Last week Jeff was working the night shift and almost got hurt pretty badly. He and one other haul truck were going to the same shovel to get a load of dirt. One went right the other went left. They were both backing in towards the shovel when the other truck blew a tire and threw a rock straight into Jeff's windshield at who knows how many feet per second. Fast. Jeff had no time to react. There was just a huge pop noise and he saw the crack in the glass. They have a safety glass which is good. They rock did not go all the way through the glass, but the glass was very "spongy" where the rock hit he said and there was glass dust all over his dash. If it had continued on his path it was headed for Jeff's chest and face area. He was pretty upset about it.
So after telling Jeff that I didn't want to get one of those phone calls, my dear sweet husband has applied for a new job. He would work only days in shorter intervals. Instead of seven days on/seven days off; he would go four days on/four days off then five days on/five days off. Its also a much less stressful job as far as getting in trouble if something happens to your truck or tires. In haulage, if he gets a flat tire whether its his fault or not they write him up and watch him like a hawk for about a year. If it is his fault he could get fired on the spot. It costs about $25,000 to buy one tire for those trucks and each company that orders them is only allotted so many per year. The company Jeff works for is a world wide company and they still only allot a certain number per company. So if they use up all the tires in one mine on another continent, they are still screwed everywhere else. Last year they ran out of tires and the mine bought I think five new tires from an independent manufacturer for $250,000 each. I will let you catch your breath! The guy that blew his tire the other night got into some trouble for what happened. Jeff's windshield though, was not really a big deal. They just replaced it.
You could fit a pretty big house in the bed of this truck.
Jeff put in for the survey department. Those guys who walk around with hard hats, orange vests and little tripods and mark up the streets etc...I think what they look for is the structure of the rock/earth so they can determine where to dig/mine next. As we understand it; it is a pretty under-the-radar kind of job. The mine needs them to keep operating, but they only need a certain number (which they have openings for right now) and they pretty much never lay people off. And they don't pressure you about your equipment etc. Its also outside most of the time which Jeff will love. I am excited for Jeff. Hopefully he will get hired and be able to enjoy what he does a little bit more than sitting in s huge truck for 12 1/2 hours a day going 30 miles an hour with a 2,000 ton load in his truck bed!
As for me, I am just excited that he won't have to sleep during the day and I won't have to keep the kids quiet for 7 hours straight one whole week each month.
Yesterday was Jeff's birthday. He is officially on the downhill slope of his 30's. We pretty much did nothing special to celebrate. Mainly b/c of lack of money and planning anything. (I also boycotted it just a little bit since my birthday was total crap last year!) But I did make his favorite meal and a cake which really sucked but hey I tried. Here's to a better year.
