Gratitude

I love my job.  It has been the sunny spot in my whole year.  2012, you are abysmal!

Around here, I can feel totally down on my luck, quiet, keeping to myself, and do nothing but blare my music in the car on the ride in to work......yet as soon as I put the car in 'P' in the parking lot and start the walk in to the plant, I feel................free.

I immediately cheer up, I am smiley, and I start to hustle it.  I replay some of the inside jokes in my head that I share with my work partners Charlie and Quinn, and it just makes me laugh all over again.  I check that my uniform is buttoned in all the right places.  I walk faster.  I'd also say my mind starts to run its flashcards of things I need to do that day at work, but really, that starts back home when I'm scrubbing my hair in the shower, or packing my lunch, getting primped for the day.  So, by the time we hit the parking lot, quite frankly the adrenaline is already on 'booster' mode, and I am excited to get inside and check in with everyone to see how the line ran while I was out.

Work is where I get my social interaction, and I do it all while I am also getting that feeling of accomplishment.  To me, it is a perfect elixir.

I guess it dawned on me this week.  I am on night shift [(again) -- but I love it and, often, have been on the verge of offering up to transfer and work night shift permanently].  It was Wednesday night at 11:15 at night, and here we are in this factory, 800+ people in my department alone, firing on all cylinders and cranking this assembly line at full tilt.  It's a Wednesday night, and I am on-line in team area T-3 with my Process Staff coworker, Deb.  And I think to myself, "Gee, I wonder what other people my age are doing right now?  At this very moment?  Who does this kind of stuff?"


We are running a test with tightening the bottom bolts at the R/S Ctr Plr Roof Arch Gusset.  It's just a test on 10 cars, but we're there and talking to the assembly line associate actually doing the job.  It's done right after we install the sunroofs to the vehicles.  He walks up to the car, does his thing, and I come in right behind him with my dial wrench to check torque on these roof arch gusset bolts to make sure we're in standard.  (We were.) 

But it's the taste of that, just that:  .....that, car after car, coming down the line, I am jumping in and out of them, checking them, working with them.  I hop my little Wisconsin hinder up in there through the rear door opening and plunk down on the rear floor crossmember.  I reach around the center pillar, take the data I need, and hop back down.  The car is only a painted shell at this point, but it might as well have been Santa's lap, for how happily I climb up onto these cars.  Car after car after car after car after car!

And in the few seconds between jumping from car to car, I stand next to the assembly line and look up to see all the overhead conveyor systems and chains.  These moving components are for carting parts; sending bumpers from the Bumper Paint department; and for manning the door take-off droplift.  It's an absolute maze of a mess, but it is so wicked I could just stand there and watch it for hours to figure out how it all works and times it just right.  And I'm only in one team area.  We have the rest of the assembly line to go yet!

And I love it.  I love the rush.  The noise, the humming factory floor.  The sense of urgency, the team leaders calling you and asking for help, or to look into this quality item, or to go to the gun cage to get this new gun for a job on-line, etc.  I like the feeling of helping people. 

I may go from looking at a body-fit issue, to helping set up some associates on the assembly line, to taking pictures and writing a summary to submit to the plant management; go back to another line call, then over to the other end of the assembly line to check something in the Parts Quality office, then out to the Repair area, and back over to trim line to respond to more line calls.  My work cell phone in my shirt pocket rings steadily every 4 minutes or so, with new incoming items, or more information on stuff I've already got brewing for the night.  In between all that, my Production Coordinators call with things they want to run past me, have me check, or get my judgment on.  The shift manager stops me to tell me something in person when we bump into each other on the assembly line, when I am already on the phone with another person, on my way to see a second person, all with a car part in my hand.  Heck, even on a night like tonight all this is happening during a mad crazy thunderstorm that causes a power surge and shuts down our Paint Department for two solid hours.  There is always something going on.  Never, ever a dull moment.  And I love it!

Each person I see, each face that flashes past me as I'm on a mission weaving and dodging through the assembly line....everyone is upbeat and jovial.  Sure, we razz each other and crack down on people when they're dragging their ass -- but my impression of my coworkers is that every one is very good at what they do and they take it seriously.  From the shift manager that reports on the entire plant status, to the assembly line associate that has been in the same team area for 20 years, they are all very sharp at what they do.  Some of the stuff the assembly line associates pick up on and call for help.......oh man, they have some serious hawk eyes.

I enjoy all of these people and making small talk with them.  Folks just come out of the woodwork while you're bee-bopping on line and chasing work items.  They genuinely want to pitch in and help -- and listen, and learn from you what you are studying.

One backup team leader sells me Mary Kay make-up.  There's a guy in one team area that is always talking to me about weather.  It's a toss-up that I can pretty much go anywhere and someone will talk football with me (yay, Packers!).  People tell me about goofy things their kids did.  Someone tells me about their new house and the yard work they are doing -- and of course, the new lawn mower they had to buy because of all this.  Folks share updates of the Who's Who in town, who they saw at the grocery store, etc.  (You have to remember this factory is made of a conglomeration of many no-name farmtowns around here, where your only grocery store is an aisle in the Grab 'N Go gas mart, and the last severe crime is that Johnny painted old Miss Rose's white picket fence a nasty bright red.)  But everyone is so curious, and eager, and giving you their undivided attention.  They joke, they laugh, they smile, they ask so much about me and where I come from.....all with their hands busy at work.  It's great!  This is the social interaction I get: the sweethearts and the gents and the fellow chicas, that ask how I am doing and check in with me daily, and make sure they see me, to wave hello at least one time each day.  If I miss a beat, well then I sure do hear about it the next day!  This network of people is a great, impeccable catch to have at your back while you're putting yourself through the stress and juggles I just got done writing about.



After a long day with this elixir.........and at the end of it all when it is time to start walking back through that parking lot again...........I have a big smile on my face and I sigh with relief.  Another good day down, many good deeds done.  We all hauled some ass and stayed on top of our work loads as best as we could.  Plus I learn so much more, each and every day.  Soak it up like a sponge.

I love my job.  I really do believe in the statement that "you get out what you put in," and for me, I put in so much.  The most that I have in my life, second to my family.  Yet, look at what I get back out of it.  Honda has given me so much.  Keep it coming!