Sitka or Bust: Commute The World

The first week I spent on the line, I focused on two main jobs. Each was a separate process, spaced on opposite ends of the line. The first of which was lower sash.

Lower sash was the bane of my existence. It is commonly referred to as the most difficult process on door line. Deemed a “wet process” because lubrication is needed to slip the rubber seals into their metal bracket home, it’s sloppy and faster paced than any other I’d been on. Because the moisture causes a serious rash and chafing, two sets of gloves are worn and the usual safety gear of Kevlar arm sleeves are left off. The inner most glove is latex and traps in more sweat than anything else, the outermost is a thin “cut proof” fabric that, unless extremely tight fitted, will bunch up around the fingertips and really piss you off.

The conveyor pairs the left and right front doors, leaves a small space then starts again with the same pattern. You grab the specific metal sash in one hand, two bolts and the air gun in the other. Slip the brace into the door, slide it into a metal bracket and line up the holes to shoot the bolt. Peel down the seal from the top of the frame, run it through the metal brace by pinching your thumb and middle finger together down the length of it and take one final smooth to make sure it’s all securely flush. This is the worst part, the part that for weeks made it hurt to brush my teeth or push the seatbelt release button. Really anything that offered any slight amount of pressure to my fingertips.

For some reason, the left door had two seals that needed to be set and the right door only had one. So there was a tiny break in the rush.

I struggled the most with the motion sickness of the conveyor moving one way and me spinning back and forth to grab brackets and dip my fingers in the warm crockpot of soapy water. I can’t even estimate the number of times I grabbed a right-side bracket for the left side door or just stared at them trying to decide. My mind has never blanked so frequently.

Depending on who I trained with, I would use the soapy water or just dryly manhandle the seal into the bracket. I do believe it was definitely easier wet (lol), but dipping my hands every few cars added an extra step into my already finite time. Plus, sometimes the crockpot would be plugged in and on the extra hot setting (to boil away the scum that formed inside. Think snot.) so it would be a shock in dipping your hands.

I’m thankful to say that the motion sickness eventually went away, though the under-glove sweat fest remains without fail.