7193 days up in smoke

That's how many days I've had at Depot without a lift machine accident.  Sigh.  All gone up in smoke.

Friday, I got to work with Don, who normally works 530-230 on Sat and Sun, so I rarely if ever get to see.  I used to work with him all the time and we always had a blast.  Don is about 6'5", his fingers are like sausages.

When the carpet truck showed up, he came back to receiving to help me bring the carpet out to the floor.  THe trailer backed up and as Bill ( not C my regular driver) was lowering the landing gear and chocking his wheels, Don opened the trucks roll up door and dropped the dockplate on.   We took out the remnants on a lumber cart and then there were 2 pallets.  I already had the carpet boom on the pacer truck that I had removed the forks so that I could pull of the 2 rolls of carpet off the truck (had to be prepared)  

Usually, if the pole is already on that machine I would use the electric pallet jack ( or my "scooter" as C calls is) to get the pallets off the truck.  But they weren't full size pallets, they were 1/4 pallets and the jack wouldn't fit under them and they were between a bunch of rolls of carpet ant the side of the trailer, so I couldn't use the trick of only sticking one blade into the pallet.  

I grabbed the reach truck ( yes I play a lot of musical machinery) and scrunched the blades together.  This was where my problem started.  The reach is about 2 inches taller than the pacer truck.  2 friggin inches. From the dock there is this vinyl padded thing that comes down, so if it's rainy or cold or windy the weather doesn't blow into the dock.  The problem is you can't see the top of the trailer from the dock.  And I had broken my own rule and trusted someone other than C to open the gate and not have me check it.  I even check it when Bill - the guy who most often replaces C opens it.  But seriously, the guy is 6'5", he's not a clutz or a f-up.  He can reach up and touch the roof of the trailer.  When I open the gate I have to kind of jump as I do it, cause I come up to the guys shoulder.  I rolled onto the dock.  Normally you would here a thunk, thunk as the dock dropped under the weight of the machine and then straightened onto the trailer.  Well, I heard thunk crunch.  CRUNCH in case you are wondering is a really Bad noise when unloading a truck.  REALLY BAD NOISE.  I looked up, the safety guard on top of my was caught on the door latch.  And the 2 roller on the bottom panel had popped off the door and out of the track.  Don reached up and pushed the door up as I slowly backed out.  And the locking latch sheared off.  Sigh.   Can I tell you how bad I just wanted to cry?  

Then I have to call Ed ( aka "grouchy guy" on  a good day) at the terminal, and tell him what happened.  And had to tell him, yeah I was driving.   It was horrible.  Then Ed talks to Bill.  While I was on the phone, Don and Bill had ascertained that the track wasn't damaged, the latch worked but just couldn't lock and the gate would roll up and down.  SO Ed said it shouldn't be a big deal, that they'd probably be able to just fix it since Bill and DOn had found all the pieces.    THEN  I slowly realize that when/if C hears about it my life is going to be hell.  Seriously, I luv the guy, but he's going to ragg on me forever.  I made Bill SWEAR he wouldn't tell C.  And he won't see Ed probably until Thur since most days he leaves the terminal before Ed comes in.  And by then it may not be on the forefront of Ed's mind.  BUT, a lot of people at the terminal bust C's chopps and refer to me as his "little girlfriend"  (makes you wonder how big the women around there are - I'm not little by any means!)  So if any of them realize it was me that damaged the trailer, he'll definitely hear about it.  I sooo want to call out on Monday.

Now if they fix the trailer and it doesn't go past there it won't count and the 7193 days will keep going forward ( I do hold a record by 6 years)   but I'll know it was wrong.  I think Bill was right - he said that if C doesn't hear about it before he gets to me on Monday, I'LL  end up telling him.  I think I will, it's better than worrying about him finding out.  

And people wonder why I trust No One!!  ANd guess what??  I'm a lift trainer and I'm scheduled to give a hands on driving class Tuesday morning.... I need a rock...