So you never had the desire to be a tractor trailer driver....
Used to unload them. At American Racing, The other monkeys would get three or four guys help them down the trailer with the pallet jack. Me, I used to jack those pallets as fast as I could and run down the trailer and hit the lever right at the end and use the weight and friction to stop every thing. Then just ease it off. The drivers liked it when I was on pallet jack duty. Got em unloaded and out of there as quick as I could.
At Newell recycling, I drove a Cat 966 with 8 foot forks and would pull down stacks of cars with the same go for it attitude. Once I learned that I could balance and steer the loader on two wheels it was a whole new ball game of fun. Got good enough over two years to not need help guiding under the cars and to not hit the deck of the flat bed. She became a piece of me. Loved the smell of diesel on a 10 degree morning. ***** of it was she had no heater. Slow times I used to ride the catwalk behind the radiator of the FMC hydro while it fed the Mill to stay warm.
If it's got wheels, a steering wheel and sticks, I'll give it a whack.
Almost killed myself once. Took a full stack of cars off, and one made it's way over the uprights and crashed flat against the cab. Had to be guided to the hydro over the walkie to have them pick it off. Heard a ration of **** for that. Been chewed out before though so I knew what to expect.
My career at Newell started by breaking down all the tires from the rims so the steel could be fed. Worked at that 9 hours a day, 6 days a week for two months before they threw me at the loader when someone called in sick. Never did go back to busting a single tire after that first day.
Spent some time in my teenage years digging ditches at Storage Technologies for a friend of my step fathers.
When I graduated high school I worked as a wrench for a couple years.
In between Newell and American racing I was a carpenters apprentice, fell off the peak of a two story house. Shattered an ankle, got some screws for it, twenty two months of no walking, and about half my yearly salary.
Worked in a hospital for several years.
Then I fell into the cushy jobs.
So no, not really a stranger to hard work. 20+ years of hard work and busting balls will make you look like a overnight success.
I give up, who was she?
