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Preparing For An 18-hour Weekend

October 8, 2008 By Jeff 65 Comments

My hours at work changed this week, and I have to be there an hour earlier. My so-called quitting time has also been adjusted by an hour, so it should be no big deal, right? Well, how come I’ve been dragging massive butt-meat?

I’m working the same number of hours, just moved slightly forward, but it’s knocking me balls over tits. When the alarm goes off at 9:15 (instead of the old 10:15), I simply can’t believe it. Didn’t I just climb into bed? Am I being punk’d?!

Anyway, tomorrow is as close to a day off as I’m going to get in the near future, and I’m incredibly excited. I’m going to go for a haircut (long overdue), have lunch at Five Guys (oh God…), buy two of the new Replacements reissues (hopefully from the indie store, but that’s up to them), and maybe set up my new NASA computer (still boxed-up in the fambly room).

Oh, it’s going to be a wonderful day: my version of a weekend, compressed into eighteen hours. Then it’s back to work on Friday and Saturday (traditionally days off), before the regular work week cranks back up on Sunday. Fantastic! Pass the, um, Excel spreadsheets.

But at least it’s not physically demanding work. I was thinking about that last night, as I drove and bitched. It could be so much worse…

Admittedly it wasn’t ditch-digging, or lumberjacking, but I had a job in North Carolina that almost destroyed me. I’d worked as a stocker at a small grocery store in West Virginia, and when I moved to Greensboro I took a job as a stocker at a much larger, more serious store. And it was a whole different breed of cat.

We worked overnight, when the place was closed, and it was hard, physical labor. Anyone who’s ever done that kind of crap knows what I’m talking about. Unloading trucks… breaking down and sorting tractor trailer loads of inventory… dragging pallets of water and bleach from one end of the Earth to the other…

Every morning I left that place feeling like I’d been run over by a car. It sucked so bad it created a horizontal wind shear phenomenon over Guilford County, NC. I’m not kidding, that job was so terrible it made planes fall from the sky. Oh, how I hated it.

What was your worst job? And what was your most physically demanding job? Are they one and the same? Yeah, I thought so.

Have you ever spent time in your neighborhood, during the middle of the night? You know, while sober? I get home around 2 am now, and used to arrive around 3 am. And it’s interesting to take a look around at that time of the morning.

The house next door to us, for instance, is always brightly lit, with a gigantic TV flickering in the living room. Every night. And what’s the deal with that? I assume they have jobs and everything, but don’t really know. Perhaps they’re vampires?

And I sometimes see people walking their dogs, old ladies out puttering in their yards, and occasionally even a jogger or two. It’s amazing how much activity there is, in the dead of night. In fact, I kind of like it; it’s a little unnerving to feel completely alone.

But who jogs at 3 am?? That shit simply ain’t right.

And speaking of ain’t right, Pizza Hut is changing their name to Pasta Hut in the UK – to promote a healthier image. You know, since pasta is so good for ya. I don’t care for it. A person could theoretically live inside a hut made of pizza, but good luck erecting four walls made of cooked noodles. I mean, what do they take us for, idiots?

Surf Reporter Garrett sent this to me, and it’s pretty clever. What if the lyrics of the A-Ha song (they only had one, right?) matched the video, literally? Nicely done.

And Tom wants to know if this is a snapshot of Nancy’s kids. I’m sorry, but I cannot confirm, nor deny.

I need to go now, and get this workday in the rearview mirror…

I’ll see you guys tomorrow.

Now playing in the bunker.

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Comments

  1. JCIII says

    October 9, 2008 at 11:49 am

    ~~~Hardoxdan

    If you are a golfer , have you played the course right behind the Holiday Inn in Clarion?

    http://www.clarionoaks.com/co/default.asp

    Reply
  2. rusty says

    October 9, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Worst jobs.

    Worked in a glass factory one summer. Talk about hot.
    Worked for a guy who called himself a landscaper but all he was was a grass cutter who took jobs no one else would do. Like an acre on the side of a hill or cutting weeds in poison ivy infested real estate. Of course it was always done in high heat and humidity. When I would get home you could see salt stains on my t-shirts. I might have been born at night but it wasn’t last night. Left that one after a few weeks.

    Also, used to work in warehouses loading boxcars in the heat of the summer. No wonder I’m still tired.

    Reply
  3. Son of Sam says

    October 9, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Hardoxdan go to Vince’s on 66 north out of Clarion. Good food and nice waitresses. Foxburg Inn is nice too Wife and I stayed up there last weekend.

    Reply
  4. Son of Sam says

    October 9, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Carried cement blocks one winter back in the early 80s. -15 degrees carrying blocks will keep you warm.
    Asshole boss use to say “Heats in the tools boys” One in long line of worst jobs. Welding hoppers for sand and gravel in the summer is fun too. Black boogers anyone?

    Reply
  5. Gretchen says

    October 9, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    JCIII, Hardoxdan: I went there in the late 90s for grad school. Lived on 7th in an old Victorian house that was converted into apartments. That was one of the nicest blocks in Clarion, in my opinion. I love that little town. :o)

    Reply
  6. hardoxdan says

    October 9, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    JCIII. Sorry, not a golfer. I am more accurately described as an engineer type with a wild streak, not the athletic type.

    Son of Sam. Thanks for the recommendations, I am always looking for a new eatery.

    Gretchen. I know that street. I would like to walk down that block about 1900, and see those beautiful homes when they were fairly new and in their original paint colors.

    Reply
  7. Bill in WV says

    October 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Oops, I think I stumbled into the wrong place and ended up in the Clarion, PA chat room. LOL!!

    Reply
  8. Gretchen says

    October 9, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Well until Jeff stops dragging his “butt meat” we’re left to our own devices, Bill in WV. :o)

    Reply
  9. JCIII says

    October 9, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    The Clarion Golden Eagles, baby!!
    By the way, golden eagles taste just like chicken!!

    Reply
  10. Gretchen says

    October 9, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    I second that, JCIII….well except the part about eagles tasting like chicken. Lordy, I can’t verify that at all. ;o)

    Reply
  11. Bill in WV says

    October 9, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    I can’t get Tammie or Mark to come back and help me “regroup” the Dunbar Chat Force.

    Reply
  12. jim britton says

    October 9, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    The more Jeff suffers, the funnier he writes.
    Isn’t that awful?

    Now that you mention it, I don’t recall seeing a Tammy or Mark post in a while.
    *Somebody* ought to go check on them.

    Reply
  13. metten says

    October 9, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Two words…Hospital Laundry

    Reply
  14. other kristin says

    October 10, 2008 at 8:17 am

    wow, I’ don’t think I ever had any really sucky jobs. The worst I can relate is some tension due to stupid in-house politics at one child care job.

    But I’ve been lucky to have summer jobs as a camp counselor and life guard, a short stint waitressing at a cute little cafe in London (oh yeah, and at a Texas steakhouse in London, that one wasn’t so fun), and after-college jobs at a Y camp (this time not a counselor), a Head Start preschool and a church. The not-for-profit world isn’t such a b ad place to work.

    Reply
  15. Amos says

    October 10, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    Believe it or not…I’ve never had a really crappy job. But I do have to comment on the fact that you don’t seem to know your next door neighbor in the least. I’ve noticed that about folks in other states. In Texas, you really know your neighbors, hang out on the back patio or front porch and drink beer with them. Sure helps to keep the crime down because you can spot someone that doesn’t belong in a heartbeat.

    Reply
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