Deadly Job: 136 File Boxes By Myself

 

Deadly Job: 136 File Boxes By Myself

In summer of 1988, I worked at the Georgia Tech Library. Our office was on the 1st floor in the 1955 building. The library includes the 1965 building which is air-conditioned. At the time, the 1955 building was not.

The Archives and Records Department included space on the ground floor which was cool, accessible from an elevator in front of the office. When I had a partner working in the department, I could spend 4 hours of my workday down there. But, my partner left, my boss left, and his boss left. I was alone in that office all day. The temperature was often 85 degrees Fahrenheit [29.44 Centigrade] at my desk.

[Photo Credit Wikipedia, see bottom]

On that particular day, I got a call from Accounts Payable. They had 136 file boxes to be picked up and transferred to our storage facility in the sub-basement. It was semester break and I had no student assistants to help me. I was the only one there. Keep in mind that I already had a diagnosis of arthritis in all my leg joints, but I hadn't told my employer. Today's temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit [35 C] and 95% humidity. I called my boss' boss and let her know I'd be out of the office, so I had to let Circulation know it would be closed while I did this humongous task.

I got the key from the mail room for the library van.

Accounts Payable was on the 3rd floor of the 1898 building. It doesn't have an elevator. When I leaned on the rail walking up, it nearly fell out of the wall. The stairs had slippery carpet runner all the way up. Needless to say, dragging my heavy hand truck behind me, I was not a happy camper.

At first, I loaded 5 boxes per trip. After several near-falls, I decided to do 4. It's more trips, but I didn't think I could last. My arms and legs were already shaking, and my pain level was climbing.

I got the van loaded for the first time and drove to the sub-basement door. Then, I walked through the library to the elevator. Took it to the ground floor. Then, a freight elevator took me to the sub-basement. There was one more flight of steps down to our storage area. In the building's steam plant. It was brutally hot down there. I walked across in the dark, thick air. Found a light switch. Then I propped the door open with a rock, the only thing we used to keep it open. There wasn't a way to prop it all the way open.

The ramp up to where I parked was a steep 45 degree angle, and smooth concrete. My jeans and t-shirt were already soaked with my sweat. Getting my loaded hand truck down to the door without running into it was very hard. It took a lot of trips. The cargo van held between 30-40 of these boxes. It took 4 trips with the van to finally get finished. I was utterly exhausted.

If I had collapsed from heatstroke there, I might not have been found for hours or more. Students didn't walk near the entrance to the sub-basement and there were no other workers around. I easily could have died, and my water cup was back in my office.

Then I had to turn in the van, get Circulation to unlock the office so I could get my purse and water, and I walked to my car. My house was an hour drive away. Since I was late, my girls were still at daycare, unless my pharmacist husband happened to be off to go get them. I really don't remember which way that was. I had to wait until I was outside the library to gulp my water. It wasn't cold. It was the same water I filled at home before I left that day. If I needed a refill on one of my 2 15-minute breaks, I had to go to the faculty lounge downstairs. The water fountains in the 1955 building all had rusty water. All buildings built before the 70s can have lead solders in water pipes and those from earlier decades can have lead pipes. We warned all the student assistants never to drink from the water fountains, to get it from a cafeteria.

At that job, I may have made a few cents over minimum wage. I always had to worry about whether I would make it in the door of the day care center by 6 sharp. Late fee was $25, but if I was late more than once or twice, they would call DFACS to get my kids [social services] so I always had that stress to worry about. We had flextime at the library, so if traffic made me late, I worked that many minutes over. I didn't have overtime in this job, so if I was over, I probably didn't report it. I don't think we had a time clock in the library. I filled out a paper form every week and turned it in to my boss [or that week, to his boss].

When I did have 4-5 library assistants, we all worked together. As their supervisor, I could have just told them to load the boxes and watched, but I'm not that kind of person. When I supervised people, I did what they did.

I worked for the Georgia Tech Library from May 1988 to late 1989. I had a miscarriage in May 1988. I had another one in Nov 1989, when I worked in the Systems Department. I had to leave for good in 1990 because I had a problem pregnancy. I guess I will always wonder if these jobs had anything to do with my lost babies. After all, in the Archives I had to work on a project in the Fulton Bag and Cotton Collection. This involved taking a tool like a spatula and carefully separating pages of personnel records from rusty paper clips, tedious work that I did 4 hours a day at times. The paper was full of black mold. That year, 1988, I was diagnosed with allergies for the first time in my life.

I was pregnant with my son when I interviewed for the Archival Assistant job. My boss unexpectedly put a full file box in my hands. "Can you lift this much?" I started at the Archives in mid May. On Memorial Day, I lost my son. Was it the lifting I had to do?

As far as suing the library, I would never do that. Any reduction in library funds would only hurt the little over 100 employees there. Most people had roommates, even in the late 80s. Library work is very hard to get without library experience. It took me 6 months to get that job. My genealogy hobby helped me get it.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the people I worked with, and my bosses were not cruel. I blame the GA Legislature for spreading ugly rumors about us state employees being lazy and refusing to vote us pay raises other than a dime or quarter an hour for cost of living. Libraries are underfunded because it's considered a 'female' line of work. I never met a 'lazy' state employee, and I imagine federal employees are just as overworked and underpaid. The Georgia Legislature put a hiring freeze on all state colleges and universities, and that's why I was alone in the Archives and Records Office on that day in Summer, 1988. All the heavy lifting I did probably contributed to the state of my back today. I got disabled at 40. I have moderate arthritis in my neck, and severe arthritis in my lower back. Also, in my 60s after a minor heart attack, my cardiologist discovered a heart problem I have probably had all my life that could have killed me that day. If my doctors had known about that, I might have had an easier time getting Social Security Disability. Or would I? 

I also worked in the U of U Library in Utah. People also had to have roommates to pay the bills.

One of my coworkers had a daughter who was dying of heart failure--and she was turned down for disability. This lady really resented me for daring to mention I was considering applying for it. My battle took 4 years and I had to get a lawyer to get Social Security Disability at 40. A lot of people just as disabled as me apply and are turned down, every year. Since that time, I've lived in fear of losing it, because that can happen, too.

This is my testimony, as a former library worker. We are not lazy. We are the victims of politicians, who want you to believe that we are and that we 'really don't need the money'.

While a state employee, I got 11 paid holidays and 1 vacation day plus 1 day of sick leave a month. Most months, I was using that day of vacation for sick leave. I lived in fear of missing too many days and losing my job. My paycheck was docked for any days missed besides these days. If you admit you have disabilities, you might lose your job faster. I knew this and never admitted that I was disabled until it was obvious. 

I had many other jobs before I became a state employee. Because of my disabilities, I tried to get jobs where I wouldn't have to lift. Silly me, I thought I wouldn't have to lift many heavy boxes if I worked in an archives. When I moved to Systems, I was lifting 50 lb monitors and 50 lb computer CPUs.

Every job I had, there was something heavy I had to lift on a regular basis. Employers are quick to warn you what not to do because of OSHA [the government agency that protects workers]. Yet, OSHA goes out the window whenever the job's short-staffed. I can only wonder how many people become disabled in the US, only to find out they can't get disability from Social Security. It's not fair that SSDI only applies to lucky folks like me. That co-worker's daughter had medical records that proved she was dying, yet they turned her down.

I am lucky I didn't drop dead that day. My cardiologist said the SCAD I had could've happened any time in my life. I was 30 and had frequent chest pains when lifting boxes. What's SCAD? see

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) - Symptoms and causes

Mayo Clinic

Photo Credit

Georgia Tech Library

https://library.gatech.edu/

Georgia Tech Library Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Tech_Library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Tech

English: Tech Tower

Date 1 October 2013, 17:44:33

Source Own work

Author Mistercontributer

Atlanta

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia Tech

User: Mistercontributer

CC-BY-SA-3.0 Self-published work

More pictures of GT Library from their account

People Watching On Campus

Picture Of Atrium

https://www.instagram.com/p/DF6bq4tvo1v/?hl=en

2nd picture

Yes, that is me, but from 1981. I used 2 pictures from Pexels for the hand truck

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-shirt-delivering-the-boxes-7362919/

and the file boxes

pexels-ivan-samkov-8962868.jpg

and a picture of my old van that wasn't orange. I used GIMP to frankenstein these pictures together. I think I did actually get 6 file boxes on the first load.

#working

#jobs

#work experience

#work life

#usa

#libraries

#state employees

#government

#government employees

#government workers

#we are not lazy

#dangerous working conditions

#hazardous work