When part-time turns into overtime

My job was supposed to be only part-time, twenty-something hours a week. But this week I think I worked something like 56 hours, although five of those were on Saturday, which started a new week, so I didn't get overtime pay for going in at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. But all day Friday I got overtime pay, so I'll get a pretty fine paycheck. I got overtime and had to work Saturdays last December, when we were in the height of annual curriculum orders. But I didn't expect to get overtime in August.

The reason we got to work so much was because the Church is putting out a new book called Daughters in My Kingdom. I don't know who reads my blog, but if anyone out there is a Relief Society sister, when you get your book, you should know that sweat and blood went into this project--quite literally. Our warehouse is air-conditioned, but I don't know how, so with a heat wave this week, along with the physically demanding task of taking books out of boxes and then lifting the remaining book-filled boxes from a pallet to a conveyor belt, we got pretty warm. Once I accidentally hit a coworker's forehead with my elbow. Neither of us were hurt (yes, I just used a plural verb with a singular subject), but it did make my elbow wet!

As for the blood, this work makes us very thirsty. One coworker had a metal water bottle, and another coworker asked for him to throw the bottle to him. Coworker #1 said that it was heavy, but coworker #2 said to throw it anyway. Well, it ended up hitting him in the lip and it made him bleed. He was fine, though. There may have been other blood incidents, though, since pulling books out of boxes makes your fingers raw, especially if you don't wear gloves. (I'm surprised at how many don't--I'd be dead without them!)

Today in my ward someone was carrying in a few boxes of these books, which are plenty familiar to me. We have to be all done with the project by Thursday (September 1--I'm so excited for August's demise!), so I probably won't have overtime again--at least until annual curriculum starts up again. Monday and Tuesday were surprisingly busy (I think even without the project), but they hired four new people this week, and fewer people will be taken away to work on the project, so that should mean we won't have to stay as late. (I worked twelve hours on Monday.)