WEBVTT

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When you work in a factory
and you're on a production,

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line one of the most
important things,

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especially if
you're the new kid,

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is keeping up because
if you fall behind,

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everyone falls behind.

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And that puts the
most important part

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of the day-- the most
important parts of the day off,

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which are your break,
your lunch, and what else?

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Going home, right?

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So you want to keep
up, especially when

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you're the young kid and
you're surrounded by men.

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"Grinding Pork"-- "I lifted a
box off a 2,000-pound pallet

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of shoulder, stripped
the cardboard,

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then heaved the block
into the meat grinder.

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The grinder banged
against the floor.

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And I feared if
I turned my back,

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the grinder would tip over
and blindside my head.

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At the bottom of the
grinder, ground pork

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filled a bin I gave to
Guillermo, who dropped

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the pork into the mixer.

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He added spices,
vinegar, and water

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and rolled the pork to
the sausage stuffers.

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We're falling behind,
Guillermo said.

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Go faster.

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Guillermo grabbed a carton
and tossed the block

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into the grinder.

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Watch out, he said.

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He cracked two more
cartons across his knee,

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pushed each block through the
blades, and mixed the batch.

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This was my first
day grinding pork.

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And I watched the crew, men
who rolled up their sleeves

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and worked themselves
into a sweat in a freezer.

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Production starts with
me, I said to myself.

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I threw up a box, ripped
away the cardboard

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before the pork hit the grinder,
and, when I finished a pallet,

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I called for more pork.

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The crew saw that
I had caught up,

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that I had lined up
the bins for the mixer.

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But when the fat became packed
in the treads of my work boots,

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I slipped, and my head
slammed against the grinder.

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Unfamiliar with this
work, I understood not how

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the men returned each
morning with nothing

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but work in their eyes.

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I understood that I was grinding
pork at 6:00 in the morning,

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that I was tired
and cold, and that I

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felt a knot on the back of my
head that made my legs weak.

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Guillermo helped me
up and said, andele!

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We still have three
hours until break."