Music Monday: Music at Work

It is Monday, already!

Thank goodness it is a loooooong weekend, I'm spent (and I assure you I have done nothing to exert myself).

Boys and girls, today I include a personal favourite video, a shootout to all who have to work today, tomorrow and the day after that.

This song makes me smile.

Back in high school I spent two summers working at an onion factory.  I worked shifts, alternating between days and nights, making sure those little pearl onions got all the way from the truck to a barrel full of brine or a box to be shipped.  

That job was a huge learning experience, an eye opener and to this day the smell of sautéing onions reminds me of showering after a shift.  My grannie loved that job: she missed the scent but gained pounds upon pounds of the little white onions, pickled in brine.

Night shifts were always my personal favourite, there were no big headed bosses around and Bert the forklift driver would be working.  Bert was a darling little man, perhaps 75 and a lonely widower.  He worked the seasonal job to pass his time and keep him busy.  Throughout the summer he taught me to drive forklift and by the end he was able to take his leave in the lunch room while I drove around happy as a clam (this was before the introduction of the required forklift license).  

This onion factory was situated directly beside a drag strip (I suppose onion and fuel counteract each other).  On the long weekends a Canadian band would fill the night with music as race-goers camped out of their cars.  

So there you have it, my long weekends were spent bopping around on a forklift, listening to The Tragically Hip and 54-40.  Sure, I reeked of onion, my clothes were ruined and I cried for an hour straight (the onion smell people).  The water fountain never worked and the pay was all but non-existent.  But that didn't really matter, I had Bert and Bert had a nap.  We all had good music.

Take a listen to the lyrics in this Canadian hit, "My Music at Work" by The Tragically Hip.

Did you catch the chorus?

Everything is bleak.

It's the middle of the night.

You're all alone and

the dummies might be right.

Outside, the darkness lurks.

My music at work.

My music at work.  

How fitting.

To all of you ladies and gentlemen working on this long weekend, have a good day and have a better night.  To anyone starting school, work or watching someone start school (perhaps the most nervous position of all), good luck.

Sleepy and satisfied,

L