Monday, June 18, 2007

Working In A Cannery...

Today I volunteered at the Latter-Day Saints Cannery in St. George. I worked a 4 hour shift, and I am sore and exhausted for it. I can't imagine working an 8 or 12 hour shift doing that kind of work.

My job was to remove cans from a pallet (each pallet contained about 1300 cans of apricots) and place them on a sloped ramp that fed them into a machine which slapped a label on each can.

What made the job tougher than it needed to be was the method of picking up the cans. You see, there is a "Best By" stamped on the bottom of each can, and the cans all have to be loaded onto the ramp with the "Best By" stamp facing towards me (or the wall). The person facing the wall can pick up a can with each hand the way you might pick up a glass of water and just set them on the ramp. However, from the opposite side (my side) you have to reach down from the top of the cans, using your fingers like a claw, and then place the non-stamped side down on the ramp first, then set the stamped side down and removing your fingers. In other words, it takes a lot more physical effort to load from my side then from the other side.

Either way, it was a good time, and I was one of 4 people from "my" ward in Leeds, UT. We met our quota with ten minutes to spare. It was kinda fun and I met some nice people, and I was able to serve and experience a little bit of traditional assembly line work. I would do it again, because in 4 hour shifts it is actually pretty fun!

Anyway, I must have picked up about 6,000-8,000 cans that morning, and now my fingers and arms are really sore.

Of course, when my shift ended at noon, I had to go to my real job, at ABC Herbs, from 12:30 until about 7:00 which was when I said "no, that's enough, my arms hurt a lot and I don't want to be working anymore." So what do I do? Go home and soak in the hot tub or watch a movie? No, I blog... Because I'm stupid and I'm trying to update as often as possible.

My father dropped my camera in a toilet a few weeks ago, rendering it disgusting (and inoperable, of course) so he bought me a replacement, and it came today, so I might go take some photos with it. It's a Kodak Z885, for those who are interested in looking up specs.

That's all for today. If you have any thoughts on a film idea or want to help on my BA Practicum, I've still made very little progress on all this. Please help!

1 comment:

Jonny Paula said...

I have been tossin' around the idea of writing a short script about that "Christie's Restaurant" on the Nahant/Lynn Rotary (the old and busted one with no-one ever in it) - and basically, making a movie about how it is a front for some sort of illegal operation. Just an idea as of now, but maybe something to go from? Everyone loves a good crime drama.