. I have been a part of a crew of six or more to unload the truck. It is hard work but I know in a few hours I will be done with the shift and believe me, the more people you have to unload a truck the better. 

On one such truck day a few weeks ago we had only 4 people to unload the truck. Two thirds of the truck was palletized while the rest is floor loaded from floor to ceiling. It ends up to be a lot of lifting of boxes but the four of us got it unloaded in my 4 hour shift.

So the other day I am scheduled for a real 8 hour shift, plus it is a truck day. Oh-oh. So I get to work at 4 o'clock in the morning. Yep, you read that right. 4 AM! What am I thinking? I don't know. Maybe thinking about the last truck we unloaded in 4 hours. I can do this.

I look around at the crew and see the store manager. The logistics manager. I spin around in a 360 degree circle and notice that that is it. Just little ole me. The store manager, who is a lot younger than I, jumps on the forklift.

The logistics manager, who is a lot younger than I, grabs the scanner to scan all of the boxes that come in.

That just left me, the old cripple guy with a laundry list of ailments, to unload each and every pallet. 

Let's look at those ailments for a minute.

Arthritis in the neck. Check.

Bad shoulders due to old rotator cuff injuries. CHECK.

Nerve damage in the left hand. CHECK.

Lower back pain. CHECK.

Hips wearing out. CHECK.

Sore knees due to old injuries. CHECK.

Achilles tendinitis in both heels. CHECK.

In a nut shell. I am a wreck and should keel over any day now. Gladys says I walk hunched over like a 90 year old man and I'm only 58!

Back to the story. The store manager unloads the pallets. They are double stacked to save room on the truck. The logistics manager breaks down the pallets and scans each box. I then take each box and move it to its location in the storeroom.

Box after box. Pallet after pallet. We figured there were 40 pallets that "we" unloaded. It took the entire 8 hour shift to unload almost all of the pallets. I ended up leaving 3 at the end of shift. But no worries, they were still waiting for me the next day. LOL.

That was the longest 8 hour day I have had in a long time. But I got through it alive. I was hurting for a couple of days after that and am super excited for next week's truck.

But nothing beats an honest day's work. Except maybe day drinking. Silly me. I sound like Jethro and Bambi now.

Next episode we get an inside look at the SSUVFL.