This day... 

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 03/07/2019 at 16:24 • Filed to: None

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( update) The delivery arrived. Help appeared. The drums have been moved into position. Only took an hour with 2 people, and I won’t have to work out today. 

I might have to transport 60,000 pounds worth of a corrosive chemical up a snowy hill by hand, by myself. And somehow that’s the good option. Work rant below

As a quickly growing but still fairly small business, my company is in a weird spot where a lot of things we need in order to expand, aren’t available to us. One of those things is chemical deliveries. I’ve spent the last month pulling teeth, offering favors, shaking hands and wringing necks to work out a deal, and I’ve finally managed to find a way to get a large amount of Sodium Hypochlorate delivered to our residential business address. How large? 14,000 gallons per month.

There have been a lot of delays and uncertainty, but everything was supposed to be settled and the delivery was going to take place today.

I’d called in a favor with a local Ewing Irrigation to borrow a pallet jack, and one of my employees was scheduled to pick it up this morning at 6:30am.

She called in sick at—wait for it—11:00pm last night. This is where the problems began.

There’s no way I could have gotten someone to come in at 5:45am with such little notice, so I resigned myself to an early morning. Remember, my usual work schedule is something like noon to 8:00pm, although it seems to always go late. I’m not a morning person. 75% of the reason I took this job in the first place was the lack of required morning work.

But, whatever. I wasn’t about to screw up something I’d spent so much time on.

So, fast forward to the morning. Woke up at 5:30am fter falling asleep at 3:00am, and somehow made it out the door. Only to be greeted with two inches of snow and more falling. For whatever reason my sleep-deprived brain decided to take the 850 wagon instead of the Miata. Spoiler alert: the Volvo sucks in the snow.

As I got closer to HQ the snow got deeper, and by the time I parked, I didn’t think I’d be able to make it out until the snow melted.

Still had a job to do though.

Grabbed the pickup at work, drove right back to where I started in the morning, and picked up the pallet jack (Ewing Irrigation is 5 minutes from my condo).

Snow getting even worse, managed to get the truck back to HQ, but it was really struggling on hills.

On the last hill before HQ, I saw a car going downhill swerve off into a ditch at a decent pace to avoid the cars stopped at the bottom. Went over and found a very shaken young driver and his girlfriend, neither of which could have been older than 17. They weren’t injured, so I calmed them down and called AAA, setting up a tow to pull them out of the ditch and get them home.

Walked back to HQ where I’d parked the car, and got the text that all other work had been canceled today. Great, so I’m the only one who’s doing anything, and everyone else has a free day.

Called the intermediary between myself and the shipping company, and didn’t get an answer. Called two more times, no answer. So I don’t know if I’m even getting the shipment, or if it’s canceled due to bad weather.

If it does show up, there won’t be anyone to help me with it, and I have no idea how I’m going to get 15 475lb drums moved from the bottom of the long, somewhat steep driveway to the top. I’ve got the aforementioned manual pallet jack, but that will just be used to move pallets a few feet out of the way so the truck driver can continue to offload additional pallets from the lift gate.

I’ve got a barrel dolly which should help, but.... Even with that I’m unsure if I can push/pull the barrel up the hill with the limited traction I’ll have.

And yet if the shipment doesn’t show up, I’ve spent this whole morning wasting my time, and I’ll have to return the pallet jack tonight in potentially even worse weather, and find a way to get the pallets out of the way without the jack whenever I manage to get the shipment rescheduled...

Whatever happens I’ll be skipping tomorrow morning’s 7:00am team meeting, and catching up on sleep.

Hopefully helping those kids appeases karma, because I really wouldn’t mind some good fortune right now.

I miss being a yoga teacher. The stress/bullshit to pay ratio here is getting further and further away from where I like it

VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:39

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Holy crapple that was a rollercoaster ride

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:44

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You should have conscripted the young couple to help you move barrels, if needed.

Decay buys too many beaters > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:45

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Woow.

Assume the truck doesn’t have 4wd or winter tires? 

AestheticsInMotion > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:46

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Kinja won’t let me post a picture in the main text , but here’s a good reminder to make asure you’ve got good tires a nd drive slow going down a snowy hill.

AestheticsInMotion > VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely 03/07/2019 at 13:48

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Unfortunately the last month has had a fair number of days like this. I'm about ready for a long vacation 

random001 > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:49

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I would offer to help if I weren’t like 2500 miles away.

AestheticsInMotion > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/07/2019 at 13:49

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Ha, not a bad idea. Unfortunately staying OSHA compliment means I probably can't have minors hauling dangerous chemicals in sub-freezing weather! 

AestheticsInMotion > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:50

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Nope. Rwd work spec. Tires at least are brand new with good tread, but not winters

facw > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:55

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Just more job-killing regulation keeping small businesses down!

Decay buys too many beaters > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:57

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Ehhhh, yeah that sounds straight nope. Maybe throw on some chains? That should give a good traction boost. 

Got any local ski resorts? I hear their tracked vehicles usually have 3 wire ignition cylinders....

( Sorry, I don’t have anything helpful to add)

InFierority Complex > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:00

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

That’s the making of a comic book villain origin story. Eagerly awaiting you moving into a hollowed out volcano lair.

Chariotoflove > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:02

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Well alrighty then.  Sucky day with more to come. Just don’t hurt yourself trying to get those barrels moved yourself.  If it comes to that and it isn’t happening, your safety comes first.

AestheticsInMotion > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 14:03

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You know, I actually gave my chains to a stranded Volvo owner during our last storm. Kind of glad, because I really don't want to deal with them haha

I’m also looking at last-minute one-way flights to Hawaii so that’s a possibility too...

Darkbrador > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:03

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None of my business, but ... what are you going to do with 60,000 lbs of bleach ?

This being said, t he delivery truck that brings it to your residential address, can’t they haul it to the door instead of at the bottom of the driveway ?

Doing it by “hand” in the snow sounds sketchy, you guys should think safety/liability and maybe rent a forklift ?

Tapas > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:03

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Ooof that sounds like a terrible day.

Hope you get through it alright.

AestheticsInMotion > Darkbrador 03/07/2019 at 14:08

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Roof cleaning primarily, a few other types of cleaning as well.

You’re generally supposed to have a h azmat business license and commercial location to get a delivery like this, so unfortunately I’m at the mercy of the one company that decided to ship to us. They’ll be in a semi, and while I’ll certainly try to convince the driver to back up the driveway.... I’m not confident he’ll agree to it, especially with snow. Previously we bought 90 gallons at a time and picked it up ourselves but we were paying an insane amount of money, since it tied up a vehicle and employee for three hours each trip.

Forklift would be great, but until we move to a commercial location later this year it's not really in the cards 

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:08

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Rent one of these, 4 WD, I’ve seen them go through 4' of mud.

AestheticsInMotion > InFierority Complex 03/07/2019 at 14:09

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I want concrete floors, floor to ceiling windows, lofts everywhere and exposed beams.

Oh, and lasers. All the lasers

AestheticsInMotion > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 03/07/2019 at 14:10

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Huh... I don’t think I’ve seen those before. What’s that even called, offroad forklift?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:16

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They are called a grade-all. Yes basically an offroad fork lift, very common on construction sites.

fintail > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:17

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Snow should melt quick today, just wait it out.

Just Jeepin' > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/07/2019 at 14:18

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When I was much younger I had a newspaper delivery route that I routinely failed to get done in time.

One morning I was dramatically later than usual and racing down the interstate to get to the route. Saw a guy hitching a ride, pulled over and offered a deal: if he helped me with my route, I’d take him closer to his goal.

Worked out well, especially for him: he was going northwest (I74 towards Peoria ) when he needed to be going southwest (I70 towards St. Louis, eventually to Arkansas).

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:28

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Just remember to put away the drums of flammables.

facw > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 03/07/2019 at 14:32

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When I lived in Ithaca I was always amused that they had grader that they used for plowing, like this:

They only used it on the flats, but down there, it was going to take a lot of snow to stop it.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:40

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Do you have like a winch or something? I feel like you could use the truck as an anchor point and just winch the barrels up safely.

Where are you doing this at (just rough area)?

Future Heap Owner > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:40

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Man dude, that sucks. What a crappy puzzle to have to solve without help in these conditions. I hope you can figure something out, or that the shipment can’t come today if that’s easier for you.

Do you have some really long rope, something with four caster wheels that could hold the barrel, and a fixed place to tie the rope off at the top of the hill? Maybe you could firmly affix the barrel to wheeled thing , tie that to the back of the truck at the top of the hill, and slowly move it up a few truck lengths at a time, tying the rope off on the fixed object while you move the truck back to the starting position. That way you wouldn’t be putting yourself at risk and the truck would be doing most of the work.

Good luck.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:42

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That’s a lot of bleach. Even when I ran a large indoor municipal aquatics facility (that was chlorinated via aqueous sodium hypochl orite because the aquatics program manager was a nepotistic hire who knew nothing about water chemistry, pools, management , or even parks and rec in general) I never had more than 5-6 barrels on hand at the very most . I don’t recall the exact limit, but much more than that and the facility would’ve had to become a licensed and regulated bulk chemical storage site with all the certifications, inspection, safety and security programs that go with it . I imagine OSHA, state environmental department, the EPA, and your local fire department would have issues with that much of anything in a residential area...

That aside, why are you using bleach in that quantity? Even in commercial aqueous concentrations, you’re only looking at 10%-12% available Chlorine and 90% aqueous solution that’s not doing anything for you as a disinfectant . Liquid bleach is very inefficient in big quantities from both a price and materials handling /storage perspective . Why not buy it granular form the same chemical supplier as calcium hypochorite and mix it with water at the job site to the desired concentration (and perhaps adjust pH as needed via a very small amount of HCl in the form as muriatic acid added to the solution) ? That would be vastly easier to deal with, and a lot cheaper. Calcium Chl orite is usually sold in 65-70% available chlorine concentrations.

4kc > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 15:11

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Sounds like Star rentals is gonna be making a few hundred off of  ya’ll

gettingoldercarguy > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 15:29

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By hand?  Wtf is with you and this CrossFit XTreme11111!!!11!! Program?

WiscoProud > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 03/07/2019 at 16:00

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Hydraulic motors i presume? 

AestheticsInMotion > gettingoldercarguy 03/07/2019 at 16:25

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Don't have an electric pallet jack :(

AestheticsInMotion > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 03/07/2019 at 16:30

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That’s a good question. I’ll have to look into that, because it seems like no one in the industry uses granular stuff. Currently we’re going through 200 gallons of 12% a day, and that’s going to keep growing for the next.... Oh. 6 months?

Surprisingly enough we're legal in terms of storage. It's the transportation that kills us. Limited to roughly 100 gallons, and can't increase that limit until we get a commercial building

AestheticsInMotion > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 03/07/2019 at 16:30

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Unfortunately not. It's unincorporated area near the end of Avondale road

AestheticsInMotion > gettingoldercarguy 03/07/2019 at 16:31

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No electric pallet jack :(

xc90v8/I4 :( > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 17:53

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You should have just called me.. I could have come and helped. I always find some easy solution to shit.

All you would have to do is pay for my accommodation, flight, rental car, food, and booze. So good deal!

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 22:19

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I live near the end of the cross street at the end. Luckily it melted later in the day...