Cookie Factory

Yeah, so the cookie factory position didn't pan out. I worked for three days, and then I got a call from the agency congratulating me on completing my assignment. Kinda mystified, since it had an estimated length of one month, and I was told that I should keep working past that estimate unless told otherwise. I didn't have a fallout with anyone, and I didn't receive any criticism.

A brief description of my life in the cookie factory. I was worried because my job title was Oven Room Worker and since we just hit seriously hot weather here in Guelph, I was concerned about temperature. Still, I was on night shift, which is the best shift for it, and since I've done manual labour in sub-Saharan Africa while taking medication that made me sensitive to sunlight, I figured that if anyone could tough it out, it would be me.

First day, I was working in the oven, and I was assigned to watch large sheets of wafer cookies come down through a machine. I was asked to remove and dispose of any defective sheets. They provided unlimited free water as well as something similar to Gatorade. They suggested that I alternate between the two for maximum hydration.

 Second day, they put me in Packaging. Other than the supervisor, I was the only male in that line. Kind of like when I was being trained to be a Machine Operator, and I was put on the Ladies Line. It was doing their only heavy lifting position though. I took boxes of wafer cookies off a conveyor belt, stacked them on skids, labeled them, wrapped them in saran wrap, and wheeled them out to a place where they were picked up by a forklift. It was less hot on that line, but I didn't get any free Gatorade. Third day, I was asked to go on Packaging again, and since it seemed like my job was pretty necessary and consistent, I was wondering if they were going to shift me there permanently, but then I got a call from the agency telling me not to return.

Oh well, I got three full days in, which is tied with the Order Picker position and the box factory position for my longest stints of work this summer, and that's combined with the $13.40 an hour, the highest wage I've ever worked for, so next paycheque should feel pretty good regardless.

And I'm working again next week as an Order Picker at the same place. I've only been asked back for a day, but that's what they do there. A number of temps have been working there full-time, at first being called back on a day-by-day basis, and later on a weekly basis. I ran into someone who had his first day on the same day as myself, and he's been working consistently like that. So hopefully I can fall into a similar routine.

I'm going to Kitchener to look at a house tomorrow that I might be living in next year.