Embarrassingly Helpful

It was November and I had just started working at my new first job. Different days left different tasks to be done, being a trainee I was still new to the things they had me doing. However, I was told that I was a very quick learner and they were grateful for that.
It was a Saturday so it was a six-hour shift for that day. It was the second Saturday, I had worked. So this Saturday was different than the last one that was because it entailed me to trying things on my own instead of being coached through what I might need to do.
I was cleaning a piece of machinery called a “tumbler” – It’s a machine that you put meats in that have been injected with brine and then the excess poured in. This is so that when the meats get smoked, they are juicier and I believe it helps prevent issues that could entail with the product. It rotates in different directions for a certain amount of time and the inside of the machine becomes very messy and fatty. Cleaning the inside you would use hot pressurized water them wash then wash the inside. For a “just in case measure,” you wipe the inside down with something we call “degreaser”. Being that I had only been there for a week, I mixed up the oil bottle and the degreaser bottle. So I ended up spraying the entire inside with oil of the machine I had just cleaned. I hadn’t realized until my manager walked by asking what I was doing so I explained and he had laughed. I soon put two and two together and I frantically asked what was in the bottle that I was using and embarrassingly I realized my mistake.
After realizing my mistake I have not made the mistake of mixing up the two bottles again. When it comes to working always make sure you are doing the right thing. Asking questions doesn’t always hurt it can help in the long run even if you think you are sure, it is good to double check.

Photo by sgrace on Foter.com / CC BY-NC