Work

John · Post by **John** » 31 Oct 2010, 10:04

Halloween! Today I'm going to work dressed in a white, full-body overall and a gas mask and will be handing out "Radioactive 3D glasses"... A few hours into the shift a co-worker will be doing some makeup so I might change into something more zombielike then. We'll see.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 31 Oct 2010, 10:20

Muahahaha! Awesome, post pics on Paprika, please!

John · Post by **John** » 1 Nov 2010, 02:09

There's only one pic and it's on my boss' camera :p Boring swedes hardly remembered there was Halloween though, I got a few wtf-reactions but some were in on it. Like one mom said to her husband "Can you take those?" (about the glasses) and he replied "Ye, I don't want you guys on my conscience" :p Some people actually believed the 3D glasses were radioactive and I had to force myself from doing a facepalm physically.

Tomorrow is the 5th day in a row at work. Tuesday I'm free. Wednesday and thursday I'm back at work. Pretty heavy workload for being only an extra. Not complaining though :)

8-ball · Post by **8-ball** » 6 Nov 2010, 18:30

Been working in an amazon.co.uk warehouse in Peterborough for a week now. Not the greatest job in the world but it's easy. I go around with a scanner collecting ordered items. We have 170'000 units of CoD Black Ops in stock atm, ready to be shipped:)

sleap · Post by **sleap** » 8 Nov 2010, 19:20

Thought would be nice to share a part of life that usually stays hidden when you're away after work.
Are you working, if so where?
>> i work at a company called werner&weber, in vienna, austria. 11th district

Does it imply new appartment or something?
>>nej

What is that company main goal?
>>producing, maintaining and constructing containers for garbage

How is the system working there?
>>we have people in office who do either nothing or smoking or drinking caffee or forgeting to order paint, welding equipment, drinking water, ..other components. others sell those containers and some do the books.

What is your position into that company (job)?
>> working class hero. i am hired as a welder/fitter

What are your tasks?
>> rewelding badly welded parts or parts not welded at all. reattaching broken parts or parts not built in. repairing and "upgrading". we don't actually build the containers together in vienna, that would be too expensive.

How is the people at work?
>> my associates are overall nice guys. the guys from the office i hardly get to see.

Is it permanent, seasonal or temporary job?
>> temporary

i am hired by a temp work company and yet waiting to get an assured contract.

What is your schedule?
>>if no work from the day befor is left i am being told what to do by the workmaster or his son.

What is your salary?
>> about 1400€ netto

Does it satisfy you?
>> most of the times yes

Do you like your job?
>> most of the times yes

What are your plan in the futur about it?
>> i want to learn as much as i can and when i get bored (or getting full-time-welder-job offered) i will leave. but first of all assured contract.

Tell us everything.
>> i want to be a professional welder. welding x-ray save welds, either in a factory or being sent around the world. i want to master all the common operations (TIG, MIG/MAG and stick welding) in any position and either on tube or metal sheets - from very thin to very thick. i know that welding is my avocation. i collect everything i can get about it and would surely practice in my free time if i had a machine.
unluckily i started at the age of 25 (getting 27 this december) - so i have quite a lot to catch up (most welder finish education with 18 to 20 years). but i don't care. i will weld!!

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 8 Nov 2010, 22:06

cool sleap) i believe u will be the best welder of vienna some days!

sleap · Post by **sleap** » 10 Nov 2010, 17:21

cheers!

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 16 Nov 2010, 08:55

so after work you say to yourself: "weld done!"?

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 16 Nov 2010, 16:48

teajay wrote:so after work you say to yourself: "weld done!"?

Bad jokes topic gogo

sleap · Post by **sleap** » 16 Nov 2010, 19:10

teajay wrote:so after work you say to yourself: "weld done!"?

i speak german usually at work and to myself but well..wasnt that bad joke

John · Post by **John** » 19 Nov 2010, 23:28

We've recently rebuilt our second largest auditorium to fit a brand new 3D installment. The original plan from higher ground was to also reinstall the old 35mm projector even though we didn't want to. However, things came up and now we are going to be the first cinema in the SF concern to run a fully digitial auditorium (in your face Stockholm!). So today at work we celebrated with cake :D

pawq · Post by **pawq** » 19 Nov 2010, 23:51

fully digital = ?

John · Post by **John** » 20 Nov 2010, 00:55

Pawq wrote:fully digital = ?

No 35mm projector as backup. Only the digital 2D/3D projector and DTS sound. Movies come on HDDs, license keys and trailers on USBs. No more reels to assemble for that auditorium. Of course we still have 5 other auditoriums (out of which 1 is dual 3D/35mm) with 35mm so the decline is barely noticable probably.

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 23 Nov 2010, 01:55

One can only wait for some windows crash there. =D

John · Post by **John** » 23 Nov 2010, 03:32

teajay wrote:One can only wait for some windows crash there. =D

Heah :p That kinda happened today. Got a completely unknown error on the computer we use for scheduling advertisements. Had to call the norwegian headquarters of the company providing the software and they started troubleshooting using remote assistance. The problem wasn't fixed during my shift tho, so I had to skip the ads and manually start the 35mm right away.

Other than that I disassembled "Pettson: Kattonauten" and assembled "Pettson: Tomtemaskinen". Both are kids movies and only had 4 reels each, so it didn't take too long.

Then we played some Yatzy while waiting for the last couple of movies to end :)

sleap · Post by **sleap** » 23 Nov 2010, 19:25

sounds like max nice job john! :]
are those computers to play the movies running on a "special" os or is it just some adopting?

John · Post by **John** » 24 Nov 2010, 02:47

Thank you sleap! I love it indeed.
There's no special OS as far as I know. It's just a basic PC with proper software.

John · Post by **John** » 11 Dec 2010, 04:08

Getting pretty comfortable now after having worked as a projectionist for about 19 months. When I was new I panicked and called the head projectionist as soon as I got a machine alarm. Nowadays I try to solve the problems myself unless it's max complicated. Solved one "problem" pretty nicely today.

Somehow one start reel (about 50m of reel prior to the first trailer, vignette(?) or movie) was missing one magnetic tape (used to advance automatic program in the projector matrix) so the following trailer didn't shift in properly. I noticed rather quickly from downstairs something was weird, so I ran up to the booth. Yep, the trailer was running through so I shifted in manually, put a piece (~1m) of foam rubber on the in-platter (to get some editing room later when removing it), trailer ended, vignette started, vignette ended, I shifted out manually, pulled together the curtains, blocked matrix, pulsed one pulse down (the missing tape), activated matrix and saw the curtains pull open, the movie shift in and the auditorium go dark automatically.

Maybe not the most difficult thing but it felt good since I did it pretty much without thinking and it worked beautifully :) Also I removed that foam rubber before the next show and put that missing tape there. No problem the second time.

Actually today was a good day. I got a number of small errors but nothing serious and nothing that really interfered with the customer's experiences, except that trailer I shifted in half way through ;x Got nice practise. Trial and error is really the only way to learn this job.

A.K.B. · Post by **A.K.B.** » 11 Dec 2010, 09:00

It sounds like a really fulfilling experience John! Glad to hear you're enjoying your work.

John · Post by **John** » 8 Jan 2011, 03:43

"When I hear "India" I think about diarrhea and cows"
Always a pleasure working with this guy/quote machine :D

Tomorrow is the 11th day at work since last tuesday, I've only had this tuesday off (but even then I was at the theatre). Mostly been working behind the counter, only had 3 projectionist shifts or so. Days are starting to merge. Working in a basement with no windows whole days fukks up your sense of time.

We're having some trouble with our ad computers atm. One of the raid HDDs broke, we can still run it but we're in need for a replacement. Also there's been some trouble with the new 3D projector. The first one we got actually burned up due to a factory error so we had to order a new one by express delivery from Canada.

John · Post by **John** » 25 Jan 2011, 03:12

Working in an environment with 10% humidity for several days in a row:
Pros: Cheaper bar visits after shifts.
Cons: Knuckles get dry and crack open. Small spots of blood all over them :/

Post by **Abula** » 12 Feb 2011, 17:46

http://pulu.org/lassi/eng/

Making web sites, surprise? Been 2 years in the real company and trying to learn new things as fast as possible. I hoping to be a MASTER one day.

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 12 Feb 2011, 22:23

Nice sites Abula, I'm sincerely wishing you to achieve that goal to become a Master as you said.

John · Post by **John** » 23 Mar 2011, 17:46

Started learning accounting in practise yesterday and will be in charge of that until end of august. Working my way up :)

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 30 Mar 2011, 09:39

I've been cleaning at old folk's houses. It's okay, generally. I've started in december with a half year contract and plan on quitting in june. My aim is to work at some venue, meanwhile trying to expand my little guitar lesson business. Recently a client of mine suddenly died, luckily not while I was working there.

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 10 Apr 2011, 11:33

job - "research fellow"
place - oxford uni
salary - ok

niN · Post by **niN** » 6 Jun 2011, 00:45

I work as a rafting guide in Iceland atm. The work is nice, max fun some days. I basically guide clients down a class 2+ river with some nice and fun rapids. The river is a glacier river, so the temperature is approximately average 5+ celcius. I don't get payed much, but I get to sleep at the rafting station and they provide me with all the food I need. Which is really maxest!

All in all I love the job, my collegues are great, the work is mostly great, I love working with people in a way where I am the guide etc. Is max!

Markku · Post by **Markku** » 6 Jun 2011, 20:16

Sounds cool, niN! Where about in Iceland are you guiding them? I was on a visit there last August and took part in a rafting trip, we rafted on Jökulsá Austari (East glacial river, up north near Skagafjörður). I think it was rated 4+, so it was a tricky one, and quite an experience.

niN · Post by **niN** » 7 Jun 2011, 00:03

Nice Markku! Yeah, it's a 4+ and probably the most exciting one for tourists =) I haven't gone on it yet, but I'm hoping I will get to! I have all summer to try it, and I can go on any trips I want for free because I'm an employee of the company.

I'm guiding the Hvítá River (http://www.adventures.is/Iceland/Rafting/RiverFun/). It's to the east of reykjavik, approximately 1,5 hours drive with car.

John · Post by **John** » 11 Jul 2011, 14:04

It's summer and everyone goes on vacation, except for me. Summer is my opportunity to gain hours so I'll spend most nights of July in a bunker :) July is a mix between being the projectionist and taking care of ticket sales. 1st August to 7th August is 7 days straight of being the projectionist. Those 23.30 are really more like 00.15 due to Transformers' and Pirates of the Caribbean's lengths.

Bjenn · Post by **Bjenn** » 13 Jul 2011, 08:28

Same here, no vacation for me. Mostly because I only work here til 31st of August, so ez get as many hours as possible as John said =)

roope · Post by **roope** » 15 Jul 2011, 09:04

Hev summerjob as a dishwasher in a restaurant. Pretty simple, just as I like it o,o

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 15 Jul 2011, 11:36

Got a job for the summer holidays as a software tester for Apple. Long work days, but I like it very much. =)

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 15 Jul 2011, 14:22

Got a job assembling, configuring and racking servers. Also some software hongy, but not much. I start on August 1)

John · Post by **John** » 16 Jul 2011, 00:39

News clips from where I work:
http://svtplay.se/v/2479573/nordnytt/fa ... rry_potter
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debat ... id=1785396

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 16 Jul 2011, 06:58

Didn't see you. Perhaps you've been lying all this time about working there. o,o

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 16 Jul 2011, 12:52

First thing that came to my mind when I saw this:

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 15 Nov 2011, 10:27

I guess this goes here:

[10:06] <igge-> i never in my life thought id work at a place where if i play elma my boss would come up and a) be impressed and b) want to play himself
[10:06] <igge-> tefak

))

edit: today when i played during lunch break, 5 people came up behind me and stood and watched. It does make you extremely nervous, especially when playing a pipe))

insane guy · Post by **insane guy** » 3 Dec 2011, 19:29

I just had an revealing inspiration:

The worse the job - the better the weekend.

If you love your work, you don't really look forward to the weekend, going to parties, getting drunk and doing nothing all day long. You like what you do AND you get paid for it, your life rules. Usually a nice job comes with nice people, so you just hang out with them after work, right, fuck your "friends" who wine about their shitty jobs all the time. Eventually you become a happy workaholic.

If your work sucks, you count every day of the week and every friday turns into some kind of patience-test because you get so excited to finally exit that behated place of labor. You go home sending sms to all your friends telling them how much you love them and what a great party it's going to be. BEST MOOD EVER! You have the greatest time of your life an do all the things, but by Saturday afternoon you start to realize that tomorrow is Sunday and after Sunday comes Monday and that is pure hell. Eventually you will become an alcoholic or addicted to another thing like gaming, coffee, banana-cupcakes or asian hookers.

niN · Post by **niN** » 8 Jan 2012, 11:12

Markku wrote:Sounds cool, niN! Where about in Iceland are you guiding them? I was on a visit there last August and took part in a rafting trip, we rafted on Jökulsá Austari (East glacial river, up north near Skagafjörður). I think it was rated 4+, so it was a tricky one, and quite an experience.

So I got a job offer here for next summer. The river is ranked as one of the most difficult to guide in Europe, so it's a major carrer step! Fucking awesome for me

John · Post by **John** » 10 Jan 2012, 18:52

Soon I've loaded my last 35mm projector as the whole company gets digitalized due to movie industry standards. Pretty sad, I'm gonna miss it a lot. Actually, the whole projectionist part of movies will be gone in the company I work in :( Going to apply for shift supervisor later this year.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 10 Jan 2012, 19:19

Hey John, if you know can you please answer some of my questions:

1. What is the bitrate/resolution of the digital movies shown in theaters (in general)?
2. What is the format you "get" the movies? Like physical discs or some own weird chip or something else? Downloading from ftp or something?
3. How do you actually play the movies? Some software on computer or what?

Obviously I have no clue what I'm talking about but this is something I've been wondering sometimes. So if you could answer these or explain the system more I would find it very interesting, thanks!

John · Post by **John** » 10 Jan 2012, 21:04

Ville_J wrote:1. What is the bitrate/resolution of the digital movies shown in theaters (in general)?
2. What is the format you "get" the movies? Like physical discs or some own weird chip or something else? Downloading from ftp or something?
3. How do you actually play the movies? Some software on computer or what?

1. Movies are shows in 2K resolution. A normal movie is about 100 - 150Gb (Avatar 3D was 250Gb though). We can't see bitrate on a normal running of a show but perhaps you can calculate it?

2. We just get wooden boxes with capacity of 4-6 reels for 35mm copies and small padded cases with a HDD for digital movies. I rarely load those but it's pretty much just plug in and load to projector's HDD.

3. One projector (Christie or Barco), one Dolby server and two computers. Before we can show the movie on a normal show we have to make a program for it. Flat or Scope, trailers (decided at headquarters) and where the lights should light up (at the start of the credits). The ads we show are compiled into a playlist elsewhere. The show starts with the ad computer (every auditorium has it's own, and every movie has a different ad playlist) sending two pulses to the matrix. First one raises the 3D-disc and sets it spinning or it's a 3D-disc by-pass if it's only a 2D movie. The second one removes the curtain, turns the lights out on the screen and switches to proper formats in audio/video before the first ad is started. When the ads are over, the ad computer sends another pulse to the matrix and the matrix comes to a line (among others (formats, audiochannels, two different delays and about 12 other stuff)) that says "Player Play" and it starts the program we compiled earlier. Some trailers first and then one last pulse before the start of the movie. The only thing this does is to turn all the lights out. At the credits there is another pulse turning the lights up and finally at the end of the show there is one last pulse setting everything back to default and the projector is ready for another show, after a compulsory 10 min cooldown that is :) Crappy explanation but it's pretty easy. Mostly automatic.

Bjenn · Post by **Bjenn** » 11 Jan 2012, 16:16

Have it happened while you have been working there, that one of the computers fail to do its task? Normal computer failure of some sort?

John · Post by **John** » 12 Jan 2012, 20:59

Yeah, sometimes the ad computers fail to work, like raid discs have crashed or smth, and we have to call some norwegian tech support since they provide us with the hardware/software (it's pretty difficult to understand those norwegians over the phone ;(. Sometimes the projector and 3D-disc fail to sync with each other and the image is glitching green for 1/10 of a second every 30 secs or so. It happened this weekend for me actually. Sometimes the matrix stops working and it might not turn the lights up at the end of the movie. Nothing too serious so far though.

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 12 Jan 2012, 21:12

John wrote:and we have to call some norwegian tech support since they provide us with the hardware/software (it's pretty difficult to understand those norwegians over the phone ;(.

Hah. I've had to speak with Norwegian support before. It really is hard.

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 12 Apr 2012, 01:28

I work at a orchestra/choir as a production assistant. Mainly set up the stage with lights, instruments (movable organs, basses, harpsichords) and stands, but also I have to replace the producer at given times and then I'm responsible for a whole concert for the day. Setting up stage, getting all musicians ready for rehearsal (I had to memorize 50 people's faces and names very quickly during a recent project), preparing stuff with the concert hall like start time, dressing rooms, changes during concert, the break, closing off, etc. It's a nice job, with about 50 concerts a year.

Ecchi · Post by **Ecchi** » 12 Apr 2012, 03:29

Igge wrote:
John wrote:and we have to call some norwegian tech support since they provide us with the hardware/software (it's pretty difficult to understand those norwegians over the phone ;(.
Hah. I've had to speak with Norwegian support before. It really is hard.

try danish ones

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 13 Apr 2012, 08:38

teajay wrote:I work at a orchestra/choir as a production assistant. Mainly set up the stage with lights, instruments (movable organs, basses, harpsichords) and stands, but also I have to replace the producer at given times and then I'm responsible for a whole concert for the day. Setting up stage, getting all musicians ready for rehearsal (I had to memorize 50 people's faces and names very quickly during a recent project), preparing stuff with the concert hall like start time, dressing rooms, changes during concert, the break, closing off, etc. It's a nice job, with about 50 concerts a year.

Sick, is it a high-ranking orchestra/choir or a local one? 50 Concerts a year i presume a pretty high-flying one tbh.

I'm interested in doing this kind of work part-time when i'm studying.

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 14 Apr 2012, 18:40

It's the Netherlands Bach Society. It ranks pretty well, I think. On Good Friday they always do the St. Matthew's Passion with the dutch Cabinet (the ministers of the government) attending.