Maybe I need a music thingy, too

It's surprisingly quiet working in the warehouse.  Of course there are fans and belts and loudspeaker announcements and cardboard cartons hitting the floor, but the people are pretty quiet overall. I'm used to hearing the hum of voices talking to customers on the phone.

Mostly the people are quiet because they are listening to music players. Ameranth has one too, and she sometimes takes her laptop with us to upload new selections to her player on the drive in. I don't have one ( and wouldn't know how to work one if I did) so now that I have gotten used to the work, my mind is free to wander a bit, tap dancing away from reality and singing my own happy songs. (Not aloud)

Today I kept running in to the same lady as we turned in work and got new assignments, then we chatted a bit during stretch break. We picked stock in the same row once and as she was leaving, I stopped myself from saying "See you on the flip-flop" realizing in time that she was nowhere near my age and would probably not recognize the quote from "Convoy" .  Then I amused myself awhile picturing us all in a line with  a hopper convoy crashing through stacks of empty cardboard boxes. 

The assignments have 12 items on a page and a full one has 10 pages. We fold them in 3 strips of 4 sticky labels and peel off the matching label for each item as we pull it out of a carton. I knelt on the floor and started pulling shirts out two at a time, labeled and threw them in my cart. Turning the page over, I realized that I had more and more of the same shirt, and as it dawned on me that I was going to empty that carton, I found myself saying " You're going in the cart, you're going in the cart and you are all going in the cart!!" in an Oprah voice in my head. Simple mind, simple amusements.

My job coach (this year's term for seasonal leadership) asked me how I was liking the 5AM start time. I paused long enough to make sure I replied politely and said it wouldn't have been my first choice. Later he asked me what time I went to bed and laughed when I said 6:30, 7:00.  When I found out he lives 7 minutes away, I remarked that he didn't have to get up at 3 to get here on time. No, he said, I get up at 3 to run with my dogs. Yikes!  I work with crazy people! Maybe it's a good thing they have earbuds and don't talk.

Worky McWorky

I thought I would tell you a bit about my seasonal job but Google failed me in the quest for an image of the carts we use in the warehouse. There are dozens of them lining the main aisle when we come in at 5 AM, but they soon disappear in the stacks only to come back to be emptied down conveyor belts. (They don't do this on their own- if they did, there would be no use for such as I to be hired!)

Ameranth and I are up to a full 8 hour day now in our work-hardening process. Thank goodness they have the progression they do, I think most of us would have quit the first day if we started off at 8! My feet are not complaining as much and I hope my back shuts up pretty soon too.

Getting back to the carts, I am forced to draw one myself, which I did in a hurry and not in hopes of praise for my abilities, as you can see.

(I did take some artistic license in that I really don't move fast enough to leave little dust whirls behind me. And I don't smile that much.) 

But the cart does have that nifty little ladder that you use to get to the 4th and 5th shelves. When you step on it, it goes down a few inches and little rubber feet hold everything still. When it's full you line it up with the conveyor belt and release a latch and shove the whole top part out over the chute. There is no bottom in the moving part so the items drop out- unless the belt isn't moving then you have to leave the cart there to empty on it's own and find another one to start all over again.

This is me with a full hopper, and overflow on the bottom shelf and pushing empty cartons in front of me down the aisle. (I really don't get that annoyed though, at least not since I mastered the art of turning a corner with the boxes)

I find the whole warehouse operation to be fascinating. Who thought this stuff up? The belts circling the building, bringing items to be packed; the other belts taking cardboard boxes to be recycled; and the location system. There is no fixed place for each item- the stacks are numbered and when a carton is placed on a shelf and scanned the computer knows where it is and creates assignments. We get a list of locations and the item that is supposed to be there. They are listed sequentially so you could find all of your 120 items within a single 35 foot row, with someone in front of or behind you. Or there could be no one in sight until you climb up to the 3rd little step and you see someone else popping their head up too, 2 aisles over. It's like being a prairie dog. 

Twice a day we have stretch breaks where we all meet in the center and do group stretches. (Not like Twister, but all at the same time) All these people come out of the aisles, stretch, then melt away again in every direction. It gives me a little "Children of the Corn" feeling.

It's after 4 now and I only have two hours left to shower, eat and go to bed, so this educational post is now done.I must say though that I am enjoying this experience so far- I've never worked in a warehouse environment before and the time does pass quickly when you are busy, busy and moving all day.

B*tch slap from Mother Nature

I guess the biting of my thumb yesterday may have been a mistake. The flurries continued all afternoon, but this morning the sun was out and it is relatively mild again. However, don't think Mother Nature is backing down-no, she is just making it so the arctic blast we get tonight is that much more painful. Is it too late to say I'm sorry?

But weather aside, today has been a good day. First and foremost, it's Ms. M's birthday!  Hooray for a daughter who is smart, polite, funny, lovely and chose a great guy to marry. (Not denigrating any of my other kids- it's not your birthday- be quiet).

She sent pictures today of the new fence they just had installed. She is so happy that they can just let their dog out now, and I think Mabel is happy too.

Next, I was able find exactly what I wanted for Ms.M's present, so that was very nice, after the disappointment of my first shopping trip. In the course of my search, I also found a great buy on a snowman kit. It's a nice wooden box, with all you need to build a snowman except the snow. Felt hat and scarf, and wooden carrot, buttons, and pipe. For 17 cents each. Yes, that's right!  J had seen similar kits and though they were great, but we would never have paid full price.  Now, I wish I had gotten more than 3 of them. I was lucky to get that many, since one shopper was filling a cart with them.

 I also dropped off a job application, and filled one out online, which I thought was pretty good, until I came to the second part. I had to take a test, one of those that test your common sense and honesty and social skills, with "strongly agree or disagree", "slightly agree or disagree" and the middle one I love "I'm not sure". 

So everyone knows how to answer those questions, right, and I was scooting right along until I got to the honesty ones. I think anyone who knows me would say I am pretty darn honest, but my problem is that I start thinking too much about the answers.  Do they want me to strongly agree that there is never a good reason to lie? Really, never? I did agree, but then comes "It's all right to tell an occasional white lie" Well, yes it is, if it's "your hair looks good", when it doesn't, so much. 

Telling the truth is just so much easier in the long run. You don't forget what you've told people, or who you've told what to, and the truth always comes around to bite you in the ass anyway. Don't lie, just shut up.

So, I probably messed up the test by thinking too much, although I do think I did okay on the 'best choice/worst choice' of actions to be taken in hypothetical situations. Unless "ask the manager" isn't the right pick all the time. Ha! 

Good thing I'm not going for a manager's job.

It was meant to be

I think I've been pretty good with not complaining (excessively) about going back to work..for a couple of months...part time. So, maybe I didn't have that much to gripe about, after all.

Anyway, Thursday is my last day, and I am down to 5 hour shifts. Before I had finished signing on to all of my systems yesterday, I had a call transferred to me, saying Dr. So and So had specifically asked for me. (I'll just say that we love it when a customer asks for another rep by name, so we have a legal right to transfer that live wire).

The name rang a bell, and not a happy holiday chime either. The good Dr gets on and says do you remember me?  I had a jacket, yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, indeed I do. Let me just check my notes- FROM LAST APRIL! 

When I retired last year, I had just two files open, and I felt so bad about handing them off, that I couldn't bring myself to dump them and asked my boss to choose who inherited them. Yes, this was one.  Not that he was rude, or nasty, but he was asking for something to be replaced and had no paperwork, receipts, dates, anything that a "reasonable" person would expect a company to ask for.

I checked the computer and indeed, the last updates was that we had not heard back from him with a receipt or date of store visit.  April 30, 2009, that was.  And when was the return made, you ask?  March 2008. Or April or May. 2008.

He nicely reminds me it has been quite a while since he had heard from me, I reminded him that we were waiting to hear from him with a date and/or receipt, and oh by the way, I had retired last April, was just back helping out over Christmas, and this was my last week.

"It was meant to be! You know I've been working on my karma, volunteering and donating, and now look at this! What great timing!"

Apparently, I should have been working on my karma. 

So, he got what he wanted.

Tonight's the night

Last day o' work. At least for the near future. :)

The sun is out, no twinges in my jaw, I raked a garden and made brownies today, and I feel happy, oh so happy.

We've temporarily caught up with the workload, so everyone's shifts in my department were cut by two hours, mostly one at the start and the end of each day. Mine was cut from the beginning, so I was to work from 7-11 tonight! I don't think so,thank you very much. My leader agreed, so she changed it to 5-9. Much better.

On occasion, I have written poems for work, to make us all laugh and I will post my retirement medley here- Oh how I wish I could sing.

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go , I’ll see my honey,
And if I stay, I’ll earn more money.
So come on and let me know,
Should I stay or should I go?


Take down those orders, do it fast,
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
If you don't please that caller more
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)


You work 16 years and whaddaya get??
An offer to leave and pay off some debt.
Saint Peter don'tcha call me 'Cause I’m
working no more- but I can still go
to the Company Store!

Taxman

I just got my state taxes in under the wire tonight- clicked 'file' at midnight. Although I wouldn't have been penalized, since the Maine I-file was so bogged down today. Their server couldn't keep up, so a notice was posted that tomorrow would be acceptable.

I tried as soon as I got home from work and presto, it worked! And this year we get a little refund, instead of having to pay, so that's good too.

Speaking of work- one more night to go! 5-9 tomorrow, then back Friday night for an hour to officially say goodbye. I will miss the people- some I've worked with for 13 years or more.

And, I've stopped taking the pills for my trigeminal neuralgia, or tic douloureux, as my Dr prefers to call it. We shall see if it is in remission- I certainly hope so!