Friday, December 25, 2015

Our 4 month expedition down the Amazon has finally ended

How do I sum up our experience for the last 4 months. I had already started a blog entry on this subject but decided not to use it. It was filled with everything I hated about the whole situation. What was wrong and what needed to be changed. It was quite lengthy.  But after a couple of days thought I decided to scrap that one for the following reasons.

When we started this, in orientation they told us quite frankly that they did not want our suggestions. They did not want to hear how things could be improved(and let me tell you there is a lot of room for improvement). All they wanted from us was to be a warm body to fulfill orders. Nothing more. Quite often you would hear them on the radio saying that they need some bodies in this department or that department. We weren't people, just bodies.

So on that note, I will say this. Could I recommend this to others? Honestly I couldn't. But if you do go there and haven't been there before you will be worked very hard.

Will we go back there? I don't want to at this point, but we may. You never know. But now we know what to expect.

So if you see me sitting around a campfire. Give me a couple of beers and I will fill you with so many stories about that adventure, it will make your head spin. You will laugh a lot and you will shake your head in disbelief a lot.

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are looking forward to getting on the road again. To see what is out there to explore.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Just finished an awful day at the Amazon

It was awful, but not for reasons you might think. The reasons that I am talking about are more from a personal aspect. Reasons that I will share as a public service so that someone else in the future may benefit from it. My explanation may be a bit explicit for some. Just a warning.

When we went to work here in August, it was very hot in the warehouse. So much so that I was chaffing in areas not meant to chaff in. So my son tells me about a type of underpants that professional athletes wear. They are sold at Amazon and are expensive(remember that for future reference). The brand is called SAXX and they have a built in pouch to support some very important things. So my wife buys me a pair and I decided to wear them this morning. Nothing wrong with that.

So after a couple of hours into our shift I run into Lisa and tell her how uncomfortable these underpants where. I was just sick of them. A couple of hours later I am in the bathroom in a sitting position and I make a discovery. I discovered three things.
1. They must have the air conditioning on for one thing.
2. My underpants are inside out.
and 3. They are on backwards.

REALLY!!!!!  OMG!!!! I wasn't drinking or coming home from a bender or anything like that.

"So what did you do?"  Well I did what any married man would do. I blamed my wife for putting them in my drawer like that. Duh!

"Did you go into the bathroom and fix them?"

No! With my luck Security would walk in with my pants off and say "Why are you naked?" and the only answer I would be able to come up with would be "Just waiting for the next customer?" Plus they sell those here and that would be hard to explain. So I suffered through the entire day. Walking around with what felt like a giant wedgie and the total lack of support for certain things. So when I discuss the importance of well fitting underpants with my wife and mother-in-law, who both by the way don't want to talk about it for reasons I can't get into right now, I can give them today as an example.

In conclusion I can only think of two explanations for why this might happen. First getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning just doesn't work for me and this life style. And two, this job is so mind numbing that I don't know how to dress any more.

I hope this helps others.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Hell week by the numbers

We did it! Hell week is in the bag so to speak. Hell week is our term for this week, not our employers. We work for the largest on-line retailer so hell week starts with black Friday. It then goes through a long holiday weekend and through cyber Monday. So with out further adeau.

Steps-?
Miles-?
Calories-?

Apparently both of our step counters said "To hell with this" and committed suicide the same week. Cheap Wal-mart crap. Should have shopped Amazon I guess.

What I do know is that we worked 55 hours starting Friday. I know, crazy. But now I remember why we quit the working world. It sucks. Black Friday is history along with Cyber Monday. It was more hype than anything. It seemed like any other day to us, and the only perk we got out of it was that we each received a 5 dollar Kroger card(Kroger is the local grocery store) for working 11 hours on a day we already planned to work. Cha-ching!

22 days and a wake up!

This reminds me of a saying from one of my all time favorite movies. That is "The Outlaw Josey Wales". Starring one of my all time hero's, Clint Eastwood. That saying is this-

"Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining" How fitting.

Guys are probably remembering that now and girls are like "what???" Because it really isn't a chick flick although Clint was in "The Bridges of Madison County".

Oh, and some more numbers. We have 24 hours off till we go back again and there are 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.