Monday, July 14, 2003

   My first day of work.. i woke up at 0530h to prepare for fear of being late if i read online news and the straits times. i had some biscuits n coffee... i was supposed to meet kelvo at 0630h downstairs. met him around 0635h though. both of us reached at the same time. took bus 76 to the bus stop beside amk mrt to meet jonas & kp to take bus 88 heading pasir ris.

   jonas was late n we missed 8 bus 88s.. talk about coincidental recurring numbers... single deck bus. great... juz when me n kp wanna sneak eating breakfast on the bus. we were hoping for a double deck so that it would be easier on us. reached the workplace about 5 minutes late. the security guard gave each of us a sticker bearing his name, the time n a number which i figured was my supposed temperature. Sars spreading prevention?

   we started off at level one. we unload primary four mathematics textbooks bound for philippines students from pallets and loading them one by one onto this conveyor belt for automation of plastic covering. basially it juz contained the books inside a plastic bag.. then these plastic wrapped books are directed into an "oven" where the plastic melts slightly to stick to the shape of the books. (which is rectangular of coz..) then 2 bundles of books are packed into one carton box. using scotch tape.

   after all sides of the carton box are sealed, they are further fastened tightly together by a plastic belt? after that, they are loaded manually by one or more of us onto pallets again. we did this continuously for some time. of which i was mainly the man in charge of fastening the carton box covers firmly closed. i must have carried something like 200-300 ten-kg carton boxes while doing that!!

   Lunch break !! we rushed to the canteen which din even have a single vendor. oni 2 vending machines selling some titbits n another selling drinks. we went to the senior staff to collect our lunch.. this auntie shocked everyone by saying oni have 4 more packets. the problem is there are 5 of us!!! after some pondering, she wanted to give us her pack. but we refused. i mean, how could we take her share when it ain't her fault that some selfish idiot took a packet without paying for it? we shared the 4 packs among the 5 of us. the sign of an unlucky day?

   more packaging to do after lunch. we were getting tired n were starting to throw the carton boxes around instead of carrying them one by one gently n nicely onto the pallet. soon, it was dinner. as the more senior staffs did not ask us whether we wanna let them buy us food, we decided to go out n buy something to eat. they told us there ain't any more vendors outside after 6pm. piangz.. no food.

   we wondered to the vendorless canteen n dug out whatever shillings we had. i had a 50-cent coin. i bought a kaya bun which cost me 40 cents. the remaining ten cents i gave kp. he bought a curry bun with his 30 cents n my 10 cents.. after eating one bread, i still felt hungry n i borrowed 40 cents from jm to buy another. kp had no coins already n he sat at the table hungry.. jonas too bought a bun then tried to doze off like kp coz looking around us would be so tempting.. ppl were eating mee pok. they had earlier entrusted someone to "Da Bao" for them already n were feasting on their food..

   juz as Loo was abt to leave the canteen, i borrowed some shillings from him. i had wanted to do that as i wanted to buy some food for kp. he looked pitifully tired, n hungry.. he bought a kaya bread. so did jonas. talk abt thinking lunch was bad, dinner was realli worse... damn... after dinner, i was assigned to the 3rd level. over there, i-weekly n several other magazines were binded. books were also binded there.. initially i was assigned to collect the finished product (which is a textbook) and fasten several together n pack them nicely onto pallets. then i was moved to another position.

   this new position was terrible. it was noisy, dry and extremely hectic. the running is done by machines. which means the speed is determined by the machine. i had to keep pace with the machine. i had just finsihed loading a pallet full of textbook pages, when i was given another pallet which had the papers stacked taller than me.. they could bury me really... i worked n i worked... finally i was released. 1942h as i remembered.. on the way home, we were all shagged out n seriously considering how long we could put up with this harsh work schedule.. maybe we would oni work until the 10th of August..

    it's been a long tiring day.. i shall rest now..
Blabbered bean @ 23:33 //