Ooo Dah Lolly

Today really started off with a bang.  Literally. 

There I was at work setting up my stand and getting ready to start the work day when I heard the brazer who works to my right pop her tip. 

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, in the plant vernacular, to pop your tip means that when you light your brazing tip, it pops really loudly -- usually startling everyone around you.   There are a couple of reasons why this can happen, which I won't go into here, but the why is not that important anyway.  

I heard the other brazer pop her tip, and I turned her way to kid her about it a little, because she's always picking with me when I do it -- only she wasn't there.  She was all the way on the other side of the department and sparks and flames were shooting out of her regulator and flying everywhere.  

It was a regular fireworks show  -- complete with screaming and running...

Seriously, the flames were shooting out so far, I  had to wait a moment for them to calm down before I could go over there and turn off the gas.  Which is what I did.  And got called a hero for the rest of the day.  Which I wasn't.  I only did what anyone else would have done.  It just happens I was the closest, so the lot fell to me.  But back to my story...

By that time, someone had already called maintenance, saying, "Get over here now!!!"  And the maintenance men came -- and I mean ALL of the maintenance men came -- faster than I'd ever seem them come in the whole time I've worked out there.  They changed out the regulator, then checked the system and gave the all clear, so we could finally begin our work day.  Still, it was about an hour before they were done and we could start working.  Needless to say, all of our production numbers were down.  

The poor brazer worked on that stand was so rattled, she had to go up to first aid and get checked out, but she was OK.  Just scared.  So scared, she wouldn't even get back onto her own brazing stand, and worked all day on an empty one.  

Then the safety and first aid people had to come out and do an investigation, and a brazer who wasn't anywhere near the incident wanted to go to first aid because she said she'd been hit by sparks.  No, she wasn't burned, and there were no indications of burns on her face, but her "face felt warm", so I told the safety guy to give her a packet of burn gel.  He said, "What's that going to do?", and I replied, "It'll make her feel better."  

Eventually, things settled down, we all got to work, and the rest of the day passed without incident....until the very end of the day, when they had yet another layoff.  They laid off 60 more people, which makes a total of over 200 for the year.  

Work normally slows down this time of year anyway, so this wasn't really that big of a surprise.  Those of us who survived the cut had a meeting with The Big Man Up Front, who explained that we still have way more product in the warehouse than normal, so we don't do build up inventory the way we usually do in the third quarter.

The good news is, he's been looking at the numbers and the market and all that stuff, and said that next 2024 is expected to be less chaotic than this year was, so maybe no more layoffs will be necessary.  They are going to finally combine the shifts and run as a single shift operation for the foreseeable future.  TBMOF said he plans on running only one shift for all of next year,  but we may need to add a few assembly lines during the busy season as the work demands.    

It's still rough out there, but things seem to be stabilizing a bit.  

That's how my day went.  How was yours?  

*Not my photo.  Just put it here so the link will show up in your FB feed.