In layman's terms this means I, along with the other 7 zone quality associates I work with, have been asked to walk out on the factory floor and follow along the assembly line, observing associates as they get used to their new jobs. We're here to help them and answer their questions, as well as investigate problem parts for them. But, we're also there to multiple-check their work and ensure that they follow their procedures to a T. No job is skipped, no quality check gets fudged.
Alas, whenever that assembly line runs, so will we zone quality associates. And since the assembly line runs both for 1st and 2nd shift (in Honda lingo we call them 'A Shift' and 'B Shift' instead, respectively), we zone quality associates must spread out between both shifts.
7 zone quality associates + Ashley = 8 associates to use for manpower, total.
8 associates divided into 2 shifts = 4 associates per shift.
So, we've been divvied up into two teams. These two teams are taking turns working A Shift and B Shift; as it came out, the team I am on is taking its turn on B shift now.
Team 1: Pam, Tom, Bryan, Dan - A Shift for the next 3 weeks
Team 2: Alicia, Randy, Jeff, Ashley - B Shift for the next 3 weeks
I'm posting this blog entry at 3:27 AM.....yep, you guessed it, I just recently got back from putting in my first night of B Shift! (B shift runs from 5 PM - 1:30 AM.)
And honestly? I loved it!!
My body loved the time of day, soooo much better than working 6:30 AM to 3 PM. I was alert and feeling sharp the whole time, never once did I get drowsy. I remember yawning once at 11:13 PM. :) My mind was perked and I was up and on my feet, thinking and twisting ahead of everything. I know this is how I'm supposed to function at work. Consequentially, I felt my confidence level soar at work today, because of how good I was feeling, physically. :)
The only thing that sucks is that I will forever like working A Shift merely because I'll know I would be working at the same time as the rest of the world. I let that in itself act as a big motivation for me, because it is easier for my romanticized imagination to work the same lifestyle and same schedule as what's common. I mean, I let it run through my head too easily to compare my daily schedule to random Joe Schmoe's: "Oh, I'm on the evening rush hour commute back home right now....along with everyone else stuck in this throng of traffic!" or "It's 5 PM and I'm sitting down to watch the evening news, just like millions of other folks with their families right now." or "It's supper time - I'm having this for supper, but I wonder what is baking in the ovens of the homes throughout the rest of my neighborhood?" The camaraderie that I build out of that, the feeling of normalcy and belonging that rolls over my head when I think like that - that's what makes me like finishing work at 5 PM instead of just starting it.
Nevertheless, we four had a great time tonight holding down the fort! This girl Alicia brought in a BOATLOAD of sugary snacks to pound down at 11 PM when her sleepy-state usually sinks in...gummy Lifesavers, Sour Patch Kids, exotic flavors of Trident gum, and somehow we found an entire grocery bag of brand new boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Yesss! Too bad I wasn't even hungry at all, even after thinking to myself and wondering how my stomach would tolerate working through supper hour, where I'm used to having a nice sit-down family meal.
Plus at our break times, the four of us would sit down and just talk and build our friendships. Alicia and I had our usual girl talk - lately it's been a lot about being a woman and what the female body is capable of, since she is 5 months pregnant and will be a first-time mommy through all of this. It's been neat coaching her through it and confessing to her my library of interesting babysitting stories, ha ha!
The best part of the night though was with Snake - he told us about the time he was working B shift on the assembly line, years ago, helping install car seats, when a big fat cockroach came slithering out from between the folded-down seat's crevices! He sad he jumped to try to go after the roach, but it kept crawling around the inside of the vehicle so damn fast, even as the vehicle was still rolling along the line on the conveyor belt. He was trying to grab at it but it kept slipping out of his hands, and it would curl up into the far corners of the car so he'd wrestle with it. Ultimately, the roach nudged its way in and UNDER the carpeting of the vehicle, so it was hiding, sandwiched tightly between the metal body and the carpet suctioned onto the top of it. Snake admitted he never did find and recover that roach...........
But he is so far, the most interesting person I work with at Honda.
Readers, this guy is the highest up in the running to take the "Best Character Award" from James, that infamous alligator wrestler from Nissan & Mississippi. And even James caused my readership to soar and the comments to pour in, asking for more!
My very first day of work, I met Snake. He came up with the whole fleet of engineers, all of them came walking up to introduce themselves to me. When it came to his turn, he grumpily stuck his stubby arm and hand out to shake mine and stuffily said, "They call me Snake. DON'T EVER ask me why." And then he walked away, just like that.
I gulped down the little bit of saliva I had, as this guy clearly caused me to suffer from dry-mouth. I nodded my head in compliance, and sure enough to this day, I have vowed to never ask him why he has been called 'Snake.' (His real name is Jeff, by the way.)
Snake is short. He wears a red baseball cap. He has a handlebar mustache and a portly belly.
Video-game freaks, does this description trip your memory in any way....? Here, let me give you a booster:
This is what Snake looks like - NO JOKE, I am serious!!! We are talking, the spitting image of Mario! Snake even gets M-A-D when we call him Mario on accident, because he sees the resemblance. Whoa!Anyway, Snake has been with Honda for easily 20+ years now, and he has floated from department to department, thus making him one of THE most networked guys and viable resources, ever. I followed around with him tonight and learned his zone, since I've spent my entire first month here so far learning the other two zones, from the associates stationed there. I had never ever touched, nor even walked by, Snake's area, until tonight. He was so great to learn from.
I suppose I should back-step here and explain that Snake and I work together great. After that first gruff greeting, I gave him his space but noticed he'd still watch me and watch how the people training me were treating me. At lunchtime, he'd sit at the very end of our row table in the cafeteria, silently chomping into his sandwiches and never contributing to the group conversation. But, he'd be watching out of the corner of his eye the whole time.
Then one day, I ended up sitting second-to-the-end of our row table, meaning, right next to Snake. And we just sort of.......clicked. He spurted out two or three sentences of small talk; I answered him, and he kept coming out of his shell for more.
Later on in that same week, I remember he spontaneously bought 10 cookies to hand out to all of us to eat during our afternoon breaktime. He commanded us to eat them since we were all sitting there in disbelief, mouths hanging open, since he had actually performed a random act of kindness!! His exact words were, "YES, I really did just buy cookies for you all. So sit down and eat them, because I just bought 10 f***ing cookies and I don't want to eat them all on my own and they sure as hell aren't going to feed the garbage!"
I loved my cookie (chocolate chip - yum!) and thanked him for it.
Since then, we talk whenever we see each other; the words flow as freely as a breeze. We just understand each other. The yin and the yang. He starts saying a sentence, but I nod in agreeance or understanding before he even finishes, which he appreciates in return, because I just saved him the energy of talking and exerting his voice out from under his grumpy mustache. Heaven forbid a passer-by see him actually talking and being an effective communicator, you know?! :) Plus we probably make for an oddball pairing: old short grumpy guy with a young skinny overexuberant girl.
When we're in a group meeting, he takes a certain opinion and appreciates when I provide evidence that turns out to support that same opinion. And when we walk along the assembly line together, our common sense matches; we both problem solve smartly and look for the most effective, top-of-the-line solution. Snake looks for someone to work with him that doesn't throw all caution to the wind and come up with some silly, left-field lofty solution. He sure doesn't have a tolerance for free-willy spirits or dumbasses. :)
Nowadays, I look forward to my days working with Snake, because I know it's going to be a good, comfortable time. He really has taken me in under his wing, kind of like an uncle for me out here. I know enough things about him now, and I've seen him in the act with enough things now, to spoil to the whole wide world that he's actually the hugest teddy bear!! Muahahaha - I won't do that and kill his reputation, though.
Anyway - more to come with my adventures with Snake/Mario. I've got tomorrow night and the next 2.5 weeks with him.
For now, off to bed!
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