Que
aʒɑ̃ prɔvɔkatœr
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
- Posts
- 39,882
100% right.
When I worked in a mine I was on the Tempkin(sp?) schedule. Brutal. You would come off of seven days off with family and friends immediately to four night shifts. Lots of accidents the first night back. Then three days off, followed by three day shifts. It doesn't sound right but I remember like just Sunday off, then three night shifts. Three days off then four day shifts before your seven day off break. I mostly filled in that schedule with night shifts. About ten of them. Once I was on nights, staying up is easier for me than getting uo.
On day shift (each shift is 12.5 hours) they would call for operators to work four hours over. I found those extra hours a breeze and at one point was making an extra $100 per diem and $100 bonus for each overtime shift. Working those extra four hours was considered the next shift so I could get up to $400 in bonuses a day by working 16 hours. They now have a rule in that mine that you can't do more than two 16-hour shifts in a row. I call it the Que rule. It came about because payroll had a hard time believing that I had work as many hours as I actually had. I would volunteer to work four hours over on all four of my day shifts. I would get 64 hours in in 4 days.
We had cameras on the dash that would look at your eyeballs it would watch your blink rate obviously would notice if you would close your eyes. It would notice if you were looking in your rearview mirror more than 6 seconds and it was capable of noticing that you were daydreaming based on how fixed your gaze was. I could do all 64 hours in 4 days and not set that system off once. Most drivers would set it off every other day. Something about being in motion, I am uniquely adept at.
But yes I am absolutely trading longevity for cash.
There's a lot of occupations like that. Underwater welders can only do that career for so long. Pilots have to retire at 65. Flight crews in general are exposed to far more radiation than x-ray technicians.
My concern is not so much long-term Health which is definitely a potential issue but day-to-day safety. Am I refreshed enough at this time to operate or not.
A bigger issue for me is that I really need to take the time to plan prepare and carry with me better food choices because even though I can stop anytime anywhere and pick up anything it's just not that practical and I tend not to do it. When I worked in the mine what was in your lunch bucket was what you had for 12 to 16 hours, so I actually did a better job then than I do now. Also physical exercise wouldn't be a bad idea. I've taken to doing some stretching throughout the night but that's not the same as actually putting muscle mass through a workout, are getting some cardiovascular time in.
I actually do appreciate some of the reminders that you put in your thoughtful post.
