Phone call to mum and working OT as Aviation Tech

Just called my mum after dinner (I have mash potatoes, bacon and egg FYI). I miss my family so I decided to call mum today after many many days of no calling home at all due to work and sleep commitment.

Well the thing about my mum is she always have so much to talk about over the phone. She outnumbered me in words by 100 to 1. I was only going, "uh, hmm, ok, yah, don't worry, mmm, ok mum, call you again some other day, take care". Go ahead and add in 3 mins of my mum nagging, complaining, concern and home reports. Today talk is something to do with my family back home. Somehow, she was so into her talking that I have hardly any chance to cut in and offer my advise and assurance at all. Now I understand, women just wanna "let it out" so they can feel better and probably they don't need any advise or help else my mum will just pause and ask me for a solution. To be honest, my mind was wondering off on the latest news around the world on CNN.com and my hand were busy click the mouse. To recall what she said earlier is like reading a torn page now...

Well, what to do...shes my mum and if it make her happy that I listen to her for 15mins stretch or more, I guess as a filial son, its best to lend a ear if not my fullest attention.

SHOULD Aviation Technician work long hour shift? I got my answer today from someone in my base. As a Aviation Technician, our work/job implicate safety and thus lives. If we have to work in fatigue, half asleep and half the attention given, we are putting lives at risk and eventually our own career at risk. I make the realization today that I should be assertive and call for time out when we stretch our work beyond 12 hours like last Friday. Luckily nothing happen but we won't be lucky all the time.

We are not office worker who could afford to make a mistake on paper and simply use correction fluid to erase to rewrite. We are not any hawker who could cook a fantastic plate of Chay Kwey Teow today but forgot to put See Ham tomorrow at the annoyance of the customer. We are Aviation Technician, where every bolts and nuts, screw and fastener, though small but have serious implication when not properly fasten or torque. So please, don't stretch us longer than we could take... it just ain't worth getting the job done fast today and getting a crash tomorrow. AND OF COURSE!!! NO WORK ON WEEKENDS PLEASE!!!! This is USA not China...