It’s Just a Little Work

I thought I would give the maybe 10 people who look at my blog an update about my job.  I had a rough start, but I think things are starting to come together.  I am starting to really know my fellow co-workers, I am starting to understand the hierarchy of Sternberg’s and I am starting to really learn what is expected of me.

Some interesting things have happened in the last few days.  I will start with my new title, Independent contractor.  It may sound weird, but I am now also a contractor for the same place of my primary employment.  It all started with the grass (not marijuana) the real stuff.  They expect me to mow a small portion of grass along Dillman road, no problem.  The other section of grass is along highway 37, and they wanted to hire this job out, as the terrain is somewhat rough.  The problem is they didn’t want to pay the minimum someone would come out for, $100.  When I heard of this situation, I immediately jumped to action!

I told my boss, Ron, that I had the capabilities to do it, but no way to transport my mower to the location.  I also stated that I would do it for what they were willing to pay, if the company would work with me on finding a suitable trailer.  I guess Ron had an old trailer lying around and he asked me if I would buy it on the cheap, and on payments.  His only request is that when the company pays me for my services, I pay him some of it until his price is paid.

I have wanted a trailer since I purchased my mower for this house.  It is almost impossible, and very impractical to move my mower places with my truck.  But the “boss” says no.  She couldn’t refuse this one though.  We are picking it up tomorrow.  I am expecting something that is usable, but needing work.  The only thing that matters at this point is that it is usable.  I will work on it as time and money allow.

In other “work” news, cleaning the floor is one of my biggest duties.  Currently I use a floor scrubbing machine to handle most of this task.  The only major problem is that this machine is on it’s last leg.  It doesn’t scrub that well, and it doesn’t wet the floor (I fill a 5 gallon bucket with a soap solution and pour it onto the area to be cleaned).  The last estimate to return it to total working condition was $1500.  Because of this, my boss and his boss had a company come over and demo some new floor scrubbers for us.  I happily got to use one of these models.  The one that was the “fan favorite” was a newer generation of what we have with 2 differences.  It is a little smaller (which is a good thing) and it uses a different brush system which sweeps instead of scrubs.  Working in a truck shop, this is critical as dirt, dust, grease, oil and many other objects get compacted into the pavement.

I have made a big difference in the appearance of the shop thus far.  I have all of the small things done, now it’s bigger things, such as painting that need to be done.