Just a little vent-journal. Nothing to get worked up about really. Mostly just annoyances that come with my job.

1. The handling of raw chicken. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a little bit of OCD about keeping my hands clean. Even if they are clean, it sometimes feels like I still have the chicken "juice" on my hands. Aside from the the hands thing, the breading process can fling said chicken "juice" into ones face, eyes, or mouth... disgusting

2. The day-by-day mangling of my drawing hand. If you were to look at my dominate hand (my right hand) you can easily see a great many sores, scrapes, and inflamed marks across the skin. For the most part, these are hot oil burns. They are unpleasant to say the least. Next are the hot metal burns. These ones are more tolerable for the most part, but I usually have the luck to get them in more sensitive areas like the under part of my upper arm or , on one occasion, the crook of my elbow. Then come scrapes, or what my girlfriend calls "chicken bites". Pretty common, they come from the sharp edges of bone when I'm breading the pieces. Lastly there are the cuts. I don't get these often, but for the most part they come from various metal containers during cleaning. These are annoying because If I do cut myself, I have to go get a bandage. Problem is the bandages suck. They aren't waterproof which poses a problem between when I have to wash my hands or do dishes. They don't even have enough adhesive on them to securely adhere the first time. Seems like something they really shouldn't be scrimping on is all I'm saying... Another thing. Sometimes I have a stinging, tingling type pain in my hands that make it difficult to move, so I might be developing arthritis.

3. The commute to and from work. Not directly caused by my work, but still somewhat of a problem to me. I live about 3 miles from my place of work. Doesn't sound like much of a problem? Well I bike to work... rain or shine... freezing cold or scorching heat. Not only that, but because I work late hours it can also be dangerous since I have to bike on the side of a busy highway. I'm probably inches away from getting hit by a car on a daily basis.

4. The other injuries than occur. Some of these are quite common, some of these are... quite unusual. One thing they didn't tell me about the job before I got it was that there would be heavy lifting... well, not necessarily heavy. More like awkward lifting, like lifting a container of hot oil starting at chest level and bringing it up to shoulder level without burning myself. Doesn't sound like much of a problem, but I don't have a lot of upper body strength, so the tasks can be difficult and I sometimes end of struggling or hurting myself in the process, especially my back. Another thing is the burning... of my feet. Sounds unusual or impossible? Ever operated a Bunn? It's a machine that spews out scolding hot water. I use it for cleaning the floors and prep tables. The water often spills off the tables onto my shoes. At this time, I'd be wishing they were waterproof, but they aren't. The water soaks into my shoes and I'm forced to tolerate the burning til it subsides.

So yeah, there's plenty more gripes I have with this job, but it's late and I'm tired.