ASLEEP ON THE JOB AGAIN

I once heard about a man who was resting on his forklift at work and unintentionally fell asleep. As he was waking up, he realized someone was standing beside him. It was his supervisor. So before he opened his eyes, he took a deep breath, and said, Amen.

That was told to me as a true story, but I don’t know if it is or just a joke. I thought it was funny. It made me laugh. It does sound like something that could have really happened because I’ve fallen asleep on the job a few times. All during lunch except the time I’m telling you about now.

One of my first full-time jobs was making vinyl siding. We worked three 12-hour shifts, and one 6-hour shift each week. There were 4 shifts. Days and nights at the first part of the week, and days and nights at the second part of the week. I was on the 4th shift which was nights, from Wednesday night through Saturday night. I would get off work on Sunday and be off until Wednesday night.

Those were weird hours, and they seemed so long. I couldn’t get much sleep in the daytime, mainly because I was used to sleeping at night, but a few of my friends and family were not as considerate as they could have been. One of my young cousins actually set the woods on fire behind my house one day while I was trying to sleep.

Being tired and sleepy at work is bad enough for eight hours, but it’s worse for a 12-hour shift, and it didn’t help that the job was boring.

I was packing vinyl siding into boxes as it came off a conveyor belt just after going through the mold to form it into its unique shape. When it came out at the end of the machine, it traveled through another mold just to keep it straight and in the same shape while it quickly cooled down. It was fenced-in with rollers and presses to aid in this process and to keep anyone from getting hurt. By the time it reached the end of the track and dropped onto the rollers, it was pretty much cooled off and in the shape it would be in for the next twenty-plus years.

Sometimes a piece of trash or something would get in the mix somewhere along the way and it would cause a hole to appear in the piece of siding. As it was pushed and pulled along the track it would usually become solid again when the piece of trash moved on, but sometimes it wouldn’t. When the hole remained for more than a few seconds we would have to quickly cut the piece of siding off behind the hole with a hacksaw and quickly put it back into the precisely formed track.

It was bound to happen, and one night it did. A huge hole formed in the piece of vinyl, and I knew it wasn’t about to work itself out. I grabbed the hacksaw and cut as fast as I could, but I wasn’t fast enough to get the siding back into the form in time. I had to try it again. I grabbed the quick-moving siding with my left hand and the saw with my right hand and began to cut it again. After only two strokes, I stopped. I knew what I had done. The second stroke had cut my thumb almost completely off.

I grabbed my bloody hand and ran to the restroom. As I washed my thumb in the sink, I could see the extent of the damage. The saw had hacked through my thumb, removing a portion as wide as the teeth on the blade. There was only a small section of the nail and flesh left intact. I was in a lot of pain.

I went to the emergency room and got it patched up. Then I spent the next week or so pushing a broom at work for twelve hours a night. That was worse than the accident itself. I was supposed to be on light duty for two weeks but after one, I couldn’t do it anymore. I bugged them until I convinced them to let me get back on the line.

I still wasn’t sleeping enough, so I started using caffeine pills to keep me awake at work. They made me sick so I had to stop taking them. Then one night, as I was packing the siding into boxes, I woke up about twenty feet away from my line. I was holding one piece of siding in my hands looking around. The plant manager and my supervisor were standing together by the break room looking at me and laughing their heads off. So I calmly walked back to my line and got caught up as quickly as I could.

Then, one morning as I was driving home, I fell asleep and slammed the side of my car into a bridge on the highway. It woke me up, and I jerked the steering wheel in the opposite direction and went into the opposite lane. Thank God there was no oncoming traffic there or I might not be here to tell the story.

After that, I had to quit and find a daytime job. That’s how I ended up with the position where I fell Asleep On The Job that I previously wrote about. You can read that post and one about another time I cut the end of my index finger almost all the way off at the links below.

God has been so good to me. I’ve been through a lot in my life and he’s always gotten me through whatever bad happened and I know he’ll always be there to help me. You can trust him, too. Never forget that.

ASLEEP ON THE JOB
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com/2017/07/asleep-on-job.html

THE DUNE BUGGY, THE BICYCLE, AND THE DRILL
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-dune-buggy-bicycle-and-drill.html

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com
https://teddylynn10.tumblr.com

© 2023 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

DRUNK DRIVING IS BAD, BUT THIS COULD BE WORSE

I love writing, and I write about many things. I try to only post encouraging, inspirational things on my blog, but once in a while, I need to vent. If it’s something I think needs to be brought to everyone’s attention, I’ll post it. I did that a few times in the past when I wrote about Common Courtesy and Unprofessional Professionals.

Well, now I need to rant about something that happens to me almost on a daily basis. Several months ago, after a near-miss with another driver, who was on my side of the road, in a curve, I tweeted a line that went something like this; “I’m tired of seeing someone, every day, jerk their steering wheel to get their car out of my lane, and back on their side of the road.” Rarely does a day go by that it doesn’t happen, and I don’t do that much traveling. Usually, the driver swerves in plenty of time, but I’ve had some close calls. It’s not the same driver most of the time either. It’s just becoming too much.

This morning I had the closest call yet, without being struck by the offending vehicle. I thought it was just the typical, everyday occurrence, but I guess the driver didn’t look up soon enough. They came within inches of us and almost side-swiped my Jeep. I’m not the best driver in the world, in fact, when I was younger I was pretty careless. Now, I usually drive as close to the edge of the road as I possibly can, and when another car gets close to me I don’t have anywhere to go except in the ditch. This morning, it was so close and fast that all I could do was hold the horn down and cringe.

When I first noticed the number of these incidents rising, I remember several times asking, “What’s wrong with people?” Well, I think I have it figured out. More and more drivers today are not paying attention when they’re behind the wheel. Sounds simple, but it really becomes more complicated when you think about the number of reasons they are distracted.

We all have a lot on our minds. Many people don’t get enough sleep. Many are talking on the phone, and way too many are texting while driving. These things alone are enough to cause plenty of wrecks and near misses, but as impossible as it may sound, there’s a much bigger and much more dangerous reason why many drivers are distracted these days.

I’m not trying to be funny, but many people on the road today are high. Simple as that. The majority of drivers today are on drugs. You may think that’s an exaggeration, but several major studies have shown that 70% of U.S. citizens take drugs every day. CBS News, reporting on one of those studies, had this to say: 

“Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half receive at least two prescriptions, reports CBS Atlanta. Twenty percent of U.S. patients were also found to be on five or more prescription medications.” 

“Often when people talk about health conditions they’re talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, Dr. St. Sauver stated in a Mayo Clinic press release. However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants — that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addictive nature.”

Drugs not only impair thinking and reasoning, but they also cause reaction time to drop considerably. That’s for the ones who are on legal drugs and take them as directed. What about those who take more than the directions say? Then there are those who take other people’s prescription drugs and those who take illegal drugs. Now many want to legalize marijuana so they can drive around high, making the roads even more dangerous. Really, they don't even care anymore that it's illegal. They drive around smoking it all the time now. And that smell; People who smoke marijuana these days smell just like a skunk, and they're walking, and driving around everywhere risking their lives and the lives of others. I've heard all the arguments, but anything that makes you high is harmful and dangerous, and it definitely lessens the smoker's reaction time in traffic.

There’s more. These may not be as strong as marijuana and other narcotics, but Caffeine and Nicotine are drugs, too, and they adversely affect the brain as well.

I understand we all have problems. We all have aches and pains at one time or another, or all the time. Some pain may be temporary, some may be chronic, and sometimes it can only be controlled by medication. I’m not against medicine when used “as needed”. It’s sad though, that so many are on antidepressants. It’s the second most common prescription. I know depression is a serious thing, but I think many are often misdiagnosed. For the ones who actually do suffer from depression and anxiety, I don’t think pills are always the answer.

Many of the problems go away when we turn to Jesus and give everything to him. Studies have shown that people who believe and trust in God, have less stress than those who don’t. Things are just better when Jesus is in your life; When you know that you have a purpose in life. When you know that he's always there to help you, you can make it through anything.

So, if you’re on any medications, please take them as directed, and stop taking them as soon as your problem is gone. If you’re on strong medication that impairs your thinking, or your ability to stay on your side of the road when driving, then please park your car, and get someone to drive you where you need to go. Protect your life and the lives of others. Please, do it before it’s too late.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6