Back in 2010 I had a job working security on a local lumber mill. Suffice to say this job blew copius amounts of morbidly obese man-ass. Minimum shift was 10 and a half hours (usually 12 on 12 off). Waking up at 5 am to be at the mill at 10 'till 6 and being there till 4:30 with LITERALLY NOTHING TO DO. For 20 year old me, this was hell. I was either walking around a lumber mill or on "Firewatch" which meant I was somewhere in the mill making sure the welders didn't turn the mill into an inferno. Who knew sawdust and grease was so flammable?
I will preface this next part by saying I fucked up. Bad. Really bad.
It was either Saturday or Sunday and I was on firewatch. More importantly I was on the really boring firewatch where you had to be on the bottom floor making sure the sparks that fell a couple stories didn't smoulder and catch crap on fire. I had been down there a while and I had my mp3 player in; listening to some podcasts trying not to fall asleep. (I don't handle 6 am well). Here's the thing, MP3 players weren't allowed or books or just about anything that could make the time pass at a half-decent rate and to top it all of you weren't even given scheduled breaks. Well I was obviously breaking the rules, and well probably dozing off. When this dude who basically runs the whole show for that mill comes down and sees me. He is not pleased. I try to hide my earbuds, no dice. He then asks me if I've been keeping an eye out. I tell him "Of course sir" and well he starts looking at where I'm firewatching and well. To put it very neatly, I done fucked up. He stops, looks up, and then asks me to come over. He points up on one of the metal girders and there sure as shit is a fire. A small one mind you, but it was legit flaming and for all intents and purposes a grand old beacon and affirmation of my negligence. My heart sinks. I am bbboonnneeeddd.
The next day I get called into the main office. I tell them how sorry I am, that it won't happen again, and my boss and the mill guy that caught me let me keep my job. Here's the part that makes me feel any twinge of guilt, I told my boss I would work some crazy hours as a thank you. Well a week or two went by and everything was pretty standard. I worked, I played, and I hated my job still. On some beautiful fucking Sunday I get let off 2 hours early, so here I am on this beautiful June day, not a cloud in the sky, and it's 2pm. The world is my motherfucking oyster. Friends pick me up and we're off to the goddamn ocean! Hell yeah. The drive is about an hour and a half and I burn whatever energy I have left in me at the beach. On our way back, I get a call from my Mom, and apparently worked called. They wanted me to come in. She recommends not calling them back. I am retarded. I call them back. They need me to come in at midnight and work till noon. I remind them I worked at 6 am this morning a 12 hour shift would not be good. They don't give a shit. The little fucker doing dispatch says he's gonna find someone to cover the other six hours. Little fucker doesn't do this.
I put my brave face on and show up at midnight. Luckily dispatch has a shift change and one of my favorite guys is now in the guard booth. I tell him what's going on, and he promised to find me coverage. I thank him. Long story short. I work for 8 hours cuz my coverage slept in (thanks asshole). I am thorougly miffed at this fucking situation, I was falling asleep standing up and fucking miserable.
A few weeks go by, and some very serious shit happens in my life. I don't want to get into details, but I was in a very bad place and ended up in another town sleeping on a friend's couch. I call dispatch and call out, they tell me they don't have anyone to cover me, and to call bossman. I go ahead and call bossman, I tell him the situation and that this is a big deal. He tells me "tough shit, fucking deal with working" hangs up, and shuts his phone off. Apparently, that was going to get me to come into work. Dismissing me like he owned me. He didn't know how highly I think of myself and made a grave miscalculation. 5 minutes later I'm calling dispatch telling them that I quit effective immediately. Despite screwing probably a bunch of people, I was in heaven. Goodbye shitty job.
Four or five days later I need to head in and turn in my uniform. I am dreading this, because at the end of the day bossman (although a total
fucking prick) did stick his neck out for me, and I did say I was going to work crazy hours. And I burned him, pretty fucking good. I drive down, get let through the gate, and park. He doesn't show any hint of anger or anything really, pretty neutral. Well I walk into that guard shack and he just lets LOOSE. "YOU REALLY BURNT THAT BRIDGE AND STUCK DYNAMITE UNDERNEATH IT. DIDN'T YOU? I WILL MAKE SURE YOU WILL NEVER WORK ON THIS PROPERTY AGAIN (like hell I would want to)." Well being the shit I was I let his tyraid finish and I put my hand out and ask "how about we end this like adults with a handshake?"
"LIKE FUCKING HELL I AM, GET OUT OF HERE NOW"
I then dropped off my uniform, and smiled like an idiot all the way home because that sucker got played by a 19 year old.
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