Work related rant and PSA

Please, if you ever have need to fill out a medical insurance claim, please, please, please, write legibly. Type if possible, but if you can't do that at least don't scrawl your info like a dyslexic 4th grader.

If the claims processors can't read your name and address they sure as hell can't send you any money, now can they? And trying to deal with your crappy claim will probably upset them so much that it will get shuffled to the bottom of the pile in the hope that somebody else will end up with it.

Not that I would ever do such a thing, but some people might. So write legibly for crying out loud.

We now go back to your regularly schedule LiveJournal posts.

Work related rant and PSA

Please, if you ever have need to fill out a medical insurance claim, please, please, please, write legibly. Type if possible, but if you can't do that at least don't scrawl your info like a dyslexic 4th grader.

If the claims processors can't read your name and address they sure as hell can't send you any money, now can they? And trying to deal with your crappy claim will probably upset them so much that it will get shuffled to the bottom of the pile in the hope that somebody else will end up with it.

Not that I would ever do such a thing, but some people might. So write legibly for crying out loud.

We now go back to your regularly schedule LiveJournal posts.

Shitty jobs I've had

Because my morale in regards to my current job is so low I'm making this list to remind myself of how bad it could be.

Chrome platiing plant: In a little town in central Indiana, many years ago, I worked in this very old factory that chrome plated metal parts. This factory was like something out of the turn of the century. Huge vats of chemicals and a conveyor belt (but with hooks) that went around these vats, dipping the racks of metal things that needed to be chrome plated into one vat and then the next. I started off working at the loading/unloading end of one of these machines. What that consisted of was loading the empty rack with greasy metal parts, hanging the parts on hooks and then unloading the rack when it came back around, dripping who-knows-what type of chemicals all over the place. Later I managed to move up to walking the cat walk around the vats, making sure that none of the racks got stuck and unsticking them when they did. We often loaded the racks crooked in order to make a jam and give ourselves a break. It was that kind of job. The factory was very big and we only used one wing of it, the rest of it was abandoned. I think it made something during WWII but now it did nothing. One of the 3 forklifts did not have working brakes so they would stop it by running into something. Once this was a vat of chemicals that broke, dousing some pour dude in something bad. Management would get a call warning them if a safety inspection was coming so they could make sure that forklift was "out for repairs" when they safety guy showed up.

Fast food: I'm a veteran of both Wendys and Burger King. Both many years ago. Coming home smelling like rancid grease everyday really sucks. But at least all the customers respect you. *snort*

Pest Control Technician: For a year I worked for Terminix. My route was in Oroville. This was a problem route. All the other routes had had the same tech for many years but the Oroville route had new guys fairly often. One reason was a cocksucker salesman that would promise new custumers things that we did not do just so he got the sale. Never mind that they would cancel when I told them that me crawling under their house and looking for black widows was not part of their service contract. If they cancelled at that point it was on me, not him. Fucker. The other problem was that the entire town of Oroville is infested with German Brown Cockroaches, I think. I killed so many of these damn bugs during my year that cockroaches are probably still telling stories about me over there. I'm the cockroach boogie man. Not that it mattered, there were always more. Man, can I tell you some horror stories. I can't believe people live like that. One time I got in my truck after working a house with a VERY heavy infestation and halfway back to Chico I look in the rearview mirror and see one crawling on my shoulder. I'm glad I don't work there anymore. All those chemicals can't be good for you.

Dishwasher: I've worked as a dishwasher several times and once was actually a pretty decent job (all things considered) but one, at a popular steak house that used to be in this town, was hell on earth. I would often work from 1pm till midnight with hardly a break. They weren't too worried about making sure I got the breaks that I was legally supposed to have. I often ate my lunch while standing at my work station. The illegal Mexican dude who was my co-dishwasher quit before I did. You know it's a shitty job when that happens. Oh yah, the waitresses there were total biotches too. Never shared a fucking tip with us.

Cemetary maintanence: This was only for a summer (then they found out they could get work furlough prisoners from the county to do my job, for free. Doh!) and it wasn't actually too bad except I worked with a guy who was the biggest asshole ever. I mean, this guy was such a prick there is probably a clinical definition for his condition. I'm saying he had achieved mental illness asshole levels.

Floor cleaner: This was at Target but not working for Target. The job was actually for a small company that had the contract to clean Target's floors. I lasted one night. They locked us in all night. That annoyed me. Then in the morning when we were leaving I found out that they also searched us before we could leave. They searched me once and that was my one and only night working for them. Fuck that shit.

Bus Driver: Being a bus driver was usually not too boring and gave me some stories to tell my buddies but it also made me a very angry person. Eight hours of driving a 35 foot bus through a college town, picking up 'the public' and dealing with their petty shit all while on a tight schedule. It took road rage to a new level but you couldn't release that rage by flipping people off or cussing them out. Had to hold it all inside. It was during this time that I bought my punching bag. I'm suprised I lasted 3 years there.

There were plenty of others. I've had a lot of little crappy jobs over the years. I guess the one I have now isn't really all that bad. Just boring as hell.

Shitty jobs I've had

Because my morale in regards to my current job is so low I'm making this list to remind myself of how bad it could be.

Chrome platiing plant: In a little town in central Indiana, many years ago, I worked in this very old factory that chrome plated metal parts. This factory was like something out of the turn of the century. Huge vats of chemicals and a conveyor belt (but with hooks) that went around these vats, dipping the racks of metal things that needed to be chrome plated into one vat and then the next. I started off working at the loading/unloading end of one of these machines. What that consisted of was loading the empty rack with greasy metal parts, hanging the parts on hooks and then unloading the rack when it came back around, dripping who-knows-what type of chemicals all over the place. Later I managed to move up to walking the cat walk around the vats, making sure that none of the racks got stuck and unsticking them when they did. We often loaded the racks crooked in order to make a jam and give ourselves a break. It was that kind of job. The factory was very big and we only used one wing of it, the rest of it was abandoned. I think it made something during WWII but now it did nothing. One of the 3 forklifts did not have working brakes so they would stop it by running into something. Once this was a vat of chemicals that broke, dousing some pour dude in something bad. Management would get a call warning them if a safety inspection was coming so they could make sure that forklift was "out for repairs" when they safety guy showed up.

Fast food: I'm a veteran of both Wendys and Burger King. Both many years ago. Coming home smelling like rancid grease everyday really sucks. But at least all the customers respect you. *snort*

Pest Control Technician: For a year I worked for Terminix. My route was in Oroville. This was a problem route. All the other routes had had the same tech for many years but the Oroville route had new guys fairly often. One reason was a cocksucker salesman that would promise new custumers things that we did not do just so he got the sale. Never mind that they would cancel when I told them that me crawling under their house and looking for black widows was not part of their service contract. If they cancelled at that point it was on me, not him. Fucker. The other problem was that the entire town of Oroville is infested with German Brown Cockroaches, I think. I killed so many of these damn bugs during my year that cockroaches are probably still telling stories about me over there. I'm the cockroach boogie man. Not that it mattered, there were always more. Man, can I tell you some horror stories. I can't believe people live like that. One time I got in my truck after working a house with a VERY heavy infestation and halfway back to Chico I look in the rearview mirror and see one crawling on my shoulder. I'm glad I don't work there anymore. All those chemicals can't be good for you.

Dishwasher: I've worked as a dishwasher several times and once was actually a pretty decent job (all things considered) but one, at a popular steak house that used to be in this town, was hell on earth. I would often work from 1pm till midnight with hardly a break. They weren't too worried about making sure I got the breaks that I was legally supposed to have. I often ate my lunch while standing at my work station. The illegal Mexican dude who was my co-dishwasher quit before I did. You know it's a shitty job when that happens. Oh yah, the waitresses there were total biotches too. Never shared a fucking tip with us.

Cemetary maintanence: This was only for a summer (then they found out they could get work furlough prisoners from the county to do my job, for free. Doh!) and it wasn't actually too bad except I worked with a guy who was the biggest asshole ever. I mean, this guy was such a prick there is probably a clinical definition for his condition. I'm saying he had achieved mental illness asshole levels.

Floor cleaner: This was at Target but not working for Target. The job was actually for a small company that had the contract to clean Target's floors. I lasted one night. They locked us in all night. That annoyed me. Then in the morning when we were leaving I found out that they also searched us before we could leave. They searched me once and that was my one and only night working for them. Fuck that shit.

Bus Driver: Being a bus driver was usually not too boring and gave me some stories to tell my buddies but it also made me a very angry person. Eight hours of driving a 35 foot bus through a college town, picking up 'the public' and dealing with their petty shit all while on a tight schedule. It took road rage to a new level but you couldn't release that rage by flipping people off or cussing them out. Had to hold it all inside. It was during this time that I bought my punching bag. I'm suprised I lasted 3 years there.

There were plenty of others. I've had a lot of little crappy jobs over the years. I guess the one I have now isn't really all that bad. Just boring as hell.