signs I have been at work too long

[blas]

I've gone home and still heard machinery beeping and screeching in my sleep.

[BrenDAnn]

I've gone home, laid down, closed my eyes, and first thing I see in my mind is work. Gah! Also, I know I've been at work too long when I start mispronouncing words and dropping things. As an example, at the end of my shift today, I talked about throwing things in the gurbage instead of the garbage. Hey...at least my boss got a good laugh out of it!

[PepperElf]

and for my own "signs I have been at work too long" ... that would be "dreaming that i'm at work"
which sucks cos being asleep is suppose to be an escape from being at work, right?

[Racket_Man]

Even being in a casino for a brief amount of time is also annoying and headache inducing. My pizza place delivers to the main casino (workers only thank goodness) in my town. With all of the slot machine (mechanical, electronic, combo) and all of the noices, music, blaring mechanical voices, bells, clangs, whistles, and bright flashing strobe lights, if I have to spend more than 5 minutes inside I start to get a tension headache.

I can not imagine how both the gamblers AND the employees stand it.

[smileyeagle1021]

I can not imagine how both the gamblers AND the employees stand it.

Believe it or not, the gamblers enjoy it... the stimuli overload is just part of the experience. They want the sensation of taking risk and having danger... gambling is all about thrill seeking after all, and all the lights and the sounds put them on edge, which again, is where they want to be.
As for the employees, you get used to it... or you don't, and you don't last long.

[PepperElf]

Okay, seriously, I don't know what drugs have been put in my drink tonight... but I swear I just saw some of reels on multiple slot machines start spinning on their own without anyone playing them...

The Gambling Ghost!

(which I'm thinking of along the tune of "The Rockin' Ghost" - but i haven't sussed out all the gambling version of the lyrics yet)

[pzychobitch]

signs i have been at work too long:

when the scent of gas/petrol no longer bothers me when i am doing a manual tank reading

[Tuxian]

Okay, seriously, I don't know what drugs have been put in my drink tonight... but I swear I just saw some of reels on multiple slot machines start spinning on their own without anyone playing them...

This is normal. Sometimes, a machine will run a quick self-diagnostic routine, and the reels will spin to ensure that they're free of obstruction. The reels will also spin when an attendant closes a machine that they have opened for whatever reason (which, you may or may not have noticed, is always recorded on a notepad that is kept inside each individual machine). Doesn't happen often, but it's not anything too unusual.

Oh there is one machine I want to beat with a crowbar. Every so often it'll shout out something like a name while someone is playing it. I haven't figured out exactly what it's saying yet but the BJ+3 dealer agreed with me that it sucked.

Most annoying machine we ever had was called "Under the Sea". And it had the annoying habit of, whenever the reels were spinning, it would play the tune from "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s. Only about 5 seconds per spin, but the tune would loop after about 3 spins. And it seemed like the volume on that machine was somehow louder than all the others, as we could clearly hear it from 20-30 feet away. It drove us dealers batty, but people would sit at it for HOURS hearing that "Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundun" over and over and over and OVER...

[smileyeagle1021]

Tuxian, we have a Dean Martin machine... and in between players it alternates between "Get up and dance with me... GO! GO! GO! GO!" and "How lucky can one man be, I kissed her and she kissed me... GO! GO! GO! GO!"
We are taking collections to bribe security into turning all the cameras away from it for 5 minutes.

[XCashier]

Signs I have been at work too long:

• The workmares increase in frequency.
• I start to offer a guest a bag before I remember that my town has banned them.
• I answer my home phone with the workplace greeting.

[cashierbex]

I know I have been at work too long when:
- I count how many times a song plays in a day (Chirstmas time is worse)
- I count how many times the same artist plays but its a different song
- I answer my personal phone like I would at my job
- I start saying my "good bye" lines instead of my "hello" lines to people when they come up to my register
- I start singing random lyrics from songs I hear at work on the way home

[smileyeagle1021]

Signs I have been at work too long:

• The workmares increase in frequency.

Workmares... I'm going to have to use that one.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

When I was doing a job that required 9-10 hours of forklift driving, I would sometimes get into my car and instead of shifting into reverse, I would hit the turn signal lever as if it was the shift lever for the forklift

I vaguely remember an anecdote about a pilot who was involved in the Berlin airlift, flying in and out for many hours over many weeks. Back in the States he ran into a car from behind, when it stopped suddenly. He didn't even attempt to brake. When asked why, by the cop/judge/other driver, he said "I just pulled back on the wheel, to go over him..."

[smileyeagle1021]

When I was doing a job that required 9-10 hours of forklift driving, I would sometimes get into my car and instead of shifting into reverse, I would hit the turn signal lever as if it was the shift lever for the forklift

I just remembered a story I overheard one day riding the bus, the bus driver was talking about one of the rail operators who was suspended for driving through a fence at the rail yard... the explanation he gave was that after a long day of operating the train (the model he was operating uses foot pedals not that different than a cars for controlling throttle and brakes) he forgot that he actually had to steer

[fireheart]

Tuxian, we have a Dean Martin machine... and in between players it alternates between "Get up and dance with me... GO! GO! GO! GO!" and "How lucky can one man be, I kissed her and she kissed me... GO! GO! GO! GO!"
We are taking collections to bribe security into turning all the cameras away from it for 5 minutes.

I'm assuming that either it's annoying as hell or there's something else you want to do with it, because I don't get it otherwise

Also, signs I was working for former job for way too long:

-I was dreaming about it.
-I could walk into any other store and immediately identify where a particular item would be just by reading the aisle signs (due to store size, some items tend to be merged together, one example of this is baby products + health and beauty crap, which normally each get their own aisle)
-I could recite the checkout "script" alongside the employee.
-I could recite the closing speech of each manager word-for-word.

And my personal favourite one:

-I could recite the knife lady speech word for word.

"Knife lady" was this demo lady who could come in occasionally and try to hawk these free knives. you had to be over 21 (and show ID for this) to get them. You didn't have to make a purchase or anything either.

For those of us who worked night shifts, it wasn't so much of a problem because she'd generally leave by around 3-4pm. For those who worked day and LONGER shifts however....well, let's just say that I actually kept a tally of the number of times she made her spiel.

Basically she'd do 3 spiels over a 15-minute period, then we'd get a rest for 15 minutes, then she'd repeat said spiels AGAIN.

There were talks of the deli and seafood staff trying to cut the line on her microphone.

Then there were also the times when her microphone's cable was "disconnected"