I Can't Believe I'm Getting Paid For This

So today at work was a good day. We're on something of a spring slowdown for our line, which means nine hour days and no Saturdays for the time being, and the number of guns they want us to make has been reduced as well. It's actually been brought down to a number that I could pretty much bolt-fit alone ... in my sleep. The joke is that it's so easy even a Cooter can do it, except, well, no.

The general idea also is to run the cell with fewer people while rotating a few of us out to work on repairs. Today I got to go on the repair team with Brad, which is something I *never* get to do because I'm always on the line. So it was something of a vacation for me. Brad and I did a shitload of repairs and the day just flew on by. Meanwhile, that left Cooter bolt-fitting alone and he did not acquit himself well. Both Jim and Fred had pretty much lost patience with him well before lunchtime. See, last week I was doing that, and it entailed both slide-fitting and bolt-fitting while Jim gas blocked and bolt locked. And while the slides continued to be miserable, I pretty much handled it. And I'm also the kind of guy who will jump around and fill in wherever a body is needed if somebody else is busy or bogged down with something else, and Cooter is decidedly not that kind of guy.

He had trouble getting slides to work, trouble bolt-fitting, and he was cussing and swearing and carrying on ... and I was over at a bench just outside the cell grinning ear to ear. And whenever Cooter saw me over there smiling he'd shoot some remark in my direction, and I'd just smile back and say, "Well, SOMEONE is certainly grumpy today." It was a hell of a lot of fun, my friends.

Sometime after lunch I jumped back into the line -- not because I was told to, but just to help out -- and I whipped out a few guns and then went back to repairs. And all day long we were in the red, which means we weren't getting the alloted guns for that hour, but during that hour we went into the green. Jim remarked something like, "Yeah, Shaun's back on the line." That just irritated Cooter all the more, and he said something snippy. And I said, "Well, you can't deny it. I AM awesome."

After last break I stayed in the line and we cranked out some guns, bu we still fell short of the goal. I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow? I'll either be back on repairs, which means fewer guns put through (you know, if they're depending on undependable Cooter). Or, and this is likely, I'll be in the line and Cooter will work on repairs, which means fewer repairs done. Last week he was on repairs twice and accomplished Jack squat. I'm saying this less to put over how tremendous I am and more to say that Cooter sucks.

But he sure is fun to annoy.