You were in a corrugated plastic pipe factory and the cigarettes were an issue? Damn. You would think the VOC off-gassing from hot plastic would break you first…
Yeah, I can still smell the place in my memory. Proustian.
I mostly worked on the “highway” line. 12 inch diameter by 10ft lengths, with drilled holes, wrapped with a fiberglass filter and packed in a bag. It was a 2 person task that has probably been more automated now. Those Vantage cigarettes man, they were really gross (and cheap) and he never took a step without one in his mouth. Lit one from the other, burning 2 at once, etc. You know, I’m probably the same age he was now.
The fun part was watching the 4ft diameter double-wall line go at the same time. That shit failed about 50% of the time so we were always cutting it up on the giant bandsaw to feed into the industrial grinder.
Ah, and that reminds me of working the coil lines. Giant bails of 3, 4, 6in. When we’d get bad runs, we’d splice them out, then feed the sometimes 50+ foot length into the grinder and run the fuck away because the other end would whip around. Workplace safety and all.
Can’t believe my parents thought that was a good way to spend my summers. I’m sure they thought it would pay for college like their summer jobs did. All for about $3/hr over minimum wage. At least I got overtime too. Lifers like Dale (or was it Dan) had worked themselves up to a bit over triple minimum wage, or $16/hr. Lol, what benefits? This was a Christian Reformed (Calvinist) run business.
You were in a corrugated plastic pipe factory and the cigarettes were an issue? Damn. You would think the VOC off-gassing from hot plastic would break you first…
Yeah, I can still smell the place in my memory. Proustian.
I mostly worked on the “highway” line. 12 inch diameter by 10ft lengths, with drilled holes, wrapped with a fiberglass filter and packed in a bag. It was a 2 person task that has probably been more automated now. Those Vantage cigarettes man, they were really gross (and cheap) and he never took a step without one in his mouth. Lit one from the other, burning 2 at once, etc. You know, I’m probably the same age he was now.
The fun part was watching the 4ft diameter double-wall line go at the same time. That shit failed about 50% of the time so we were always cutting it up on the giant bandsaw to feed into the industrial grinder.
Ah, and that reminds me of working the coil lines. Giant bails of 3, 4, 6in. When we’d get bad runs, we’d splice them out, then feed the sometimes 50+ foot length into the grinder and run the fuck away because the other end would whip around. Workplace safety and all.
Can’t believe my parents thought that was a good way to spend my summers. I’m sure they thought it would pay for college like their summer jobs did. All for about $3/hr over minimum wage. At least I got overtime too. Lifers like Dale (or was it Dan) had worked themselves up to a bit over triple minimum wage, or $16/hr. Lol, what benefits? This was a Christian Reformed (Calvinist) run business.