physical labor: my first night at work

they tried to fucking kill me.  i was a skinny, pimply faced, 18 year old kid barely out of high school  my parents suggested applying to their company, Campbell Soup Co., which had a plant located in the south area of Sac.  apply for general labor.  they needed lots of workers for the tomato season when the harvest came in & was dispatched to the plant in the making of its products.

i got the job after a medical exam, hearing exam, & a short interview.  i was quickly placed on the graveyard shift.  i start at 10 pm & end at 7 am.  what was i gonna do?  they would train me.  bur first they needed to see if i was serious about the job.  wanted the reassurance that i would do the work necessary.  so on my first night they put me in the Flour Room.

what?  it's exactly what it sounds like.  this room was in the basement, or maybe even the deepest stygian depths of the factory.  in it were these great metal tubes that ran all over the plant.  my job was to open 50 lbs. bags of flour, wheat, whey etc etc. & shove the contents down these giant flues down those pipes that would become the stock for the soups made upstairs on the cook floor.  

i must've looked like a complete dork.  i know i looked like a complete dork.  my fellow workers was a tall skinny older man who was the boss of the room, & a younger college student.  the college student was a few years older than me & built like a lineman.  the older gent was a long-time employee who was steady & steadfast at his work.  his complexion was something else.  i can't describe it other than it seemed that he spent so much time in the Flour Room his pallor mirrored that of the flour & whey he poured down those flues.

the college student was a pretty cool guy who took me under his wing.  he showed me the most efficient way to get my knife to slice open those huge sacks of product & how to pour their contents down the flues with the least amount of physical resistance.  the room was hot, sticky, & the flour, whey, wheat etc etc. would stick to your skin & your clothes.

as for clothes we were all issued the standard white shirt & trousers.  sometimes you could finagle a white hat from the dudes who were in charge of issuing uniforms.  after a couple of hours i was spent.  physically exhausted.  yet this was my first night of my first job.  i sure as fuck wasn't going to let the work get the better of me.  i stuck thru it all night.  even the skinny old timer loosened up a bit for a few words of encouragement.

i'm convinced that the bosses of Campbell Soup Co. put me in the Flour Room to find out if i was serious about the job.  serious about working.  for the next night they placed me on one of the cleaning crews.  that work was so much easier on the old back.  indeed, one of the better jobs for the summer season was to be working the clean up crew.  but man, that first night was fucking tough.  was i tempted to give up?  fuck no!  i was prepared to work until i dropped dead.  

perhaps that was a stupid & naive attitude but i sure as shit was not going to prove anyone that they were 'right' about this skinny dumb ass kid.  besides, Campbell Soup Co. was a union job.  Teamsters.  pay was great.  time & a half overtime, double time on weekends & holidays.  i was making bank when my friends were making squat at minimum wage which at that time was a paltry $3.33 an hour.  

i remember lunch break on that first night.  i'd been lifting, slicing & pouring 50 lbs bags for about four hours.  i walked into the cafeteria with my pack of camel cigarettes & my stephen king book.  i got a burger, fries & a soda & sat down.  the college student just walked in too.  he ordered his food with two cans of soda.  earlier he reminded me to stay hydrated, drink lots of fluids, on the job for it is hot work.  he asked me how i liked it.  i told him, fine.  but i think they want me to die.  the college student took a sip from his can & stopped.  his eyebrows raised.  die? he asked.  yeah, this is the first night of my very first job, & they put me on one of the most physically demanding jobs here.  the college student laughed.  okay, he said.  just make sure they can find your corpse.