Working at an Orange factory was actually a very high stress situation. Oranges would blast through a conveyor belt at high speed whilst you had to pattern pack them very quickly indeed. If you were too slow, the oranges would roll past you on to the floor. Out of the corner of your eye you could see them edging nearer and nearer the edge and honestly, this was frightening. K made the mistake of thinking that no one really checked the boxes and kept just shoving them in any old way to avoid the disaster of them spilling on to the floor, which from previous experience was highly embarrassing and frowned upon. They do in fact check the boxes and K got in trouble. The boss also instantly took a dislike to K as she didn't know what a sunburnt orange looked like or the different types of citrus diseases, even though there was a poster of them in the staff room. What K didn't mention was that her breaks were spent basically trying to have a full shower in the sink due to profusely sweating herself into a panic for the entire day.
Day five of Oranges and K thought she had improved somewhat. There hadn't been a orange spill disaster for three hours and she was definitely on a roll. There was a local woman opposite K who had worked at the factory for (she assumed) maybe seventy years. She kept randomly screaming obscenities which K found a little strange but ignored. K had improved so much she had now been given TWO conveyor belts to manage. K was of course in a wild state of panic at this and oblivious to surroundings, when she was knocked to the floor. Startled, K looked up to see the old woman barging past her. K tried to brush it off, thinking she hadn't meant to knock in to her and also secretly wondering how an elderly person could have so much strength. Anyway K resumed the work, although shaken. When it happened again around seven minutes later, K stood her ground, she wasn't going to get bullied by a ninety year old. K knocked this woman back. Was K really going to get into a fight with a pensioner? Well no was the answer because K of course got fired the next day.
So here K was again, this time on a zucchini farm and guess who else worked there... N. K had picked zucc's before so she already felt like a pro when she entered the field. The supervisor was a very small man called Wayne. He had a rattish look about him and K and N suspected definite Small Mans Syndrome. He asked whether K had picked before and she said yes. So the day started and K was concerned that her knife was so blunt. K looked at N and the other workers already steaming ahead and decided it would be okay to just pull the fruit off instead of cutting it off. K proceeded to do this until Wayne came over to check her bucket.
W (looks in bucket) This is all shit...shit, shit, shit, shit. (tips bucket out on to floor) I thought you said you have picked before?
K: I have
W: Have you been twisting the fruit off?
K: No
W: I have been doing this for twenty years, I can tell that that is exactly what you have been doing
K: No
W: Have you really picked before
K Yes
W: Well all they taught you is how to twist. If you don't stop this right now, you will be out of here on the bus in five minutes and never coming back
K (fighting tears) Ok
K then cried for a little bit inside and got on with the task. On the break K confided in N what had happened and N was confused as to how the knife could be blunt. Three hours later when K accidentally used the other side of the knife, she realised that perhaps her brain had indeed turned to mush as she had been using the wrong side for six hours and the knife in fact cut like a dream. When the actual farmer pulled up in his tractor and proceeded to follow K down the row, supervising her closely, it dawned on K that she may well be fired for the second time in two weeks. K left the next day to avoid this terrible fate which would mean that K had then been fired from 4 jobs in her life, much to J and N's personal amusement.
