It’s bottling time again. The winery gets busy, so the winemaker hires some temporary workers for the week to help. Since using new bottling trucks there have been more workers, which allows me to work on other necessary tasks like running tests and packing up shipments, I also can keep myself busy with other things around the winery.
The first year working at the winery, the older bottling truck had some problems with the labels. They would slip, or miss the bottle and go onto the next bottle, so we would normally have someone sitting inside the truck to watch every bottle go through to make sure the label is straight. I was lucky enough to have that job. Several hours of watching bottles move around a conveyor belt is not only extremely boring, but it also messes with your head.
Bottling begins at 8 am. The winery allows the workers to take a break at 10 am, lunch at noon, another break at 3 pm and finish around 5 pm. The effects of starring at the bottles are not recognized until we stop for a break, and are increasing worse throughout the day:
Assuming I start the day ready to work…
1st Break: I stand up from the chair and feel a slight light-headedness, but not to bad. As I move around, I’m seemingly floating as I walk.
Lunch Break: I compare it to stepping off a treadmill; I may be standing in place, but the ground seems to still be moving. I’m having difficulty focusing on anything as my eyes continually want to wander to the right.
2nd Break: All of my senses are in hyper mode. The air smells stale and is making me slightly nauseous. Everything around me appears to be moving even though they are sitting still and making me dizzy. The machinery inside the bottling trucks is pounding and giving me a headache.
At this time I will help myself to a beer which surprisingly helps. I can’t say if it’s the beer that is helping, or less of a focus on the bottles spinning around and more focus on the next sip
End of day: I feel much better, and ecstatic that we’re finished…
…feelings of nausea, dizziness and headache rush over me when I realize we finished day 1.






