.When I first joined this group, back in 2016, I worked 12 hr shifts and had lots of time just sat monitoring equipment and alarms. That gave me masses of time to kill, especially when work was quiet.
Like a fireman without any fires, we were a necessity but it was wasteful, just having us sitting there, when nothing was happening.
In 2018 we had a lot of investment into automation and new technologies. This gave us mobile tablets that allowed us to monitor and control equipment from anywhere, on our rather large plant.
Our Boilerhouse role (we were tied to local control panels/control room and couldn’t stray from the area) evolved into a roving, site wide Utilities role. This was very interesting but was also a very steep learning curve! Stressful too! It also allowed the company to reduce our numbers down from five, to two and took us off the “quiet” nightshift. We now work days only but are on call out of hours.
This added hugely to our workload as we took on extra responsibilities and squeezed them into an 8.5hr day!
Hence, I had zero time during work hours, to sit at a desk!
Well, after achieving my 40yr service award on 20th May, I only went and handed in my notice yesterday!
With accrued holidays to use up, I will cease to be a Thermex Boilerman (old title) slash, Utilities Technician on 19th June.
I’ve been training my replacement since last September and have been surplus to requirements for a few weeks now!
As I type this, I thought I’d feel exited? I’m a bit numb if I’m honest. Anyway, it’s done now. The email’s been sent!
I’m hoping to spend a bit more time on here. Might be dangerous for the old watch collector in me, as I’ve been off the habit for a couple of years.
Gonna hang on proudly to my alias of Thermexman though! I’ve earned that title over the last 20yrs of my career.
See more of you around I hope.
Yes, I can still waffle.
