Hit 500 pounds of beef trimmed in a single shift and my hands still hurt

Honestly I never thought I'd hit that number but last Saturday during the holiday rush I just kept going. We were short staffed so I ended up doing two stations by myself from 6am to 2pm. The scale at the end showed 502 pounds of trim work and I could barely flex my fingers. Has anyone else had a shift where the pounds just piled up faster than you expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennysullivan2mo ago

Kept a bowl of ice water nearby to dunk my hands between loads.

hart.cora1mo ago

Kept a bowl of ice water nearby" - man, I respect the dedication but that sounds rough on the hands. I tried doing the cold water thing once during a really hot summer and it just made everything hurt worse after a while. The sudden temperature change shocked my hands and they ended up feeling stiff and clumsy the rest of the day. I switched to just taking actual breaks to run my hands under cool tap water for a minute or two instead of shocking them with ice. Whatever gets you through the job though, we all find our own weird tricks that stick.

felixramirez2mo ago

Yeah I tried the ice water trick once and honestly it just made my hands cramp up worse than before. What really worked for me was wearing those cheap cotton gloves under my work gloves, kept the sweat from making everything slippery. You gotta switch them out partway through the day though, otherwise they get soaked and that's almost as bad. I found a bunch of packs at the dollar store and just toss 'em in with the regular laundry. But hey if the ice water bowl works for you and your hands don't hate it, stick with it I guess.