Deli Slicers

It took me until I got home to notice that I have four new cuts on my hands today. The way my hands feel at the end of a shift is the more rewarding than anything else. I don't have any real caluses yet but my tolerance for handling hot things has increased slightly.

The deli slicer is a vicious machine, in case that wasn't already obvious to you. In essence its a large round razor blade that spins really fast. To clean it one has to remove the shielding from the blade and the sliding, food holding part. The removable parts can be cleaned separately in the dishwasher but the base and blade have to be thoroughly wiped down with a rag. This task requires intense focus in much the same way as that game where you put your hand on a table and stab the gaps between your fingers with a knife. Except if your lose at cleaning the deli slicer you need even more stitches. Today while I was cleaning it after slicing 30 pounds or so of corned beef, the tip of my fingernail grazed the motionless blade ever so slightly and it went straight through like it was nothing. A few millimeters farther and it would have gone straight through my finger. I know the loss of that shard of fingernail is very unimpressive but it could just as easily been any other part of my hand. Shut up, it was scary to me. 3 of the people working with me have gotten cuts requiring stitches, and that's 100% of the people I was talking about it with. It seems like everyone has grizzly stories about the things.