Reset Me, Please

Day One:
Arrival at Capitol at 7:30 am. No one from the company is there yet.
By 8:00 am, I've found the trailer where I am supposed to meet my new boss. Nobody in the doublewide mobile office recognizes the name I was given.
The mobile office lady calls the company, but they don't open their office until 8:30 am.
I don't know what to do, but just then a short, bearded man in his 30's approaches me.

"Are you the new guy?"

"Yeah, I was supposed to meet Logan at 7:30 at the statue..."

"Logan quit Friday. I'd show you around, but I don't have a hardhat, so they won't let me in the site. The crew will be here soon- you can wait for them outside."

There's a huge box of hats in the room, but why point that out? It's also cold, rainy and misty outside, but again, why bother to mention that? Beard Midget wants me to get away from him, that much is clear.
It's not a good sign that my new boss quit Friday. I had spoken with him Thursday and he didn't mention quitting.

I sit on a bench in the drizzle and wait for over an hour. The new crew finally shows up. They are grumbling about something and not really interested in meeting me.
I just want to get warm.

We don our helmets and goggles and walk into the Capitol- inside, it's full-blown construction mayhem. Loud, dusty Mexicans are yammering and hammering all over the place- now I understand the hard hats- little bits of metal keep falling from the scaffolding above and bouncing off my head.

One of my new co-workers starts telling me how much he hates the job. He only keeps it because his wife makes him.
It isn't long before I hate it too.

I thought I'd be setting up A/V systems for business clients, training them how to use the gear and trouble shooting/assisting as needed. That's what the company guy who works at the old Firm does, and I'd totally love to have that job- he didn't have to work up through years of manual labor, either.

What I'm doing is unscrewing heavy-ass metal floor plates, several dozen at a time, and laying bundles of cables and wires under them. I tie the cables to posts. Then I lay the plates back down and screw them in.
Each plate weighs about 25-35 pounds and there are a lot of them-hundreds, in fact.

The screw heads are full of dust and each one has to be cleaned out- first I use a knife to loosen the dirt, then a tiny vac to suck it out. Four screws per plate. Some of the screws strip, and I have to drill them out with a power drill, which is aggravating as hell.

After lunch- my boss chooses a deli that's really expensive. This is the same area I used to work in-I know all the best, cheapest spots and this isn't one of them.
I get a cup of soup. It cost four dollars and tastes like microwaved Chunky-which I'm sure it is .

This is the only time I am allowed to wash my hands. There are no bathrooms on the job- just port-a- johns. Luckily, there is no coffee, or even drinking water available on the job, so I don't have to pee. All liquids are removed through sweating.
My hands are too dirty to touch my dick with anyway.

By day's end, I can barely walk, my knees and back hurt so much. I thought I was in good shape, but it turns out I'm a weakling. I was asked to lift a huge (200lbs ?) spool of RGB cable, put it on a cart and carry it down many flights of stairs. The stairs are crowded with Mexican carpenters and I'm afraid I'm going to lose the cart, drop the spool and maim a dozen immigrant workers.
I admit that after a summer in Austin, I have never much cared for Mexicans- they were always stealing my shit and stabbing people- one stabbed my Uncle in a bar-for no reason at all, another tried to stab me at a bus stop because I looked at him-I was looking down the street for the bus, but he didn't care. He just wanted to stab a gringo. A cop saved my ass just by walking by...
...but I can't let prejudice control me- I have no desire to hurt any of these Mexicans, and if I try to wheel this cart down many,many flights of stairs, someone will get hurt.
Is my boss crazy? One guy can't move that sort of weight up and down stairs.
I give up.
It's 4PM. Time to go home.

Day Two:

I learn how to pull cable. I thought pulling cable was what I did at a former job- the customer would call and tell us they need two dozen cables of specific lengths and applications, which I would then cut and solder whatever tips/jacks were needed onto the ends.
Not great fun, but I didn't mind it so much- it was indoors, climate controlled and very clean. We worked on delicate electronics, so we really tried to avoid having giant clouds of plaster dust in the workshop.
The air inside the Capitol is 50% plaster dust, 25% solvent/paint fumes and 25% Spanish curses and what we do when we pull cable is tug very long wires through metal conduits and label each end for future reference.
This is by far the easiest part of the job.

The hardest part is the environment.
It' s very hard to breath, it's poorly lit and there's so much motion and loud ,crashing sounds that I'm always on the edge of having a heavy panic attack. I'm afraid to take my meds, because the Xanax makes me just a bit high, and one slip could cost me a finger.
Gotta stay sharp, because everything around me is deadly.

At lunch, I walk a few block over to see my old boss. I ask him for my old job back.
He's actually glad to see me- he's sorry my new job wasn't what I thought it was, but he's been having to do a lot more work without me. It's to his advantage to re-hire me, I am already well-trained and have a rep for doing good work, despite being a little 'odd'.

I am very lucky that my old boss is cool and willing to have me back- he's gotta get the OK from the Firm, but I just spoke with him and my old company has no problem with re-hiring me; I suppose I did pretty well there. I actually miss Old Boss, as I consider him a good guy and even a friend. Glad I didn't burn my bridges- first time for everything, I suppose.

Hopefully, the Firm will act soon, but I imagine I'll be stuck dodging Mexican artillery for at least a few more days.

I didn't know how important workplace things like chairs, coffee, restrooms , food and breathable air are to me, but now that they are gone , I miss them dearly.

It looks like I'll be able to hit the 'reset' button on my life and start over. I have lost this battle, but at least I can live to fight another day. Not easy to go back sometimes, but I think I will be lucky.

I'll have to suck it up when/if I quit my new job, because it's a pain for them to hire someone who quits right away, and I do feel bad about that.
But I swear, if I have to work in loud, filthy, back-breaking labor much longer, I will start taking drugs much stronger than Xanax-alcohol, most likely- and that would be...

THE END