Monday, January 25, 2010

Maybe the forklift driver should lose a little weight?

Back to work this Morning after a relaxing week off playing video games with Bubba and Churf, and playing taxi to both of them. Bubba decided to be a total sweetheart and cook dinner for all of us. Spaghetti it was, straight out of a can, but he was so proud of his skills. We all talked it up like it was the best ever.
I had to pick up a load of paper rolls to take to New York, so I was up early this morning sitting in rush hour traffic. It was pouring rain and overcast. I was damp and chilled through. Things weren't going too badly- I arrived at the shipper, got my dock assignment, dealt with the usual annoying and overly friendly males, and settled in with a book while I waited. The rolls of paper are very heavy. They can only put about 21-22 of them on the trailer, so I can feel when each one gets loaded. One roll, two rolls, three rolls, four r- There was a huge noise of snapping and crashing. I kept reading, oblivious. The forklift driver appeared at my door to tell me I needed to come have a look. I grabbed my flashlight and went inside to check out my apparent faulty trailer, but it turned out there was no need for the flashlight. There was a gaping split in the floor of the trailer through which I could see outside. About four feet long, the floor was split open, and the cross members had broken clean off one side, where it looked like the metal, (possibly weld spots?) had just broken away from the other metal rails. What to do? Of course I called dispatch and told them about it, and Pansy promptly started messaging me to make sure I knew his macho self was worried about me. Even though I was not involved in the incident. So basically the forklift had broken right through the floor of the trailer. He was saying something about the metal cross rails being weak, the trailer sucked. I wanted to tell him that possibly he should lose some weight to avoid this sort of thing happening. I mean really, every other day they load these fine. Yes, it's a very heavy 2000+ lb roll of paper, and the weight of the forklift should be figured in, but really when it comes down to it, it is a perfectly logical assumption that if the driver of said forklift is 50 lbs over weight, it could be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, no? At least in this brilliant mind, that's how it all came together. But they weren't interested in my theories, so I ended up with a wasted day and back to the yard.
But now I'm going to Colorado instead, and Pansy took me out for supper and held me for a while and kissed me, which is the extent of what he's allowed to do. So it wasn't a complete waste, but a girl's gotta keep strict rules.
Pansy also told me he's leaving in April. He finally found a job as a pilot up north. Oh yeah, in case I forgot to mention it, Pansy is a pilot. So I'm glad he found what he wants. He has never been all that happy here.
So what is the moral of this story?? Put forklift drivers on a diet. It could eliminate alot of catastrophes.

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