Disaster Averted

 It was bound to happen sooner or later. We knew it would happen.  Today it did.  Yep, we are back on 10 hour shifts starting tomorrow.  And do we get to work 5:00 AM - 3:00 PM?  NOOOOO.  Because their precious second shift who can do no wrong wants to come in early instead of staying late.  What does that leave us?  Coming in at 4:00 AM.  FOUR AY EM.  

I supposed I should be used to it by now. 

And that's not the worst of it.  Group Leader Shark seem to imply that before it's all over, we'll be back on 12 hour shifts.  I swear, they're trying to kill us.  And it's all for nothing!  If they don't get tubing's butt in gear, we will be spending those 12 hours standing around with nothing to braze.  Like I did for an hour and a half today. 

Oh, and more bad news.  Guess who has COVID now...Nah, you won't know unless you work there, so I'll tell you.  The guy in the tool crib.  The guy in the tool crib....has COVID.  That means that everyone who has needed a tool, or a bolt, or a scrubby pad or piece of sandpaper, or anything they hand out at the tool crib has potentially been exposed.  And do you know what else?  They don't tell us any more who has it.  The only way we knew is we saw the cleaning man in his little biohazard suit with his little bottle of disinfectant walking by, and Particularly Outspoken Coworker asked him. Otherwise, nobody would have known.  

But a little bit of good news, Boss of Bosses is back. A lot of people say they don't like him, but he's always been nice to me. 

Let me tell you something, that wind was so cold this morning.  It's what we in Texas would call a Blue Norther.  I walked across the parking lot, and another guy was walking in front of me.  I used him to block the wind.  As much as I could, that is.  I went into the plant, and told the temperature guy, "My face is frozen."  Sure enough, he checked my skin temp, and it was 89.6.  Good thing that wasn't my core temp.  I'd be in the ICU ...or dead.  

In other news, I narrowly avoided disaster last night.  And the way that happened is as follows.   After I'd gotten all ready for bed, I went into the bathroom to answer nature one last time.  Finishing my business, I flushed...whereupon the toilet overflowed.  

I quickly went to the hall bathroom to get the plunger, and saw the water backing up into the tub.  Oh, no.  It wasn't just the toilet.  It was the whole sewer line.  As if that weren't enough, like a dummy, I flushed the toilet in that bathroom.

Whereupon it immediately overflowed.  

Great.  Now, I'm mopping up toilet water from the floors of two bathrooms.  The only thing I could think that would be blocking the line was if I'd accidentally flushed a wet wipe.  I know for sure I've done it at least once.  But would one be enough to clog the whole line?  Was I going to have to try to find a plumber to clear my sewer lines?  It was at this point frustration overtook me.  Knowing how much difficulty I've been having getting a plumber to show up and do anything, I muttered a few unwholesome words for which I had to repent.  

Then I thought, maybe it's just a giant wad of my hair.  Hoping beyond hope, I grabbed my trusty bottle of Drano and poured about half of it down the bathtub drain and went to bed.  However, I was so stressed, I couldn't sleep.  After about 30 minutes, I got up and ran some hot water down the tub.  

It drained beautifully.  Quickly, quietly, with no bubbling or gurgling, the water went right down.  I didn't dare try to flush again, though, not wanting to mop the bathroom floor in the middle of my night again.  

This morning, I got up and started getting ready for work.  I went into my bathroom to begin my morning ablutions, and cautiously...very cautiously....flushed the toilet.  

It worked perfectly.  

I waited a bit, then flushed it again.  And again, a perfect flush.  Excitedly, I went into the other bathroom and flushed that toilet.  Same thing.  A perfect flush.  I didn't relax completely, though, until I got home from work this afternoon and took a shower.  Everything drained as normal.  

Huge sigh of relief.  

Funny...a lot of my piano practice sessions seem to end this way.

And finally, because of our increased working hours, I don't know how consistent I'm going to be with the blog.  I'll try to pop in a couple of times a week just so's you'll know I'm still breathing.  

But no promises.