A man once told me (I don’t know if he was wise, but he seemed to have his shit together), that the life of a Nuclear Reactor Operator is 99% boredom, and 1% shear blinding terror.
That is very analogous of the work schedule during a refueling outage. (Do you like the use of that word? I am trying to expand my vocabulary and have started using fancy words in everyday situations, much to the dismay of those around me). What I mean by that is; during an outage, you are either the one that everyone is waiting for, or you are waiting for someone else.
When it is your turn to get your work done, everyone who has ever even driven by the plant wants an update on your work, and wants to know why it isn’t being done faster. And somehow overnight, those around you become subject matter experts on what you are doing, and know a better way to do it.
Hi, this is Alice from the cafeteria, can you please tell me when you are going to be done with cable terminations?
We should be done by 23:00
That’s UNSAT, you need to be done in 6 minutes.
What? We are way ahead of schedule, and you charge me a different price for the same lunch nearly every day, why are you even asking me?
Who do you report to?
This is what one of my past co-workers used to call “being the guy”. Whenever your work came up on the schedule, you were “the guy”. No one wants to be “the guy”.
The flip side of this is when your project is not affecting anyone else. When this happens, you could walk around with a vuvuzela and a tambourine, and you would not be able to get anyone’s attention.
Hey Alice, I think that my grilled cheese sandwich is on fire, can you turn around and flip it
What part of “you aren’t on critical path, go fuck yourself” didn’t you understand?
What amplifies these two extremes is the speed at which you transition from one to another. There is no spring or fall. It’s like driving a sports car 140mph right into a brick wall. One day the plant manager knows your name and where you went to school, the next day your own supervisor is too busy to hold the door open for you
I luckily find little ways to entertain myself during the down time. Don’t get me wrong, I do all of the things I should do during my down time. I get all of my reports for what I have done so far in order and I get everything that I need for our next window ready. I even make half assed attempts at helping others
Hey it looks like you need a hand with that?
Yeah that would be great
Oh crap, hold on a second, my boss is calling, I will be back in like 2 hours…
But your phone didn’t ring…..
But in between all of stuff I should be doing, I also find little things to do around the plant to pass the time and break up the monotony, so I don’t snap out of stress or cabin fever. Here are the top ten things that have gotten me through the past 2 ½ weeks
1. Noticing when others have not locked their computers when they leave, and changing their wallpaper to glamor shots of Adam Lambert
2. Paging people to urgently call random extensions (This was Jerm’s idea)
3. Walking around extremely wide eyed, like you have just witnessed something life changing, not acknowledging anyone around you
4. Standing facing into the corner of the elevator in containment
5. Leaving sticky notes on peoples computer screens that say “Call extension 357 !!! Extremely Urgent!!!” (our extensions are 4 digits)
6. Making truck noises when I walk, especially squealing tire noises around corners
7. Emailing my own email, then responding back to myself over and over talking about a trivial issue, then forwarding the chain to someone to get their input
8. Leaving sketches and calculations on the white board in my office that have glaring mathematical errors
9. Standing in my door way, with my door cracked just an inch or two, and if anyone notices me, closing it door immediately
10. Going to ask the other night shift engineers questions by going into one of the cubicles adjacent to theirs and popping my head over the wall, then leaving and coming back 5 mins later and doing the same thing from the cubical on the opposite side… Repeat back and forth as needed to get them to acknowledge what I am doing.
Luckily there are only two weeks left…
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