You know what really sucks about my life right now?

Absolutely nothing.

Long post tonight, kids. It's got a few major parts, though. Included today is a summary of my job in case I need to mention it in the future, a few notes specific totoday, and my dual role as a nice guy and a major douchebag depending on the situation and group of people involved.

First off, the time-sensitive stuff: I usually put up some music videos as my nightly away message. The theme tonight is house. I normally dont' advertise this stuff, but these six videos are near guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If any, Haddaway and Bearforce 1 are the most likely to accomplish this.
Music I need: I'm looking for all the Ween, Against Me!, and Rise Against you can give me. Get on it, people!
I came home from work today already happy and found this:

I was amused to no end. Brandon knows me well. That's all for today. Next, my job description!

What does Cameron do for a living?
I work at Gates Rubber's Florence Distribution Center as a temp hired out through Manpower, Inc. The job was suggested by Brandon, and I'm really happy with it. My hours are 3:00-11:30 PM, Monday through Friday with occasional overtime. A list of terms you need to know:
Picker - A picker is someone who pulls automotive orders. A description of this job will follow.
Small Order Goon - Small order goons process orders of only a few items and drive small, maneuverable carts around the warehouse. They are constantly driving the wrong way down aisles at high speeds and never stop braying for a supply of boxes in which to package orders.
Stocker - Stockers drive more typical forklifts and keep the shelves full of products as well as using their forklifts to aid people around the warehouse whenever necessary.
Walkie - A walkie is a small lift truck used by pickers to move orders around the warehouse. It holds a pair of regular wooden skids on a rig designed to easily unload full pallets onto a wrapping machine.
Mover/Prime Mover - Prime movers are similar to walkies but configured to pull trailers rather than hold pallets.
Nutting Trucks - Nutting trucks are carts produced by a company called Nutting. They're essentially small flatbed trailers with handles that are used to carry things. Modifications include the garbage cart, which has walls and a small shelf for trash bags and the pig pen, which is a large blue trailer that empty boxes are put into.
Repack - a repack is a box that pickers move product into.
Job descriptions:
Picker - I started out as an automotive picker. This job essentially involved driving a walkie around the warehouse and taking products from the shelves and moving them to repacks on the pallet. All motions were directed by a handheld scanner, or gun, and each item or group of items was scanned as it was picked. Each pick, called a line, consisted of one or more of a certain item. Items in stock are a variety of belts, hoses, cogs, thermostats, automatic tensioners, pulleys, etc. Each night I had quotas to meet. The standard quota is 450 picks and 1280 pounds in eight hours. The pick speed is limited by your ability to drive and count and the speed at which the stockers refill empty product containers.
Janitor - I started out helping the previous janitor, Mike, from time to time. When Mike injured himself on a prime mover and failed the required drug test I took over as second shift janitor full time. My duties include taking full pigpens to the compactor, salvaging intact boxes for use in small orders, and emptying trash cans. I do all of this on a prime mover since almost all of it is conveyed on Nutting trucks of various kinds. Nobody ever makes a mess of the warehouse, so actual cleaning is so rare as to not be worth noting. Another janitor keeps the offices and restrooms clean, so I don't worry about the restrooms or any room with AC. I also occasionally take care of the trash outside. 90% of that is cigarette butts, but I don't really mind. It's pretty simple stuff.
My wages for both of the above jobs is the same, $9.62/hour with time and a half for anything over 40 hours. On breaks I sit outside with the smokers and read or eat because I like the fresh air despite the small amount of secondhand smoke. It follows that I spend more time talking to these people. They are Aaron, Marco, Anthony, Cassie, Connie, Lisa, and occasionally the two Jerrys. Facilitators (read: shift managers) are Brenda Wright and Rodney Miller. Tony, Cassie, Rob, Jessica, Retta, and Jeff are more experienced and can be relied on for any questions I may have. Tanyana is a picker that doesn't fit into any of the above groups. Ron Chitwood runs the wrapper. I was trained by Jessie. The only disadvantage is that on hot days the warehouse becomes unbearable, with temperatures in aisles approaching 110. I don't have to worry as much as janitor, though it's not uncommon for the cardboard crusher to reach 115. I do enough driving to keep myself cool, though, so it works out fine.
The current major detail at work is the CoLinx project. A company, CoLinx, is shipping a tremendous amount of stuff in and we are shipping an equally tremendous amount of stuff out to make room for it all. This is in addition to work as usual. To make it possible, ten new hires from ManPower have joined us this week. That's a huge number of people to have to train. Next week CoLinx will send its own people to be trained here for the coming project. It's gonna be brutal both because that many pickers will produce a huge quantity of boxes for me to move and also because the turnover rate here is so high that I only expect half of them to still be here Friday.

The Two Camerons:
I have a known reputation as a hard, cruel man with a quick wit, an urge to belittle, and a big chain. I also have a reputation as a man who tries to be good to his friends and will do everything possible to help them out if they need it. Even if Kaitlin doesn't like it, I live for my friends. (I'm not sure she gets that I don't blame them for having issues. Maybe she does. I dunno. All I see is a bullshit statement that she's a burden on us all. [shrug]) Where does this leave me? It leaves me as the nice guy if you're a friend and the enemy otherwise. I'm the guy that girls will come to with problems and men with questions. The guy who helps all the girls out but never gets a date. I don't mind. I'm cool alone and I don't have to deal with all the issues involved in not being single. Why post this? I'd like to see your opinion of either my dual nature or what I am to you. I have a comment board on every post and I like to make this blog interactive. You read it, so I invite you to think and comment.

That's it for the super long post. I've gotten questions about my job and wanted to clear them up in one fell swoop.

Thought for the day: Never go from the shower to the kitchen without any steps between. I dripped hot pasta sauce on my balls while I was writing this. It was not a good experience. TMI? This whole blog is TMI! You'll live.

Peace out, bitches!