A day in the life of the Regulatory Department

My days at work are so much fun.

I'm considered one of the meanest people in the plant....because I have to be the bad guy 9 times out of 10.

I work for a food flavoring and extract company.

All those ingredients on packages you can't pronounce?

I work with them.

Every day.

Seriously.

My day typically starts at 4:30am.  Get up, let the dogs out, bring the dogs in, feed them, make coffee, pack lunch, make morning smoothie (if that is my breakfast of choice for the day) or oatmeal, and head out the door.

Get to work.

If it's Monday, Wednesday or Friday, suit up and go out to production.  Those are my internal audit days.  Some are good, where all the production employees are following all SOP's and cGMP's and such.....others are really, really crappy.  It can take me anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours do do this audit, depending on my findings.

Go back to office and bang head on desk....depending on findings.

Eat breakfast.

Check email.  Check material quarantine report to see what vendors I have to yell at.  Or, if I have to yell at the purchasing manager.  Or QC.

Type up audit and submit to management.

Make sure I have my corrective actions for said audits so I can complete my verifications and validations.

Currently I am 3 weeks behind.

Because some members of management are incapable of managing.  And can't complete corrective actions because they have so many of them.

Then do preventive actions......**management scratches head and give me blank stair**.....what's a preventive action?  **more banging head on desk**

Check email again.

Today we had a surprise DOT audit.  We are HIGHLY regulated by the government.  You put any 3 letters of the alphabet together, we are regulated by them....FDA...DEA....FAA....DOT.....USDA....etc, etc, etc.  They can come in at any time and audit us.  We also have Kosher, Halal and Organic audits - and yes, we are certified in all 3.

So, we spent 3 hours in this audit.  Short.  Sweet.  To the point.  No issues.

All my minions answered all the questions beautifully.

It was fabulous.  I am so proud.

It shows I can do my job.....and SOME of them actually listen.

Finally had lunch at 1. 

Make sure to scan documentation from vendors....insurance certs from vendors.....input any customer complaints....start investigations on complaints......make sure my boss knows his schedule and send out weekly meeting reminders for the meeting Thursday.  Check to see if production is working this weekend....because I haven't done a random audit on the weekend in a while and that is usually when they ignore SOP's and GMP's.  Walk through the labs and make sure everyone is on their P's and Q's.  Check email again.  Hang GMP audit results on the bulletin board.  Put out fires with customer service/receiving/shipping/new regulations.  Check for recalls from suppliers.  Check NIOSH on new items. 

I do love my job.

I work for a FANTASTIC company....and the people here are great.

It's just frustrating.

And more like 24 hrs a day, rather than 5 days a week.

I take calls on my cell up to 10pm....due to international times.

But, I can't let that hinder my journey :)

and I won't.

I'm an emotional eater.

But not when it comes to work, thank goodness.

That's only about 1/2 my day.

Hip Hop tonight...they are starting a power class tonight, but not sure if I'll stay.  May just go do the weight machines on the floor.  We'll see how I feel.