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Holland | Inhumane cold dock work environment

mysticobra said:
I got my RDWY flashlight.
As soon as I can get the corroded batteries out I can see the thermometer... Lol.
It's 63 degrees where I live right now.... I'm glad I don't live in hat cold anymore.... Haven't for years.
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It’s 4 above zero at home. Wong and I are sitting in the pirate ship in Tampa. Big Dave got us tickets. We both got this weeks Coop weekly crossword puzzle right.
 
Ok, all set to go out on the frozen dock today & hoping at least 15% of forklifts will start today !
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wongway said:
Ok, all set to go out on the frozen dock today & hoping at least 15% of forklifts will start today !
a-christmas-story-movie-ss02.jpg
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A lot of truth to that picture. When I ran utility it was a good thing there was no passenger seat. I had all kinds of clothes and other stuff in that tractor in case of breakdown or to stay warm on the dock. We were usually there for 4 hours or so unlike the regular dock guys. Gotta be tough to do it full time.
 
Do like the Milwaukee guys did Saturday morning and just not work. Then the road guys who dress warm but not like dock guys can do it. No big deal the job gets done correctly and quickly!
 
Cold Storage does not bother me. Makes for moving 49500 from big wood into small wood pallets in a few hours. That combined with a very big meal prior to the arrival. Get down to about -20 give or take and once adapted I'll be in a tee shirt and shorts. Not necessarily approved clothing in more of the stiffer cold storages.

Food is the key. Steaks in particular. I once counted between 9000 to 12000 calories of full meals per 24 hours when in very cold situations. All of that on a 160 pound frame with no fat. Burn it right off. If I ate like that today? I would be obese and dead 15 years ago.

I get to be a little cold below -35 to around -55. It becomes necessary to seek either a warm truck or when fueling etc outside get into a building to warm up and thaw out with coffee. I probably took a lifetimes worth of heat out of my system over the years in that cold. Some days I cannot get warm that well. (Food takes care of that...) That's probably due to age.

Its a little mind bending to be at say 25 degrees outside from 90 degrees 30 minutes prior as happened one December night in Oklahoma City in 2000. We were at 90 into a very bad summer storm system on the east side and by the time we passed the central and west side it had gotten to 25 in 30 minutes and everything was ice. The perfect cannot drive or walk on kind. We holed up on some parking lot until the sun came up and broke the ice down.

One of the good things about a reefer trailer back then was to have a hot dock in the south, say 115 on the cement with no cover. Fire up the thing and set for frozen. Burn a few gallons of fuel cooling everyone down as they went back and forth with the freight. Bossy man sometimes complained but told him take 20 out of my pay. I don't care its worth it.

And you wonder why we never get sent back to those places again =) mission success.
 
the5tolls said:
Do like the Milwaukee guys did Saturday morning and just not work. Then the road guys who dress warm but not like dock guys can do it. No big deal the job gets done correctly and quickly!
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That's why everything was done when I came in for closing shift on Monday. Thank s for the help tolls.:cheerful:
 
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