Job Details

I didn't want to blog about my new job too much too soon. Didn't want to jinx it. I think I've worked there long enough to risk it.

Where do I work? What do I do?

I work at King Innovation. It's a lot smaller than I thought. Smaller than the other factory I worked at, Reckitt Benckiser. There were about 10 teams of a dozen or so people on each shift at Reckitt Benckiser, but at King Innovation there's only 1 team on each shift. I don't know about the other shifts, but the night shift I work only has about  8 or 9 people. Working 10 hour shifts isn't so bad. I was working 10 hours a day more or less at Citi.

I make one thing, like

or

all day, then the next day I make something else. It's pretty easy, put a little plastic piece on a turn-table, stick in another little piece, the table turns & a big machine screws, presses, or melts the pieces together. Repeat over & over.

Nothing very physical, no heavy lifting or brute force involved. Some of the pieces are easier to work with than others. A lot of the pieces are pretty small, and one, a little plastic stopper or something that goes in the drain is covered with baby powder so it's a pretty slippery sucker. The electrical connector has a little metal component inside that you have to check all over for little metal shavings. Sometimes you have to pry the shavings out with a metal pick. At least it's easier than the Nike factory. Physically I don't think the Nike factory would be so hard, but looking for microscopic imperfections in clear plastic pillows would make me go blind or crazy.

This job has the perfect mixture of intricate assembly & mindless repetition. Some people might find it boring, especially doing the same thing over & over all night long, but I think it's perfect. Once you get a rhythm down everything just flows. You don't really have to think about what you're doing, just keep doing the same thing & let your mind wander.

Which is perfect because I discovered a web site, Smashwords,  that publishes e-books. I'm going to polish up Sassafras & send it in, and working at King will give me plenty of time to work on other books. I've got 2 sequels to Sassafras, plus a couple of unrelated stories floating around in my brain. This job gives me plenty of time to work on dialog or plot twists while I assemble whatever the piece of the day is.

Plus, last week they changed the security code to get in the building. Turns out they fired somebody. So now there's an opening for a full-time employee. I put in an application, even though I've only worked there 3 weeks. There are a couple of other temps that applied, but a lot are turned off by the hours. Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, 12 hour shifts. I'm used to weekends from all the restaurant work & working at 411, plus I worked a lot of 12 hour shifts at Citi, so I think I have a good shot at it. If they were hiring for a regular weekday shift, even the night shift, I wouldn't push it, but this is almost like a sign from God that I'll got the job.

Plus I did a tarot reading & the cards said they'll hire me, so there's that.