OUCH! My Fingers!

Any guitarists visiting this site, might want to ignore this one post. WARNING: Includes mention of hands in PAIN! I've been working in a factory this week to earn some money and keep the wolf from the door. The main trouble I'm having is the bloody work is slicing my fingers to shreds (and hands ... well everything from the elbows down). So I am bloody pissed off. Almost all my hobbies and real vocations use my hands and fingers. Let's check them out: Guitarist (Can't do that now! Just touching anything hurts, let alone trying a slide down a thin high e or b string!) Artist (Painting etc) Writer (Yes, I am in agony writing this post ... but felt I needed to update!) Computer Games /surfing the web etc (yes, just clicking the mouse buttons or using the mouse wheel hurts). IT work - use of computer ... see Writer and Computer Games above! At present I am manufacturing water heaters. I look around the factory, where they are apparently always short of workers, and I can't help but think, "Why haven't they bothered to get robots in?" There isn't anything in the factory which couldn't be done by a robot equivalent. (In fact, robots would be quicker and more accurate. They'd get more product and better quality). In the long run, they wouldn't be complaining about being short staffed. People like myself wouldn't be slicing our fingers to shreds. Most of the workers are like me, they're from an Agency, so they can get work elsewhere ... in fact, the agency is screaming for people, as there isn't enough of them. (For those who are Overseas, Australia has a skill shortage - we need more blue collar slobs .. like I am at present!) Maybe some people are not far sited enough to see a good thing. The human race is getting smarter and smarter. I can't remember whose law it is, but basically, all our children are going to have higher IQ's than us - surely people can see the benefit in getting these jobs that no one wants or likes computerised and robotised (is that a word?). Then, we can get into more important things, like space travel and colonising other worlds, and figuring out Faster Than Light Travel and Quantum Computing and healthy food that tastes like fast food. (Hmmm ... Pizza!) [And maybe giving us more leisure time to practice having sex ... I mean guitar ... oh, same thing really, except the guitaring lasts longer!] :-) On a brighter note though. I've been having a good look around at some IT jobs, and my phone keeps ringing a few times each day ... only problem is, I can't answer it in the factory. The time that I did, I put the mobile up to my earplugged ear and went, "HELLO! HELLO! HELLO!" Yes, the person at the other end was probably deafened by my yelling and the factory sounds. So, I have a heap of interviews lined up which might get me back into IT for a while, as I sort out my Novel and stuff. One main thing I'd like, is to get enough cash together to fix my ailing Fender Stratocaster, so I can return to playing and HEARING what I play. Only, at present, I can't play because of the bloody hands being shredded! (How IRONIC! Yes, something which is really Ironic ... not often people see real irony!) :-) Here is another really weird thing. I am being paid the same to work in a factory, as what I was earning when I started in the last IT place I worked. Yes, my last job in IT I started on a wage which was almost the Australian Award wage. I was promoted to System Admin at that place, but without a pay rise ... so I was a System Administrator (who usually get truck loads ... I said TRUCK), on a measly sum of money. :-) I can't remember if I documented my arguements with HR over that ... but it happened. I couldn't even get the correct wage that the company said I should have got as a minimum for that position. So glad I got out of that company. I hope all the little metal shards in my hands are able to come out one day. It will ruin my music career if I can't play again because I have fingers full of aluminium. On day two of the job, I showed my shredded hands to my mother, who told me to resign immediately. I did talkto the guy fromthe agency, who's going to move me to another factory, but his description sounds liek I'll just be in a similar place slicing the same hands. At present, many consumers are going to be receiving water heaters with my blood on them. Okay, the bloods probably not too noticable. Still, I'd hate for one of these to be in a CSI episode. They'd find my blood and be unable to find where it came from ... it was ME! it was ME! Give me my blood back! Before anyone asks ... I can't wear gloves, as they are a hazard. People can get their hands pulled into the machines and lose their hands. Obviously, given a choice, workers prefer a million paper cuts (and some deeper ones) than losing a hand. Actually, some of the deeper ones are the really painful ones, as they seem to be right on nerve points. One of these being on my left index finger ... make typing painful. Here is a stupid thing I did today too ... just to make you all laugh (and guitarist grimace). I was lining up the drill, to drill a hole for a pop rivet ... and I used my left hand to steady the part of the drill you stick the drill chuck in. (I'm not stupid enough to touch the drill bit ... it get's really hot and burns ... found that out first day! Ppptthhhhh!) Well, I started to drill, with my left hand still touching the drill ... and BBBZzzzzzztttt. Ouch burns! Yes, a spinning drill burns ones fingers if you don't take them off that part of the drill too. It made the guy I was working with laugh. Funny thing is, this didnt' cause any damage to my hand. I get to go back tomorrow and Friday and do it all over again. My hands are in agony, but I have to keep working ... my feet hurt from standing up all day and lifting heavy tanks ... but I have to continue. At the end of the day, I even get to sweep the floor. I can't help but laugh. I probably have more qualifications than even managment at that place, and I am the luck guy who gets to sweep the floor. I can't help but find it funny. All those years at Uni ... and I'm sweeping floors in a factory. I think I can thank John Howard and his economic rationalism (and previous Prime Ministers, Paul Keating and BOb Hawk who got that ball rolling). I find it rather Ironic that all the office positions I tried for found me OVER QUALIFIED ... so I am now working in a job which just requires the person to have started year Ten High School (or less ... I think, "heard of High School" might have been the lowest needed). Might explain the job interview question, "You heard of a place called High School?" "Why, yes, I have." "Great, you've got the job!" Actually, I am hoping the job interview on Friday will go so well that they'll offer me the position on the spot. Which reminds me ... I need to start looking on Seek again for more better jobs. :-) Ciao!