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We turned off the radio in the pilot plant and I got permission to bring in my iPod dock to play something and  I offered music or a book on tape and the group selected the latter having the further options of:

1) A 45-part history of the United States that can put a cup of coffee to sleep
2) An 8-hour book on an alternate theory of how the universe can have infinitely increasing entropy in both directions on the axis of time

The history of the US won out.  I don’t think I’d be so angry if I weren’t already 1/2 way through it so now I get to hear the riveting tale of why the Zwingli church never caught on in the US all over again!

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Since I returned to work I’ve been obstinate in my right to have autonomy of sound.  I turn off radios, wear headphones where allowed, or just start singing or humming if there’s a machine generating a constant pitch but the Process Development Lab’s strict “No Headphones” policy coupled with its multi-room radio system has proven a challenge.  The multi-ton extrusion and industrial press machines both generate respectable Ds so I usually hum tunes with my monotone partner but today I ran into another technician and found him wearing headphones:

Me: I didn’t think you were allowed to wear headphones.
Him: We’re not, but no one’s ever directly told me and I’ve never been caught.
Me: How long have you been doing this?
Him: Since July.
Me: What’s your secret?
Him: Use white earbuds, they blend in with the lab coats and when wearing a hear net, thread the earbud near the back of your neck and then around to your ear.

Sadly his boss came back from a meeting early and he was discovered.  He lost the battle, but we shall win the war.