The second half of my first day of being a ranger was spent in the storage drawer area. I worked in this area when I first came to Assembly Line 4 and for about a year and a half on another line.

There are three other lines that make ranges in our plant. The other lines have been going for about seven or eight years longer than us. They can each produce 200-500 more ranges in a 10 hour shift than we can. We also make the most complex models. Line 4 is also more of an experimental line than the others. Our line is U-shaped whereas the others have a straight assembly line in the center of all the work areas. I like the U-shaped idea because, most importantly, the leadership can more quickly and easily see all that’s going on and the assembly line workers can see and interact more with other areas. Our assembly line is different also in that the entire line moves at the same time. If one person presses the hold button the entire line must wait. Workers on the other assembly lines can press the hold button and only their part of the assembly line will stop. In order to keep our line moving everyone has to do their job in about 30 seconds.
I liked working in storage drawers. I worked next to my friend Bobby. She’s a pretty older woman who’s had to work hard to save for her soon coming retirement. She even works at a Waffle House on the weekends as a waitress. I know Bobby would prefer to not be at this job. She wants told me she dreamed of being a lady of leisure in her home. She loves to garden and plant flowers all over her yard in the spring. She once married a man who was a carpenter who had talents to do beautiful work. They had once lived in a home that displayed his excellent ability but he was also a drunk. After years of his drinking she divorced him but she took him back years later when he was sick with an illness (cancer, I think) that lead to his death.
While I was at storage drawers I learned a lesson to be cautious even though I’m not as familiar with the area as those assigned there. Right after a model change, I kept putting in the same oven racks that the person before me had put in and they were wrong. Bobby went to the final check area and told someone and they had to pull out the extra oven rack we had been putting in.
While I was working in this area I realized my day had went by faster. There were three main people I worked around, Bobby, Georgia and a big tall gray headed guy (Man!, I forgot his name.) I want to learn and remember peoples names as I do this. It makes it funner.