Well, let me tell you that the last week has been quite an ordeal. We left work, at Amazon, last Saturday evening at 9:00 p.m. and hit the road with our rig. Drove a few hours...stopped and slept. The temps plummeted the minute we left Kansas. The "warmest" temp we had was -17 (with the wind chill). Just to get diesel in the truck, Linda and I had to take turns, so only one would be out in the wind and cold for a couple minutes. It was horrible ! At one point, we heard on the local radio station that it was -25 with the wind chill. Although, it is a giant no-no, we had the furnace running to keep things from freezing. I had put a little RV antifreeze in each of the sink drains and the shower drain and some down the toilet for the black tank.
Coming across Ohio we ran into a snow squall. I reminded Linda that when driving a rig, like ours, if you start to fish tale you need to gas it not hit the brake as would be most people's tendency. It wasn't 10 minutes later but we came upon an area of black ice and the rig started to fish tale. Gotta tell you I thought we were done for....my heart was pounding and I grabbed the seat and door jamb as Linda tried to bring it under control. The cruise had been on so she tapped it to get the cruise off and then stepped on the gas and surely pulled it out of its attempt to jackknife us. Another mile down the road, we had the same thing happen and we were just crawling at this point...Ok, time to get off the road for a while. Luckily there was a rest stop about 2 miles ahead and we pulled off. Many truckers had the same idea as the rest area was filling up with rigs. After a nap and a chance to regain our composure we started out again and made it to Williamsport, PA around 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening. Then the real fun began....
Since we had run the furnace so much, on the way out, our RV batteries had become very depleted and couldn't keep everything going. Christmas eve our lights are going dim and the frig is reading "low DC". We pull the batteries out and take to local battery shop. There is a bad cell in one and other is just severely depleted. We buy a new battery for the rig and leave other one behind so he can charge. We had also discovered that our truck battery was dead due to being drained by the RV batteries....Things were not going well for us. The kind man, from the battery shop, came and jumped the truck for us and got that going. Then came the nightly ritual of starting truck to re-charge battery, then plugging in rig and trying to get everything back up to snuff. We ended up going out day after Christmas and bought a Honda EU2000i generator so we could continue to boon-dock here for another week. I'm able to type this post on the blog due to the generator running outside, giving us power. Merry Christmas to us....
Christmas day arrives and we go to my mom's for the day. On the way back, I get sick with the stomach bug that everyone at Amazon seemed to pass around. Day after Christmas it was Linda's turn. We are still weak as kittens and trying to rebound.Ho Ho Ho....can't wait for the new year. It surely must be better than the last 10 days have been.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
From Santa’s lips to your ears…… (so it's a little late)
(I wrote this entry on the way back from Kansas but never found enough time or wi-fi to be able to upload it so here it is as a post holiday note)
Sometime this week one of the Amazon employees said something to me that really made me stop and think. He made the comment that I was “playing Santa”, when I felt I was taking me an inordinately long period of time to find the correct title in one of the low bins. Playing Santa…yeah…cool…or as Linda said, at least being one of his elves for the last couple months…… Stuffing his sleigh with items for all the good little boys and girls.
OK, so based on the items I’ve been picking, there’s either a lot of “bad” kids out there or people just giving some quirky gifts. There was a lady on Dr. Phil the other day who takes great delight in buying weird gag gifts and giving them to her kids for Christmas to get a rise out of them. She would love some of these gifts. Last night I pulled a book that touted itself on the ultimate authority on farts….came complete with a little sound machine that must have simulated 9 or 10 different ones. I was so tempted to hit one of the buttons and ensure “that it worked properly” but had visions of it being really loud and of drawing a crowd to my aisle….Then there is the book on “How to shit in the Woods”….My favorite is the ever popular, “What’s your poo saying to you ? “ that I have picked many, many times. Frankly, if your poo is talking to you, you need to lay off the hard stuff. There is still the proverbial chunk of coal for the really bad kids…..but I’ve only pulled that once….these other titles far outnumber the old fashioned coal gift. Heard of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul” series….course you have. They have one for every profession or age group out there. Well, believe it or not there is another similar series ( a distant cousin to the first, I believe) that is called “Chicken Poop for the Soul”. Don’t know what enlightening and spiritual information this series has to share with its readers but you can get it at Amazon.
While we’re on the poop subject, a lot of the items I pull are “crap”. DVD’s of old movies that sucked when they first came out but are now touted as being “15th anniversary edition”…”Collector’s Edition”, etc. It was crap back then and unlike a good bottle of wine it didn’t get any better in 15 years. It’s still crap but people are spending money on them left and right. As my mom would say, “They have more money than brains.” What will be really depressing will be the news after Christmas of how much credit card debt increased over the holidays without people having the ability to pay for the items they bought. Crap bought with credit….a poor combination.
The other practical item for Christmas is underwear. I’ll tell you….I’ve seen more brands and styles of underwear and bras in the last three months than I’ve seen in my entire life. Some have really spiffy packaging, like Tommy Hilfiger, with zippered bags that they come in while others are in a little plastic bag. Some come on little hangars….never hung up my underwear in the closet so not sure what that is about. The thongs are always interesting…mens and womens….can fit a whole lot of them in a bin. Then some brands have catchy little slogans….like Ginches brand. Their slogan is “Wrap your inches in our Ginches”….catchy…some marketing person was sure on the ball with that one…Guess it sounded better than, “Nothing pinches like our Ginches…. But I noticed that on the little boy underwear, for this same company, that it didn’t have that slogan….just pictures of construction equipment. Hmmm……
That’s kind of a peripheral summary on some of the more interesting gifts us elves are packing in Santa’s sleigh. It’s up to you which list you wind up on…..
Sometime this week one of the Amazon employees said something to me that really made me stop and think. He made the comment that I was “playing Santa”, when I felt I was taking me an inordinately long period of time to find the correct title in one of the low bins. Playing Santa…yeah…cool…or as Linda said, at least being one of his elves for the last couple months…… Stuffing his sleigh with items for all the good little boys and girls.
OK, so based on the items I’ve been picking, there’s either a lot of “bad” kids out there or people just giving some quirky gifts. There was a lady on Dr. Phil the other day who takes great delight in buying weird gag gifts and giving them to her kids for Christmas to get a rise out of them. She would love some of these gifts. Last night I pulled a book that touted itself on the ultimate authority on farts….came complete with a little sound machine that must have simulated 9 or 10 different ones. I was so tempted to hit one of the buttons and ensure “that it worked properly” but had visions of it being really loud and of drawing a crowd to my aisle….Then there is the book on “How to shit in the Woods”….My favorite is the ever popular, “What’s your poo saying to you ? “ that I have picked many, many times. Frankly, if your poo is talking to you, you need to lay off the hard stuff. There is still the proverbial chunk of coal for the really bad kids…..but I’ve only pulled that once….these other titles far outnumber the old fashioned coal gift. Heard of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul” series….course you have. They have one for every profession or age group out there. Well, believe it or not there is another similar series ( a distant cousin to the first, I believe) that is called “Chicken Poop for the Soul”. Don’t know what enlightening and spiritual information this series has to share with its readers but you can get it at Amazon.
While we’re on the poop subject, a lot of the items I pull are “crap”. DVD’s of old movies that sucked when they first came out but are now touted as being “15th anniversary edition”…”Collector’s Edition”, etc. It was crap back then and unlike a good bottle of wine it didn’t get any better in 15 years. It’s still crap but people are spending money on them left and right. As my mom would say, “They have more money than brains.” What will be really depressing will be the news after Christmas of how much credit card debt increased over the holidays without people having the ability to pay for the items they bought. Crap bought with credit….a poor combination.
The other practical item for Christmas is underwear. I’ll tell you….I’ve seen more brands and styles of underwear and bras in the last three months than I’ve seen in my entire life. Some have really spiffy packaging, like Tommy Hilfiger, with zippered bags that they come in while others are in a little plastic bag. Some come on little hangars….never hung up my underwear in the closet so not sure what that is about. The thongs are always interesting…mens and womens….can fit a whole lot of them in a bin. Then some brands have catchy little slogans….like Ginches brand. Their slogan is “Wrap your inches in our Ginches”….catchy…some marketing person was sure on the ball with that one…Guess it sounded better than, “Nothing pinches like our Ginches…. But I noticed that on the little boy underwear, for this same company, that it didn’t have that slogan….just pictures of construction equipment. Hmmm……
That’s kind of a peripheral summary on some of the more interesting gifts us elves are packing in Santa’s sleigh. It’s up to you which list you wind up on…..
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The sun has set on our Coffeyville experience....
We are packing up the rig and sending off last minute e-mails before we hook up and go to work. We are taking the rig with us to work and then once we finish up (around 9 p.m.) we will hit the road. We are excited and have been chomping at the bit for the last couple of days to get movin' again. We are exhausted and our bodies are beat up. We are better for the experience (I think)and met many wonderful people here that we hope to stay in touch with and meet up with as our paths cross "down the road".
We are heading back to PA, on the heels of a nasty winter storm which has dumped quite a bit of snow on the area where we are headed. Hoping that the roads ahead of us are cleared as we get there. Gonna take our time to allow for that to happen. Not sure when we will have internet access but will post a note as soon as I'm able to let you all know we arrived safe and sound.
hi everyone...this is the other linda...guess who beat me out of "picker of november" by 20 units? yes you're right...it was my other half :-) glad she got the honor with her name and picture on the wall for everyone to see...it is the only perk you get for busting your butt, but we showed the regulars what can be done when you are dedicated to do your best at what ever job you are doing. very proud of my woman. i'm sure her body will be thankful that tonight we only have to work a couple of hours and then we are done here for our contract.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Let's Recap.....
Spent Sunday to Wednesday afternoon at Excel factory in Smith Center getting our rig worked on. Arrived back in Coffeyville around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night. Worked Thursday - last night (Monday). Still on 11 hour shifts....our backlog is over 200,000 due to 2 other fulfillment centers being snowed in and them shifting the orders to our center. We are trying to get as many hours in this week as they will allow before we leave here. Took today off since it is our day off anyway and we are exhausted. We are working off water in our holding tank and have everything disconnected due to bitter temps the last couple of days. Have had sub zero wind chills and last night we got freezing rain and little bit of snow. Thew wind was horrible for several days...20-30 m.p.h sustained with gusts over 40. We was a rockin' in the wind....let me tell ya. We are fortunate that everything is working on our rig. Most others we've overheard at work are frozen up and using gallon jugs of stored water. Not fun for them....No wind today which is a blessing...I can see ice on the truck windshield outside....supposed to warm up significantly by end of week. On Saturday (the day we hope to leave), calling for temps in the low 50's. We are anxious to head out but not looking forward to what weather we might have back in PA....
A recent e-mail I received......
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company
(Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.
Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before
the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided
to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.
A management team made up of senior management was formed
to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing
and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people
STEERING and 2 people rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order; American
management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of
money for a second opinion.
The consultants advised, of course, that too many people were
steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but
wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's
management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area
steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent
steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that
would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work
harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with
meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting
new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices
and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the
competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting
programs and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by TWO miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid-off one
rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved
was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated
rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles) so he was
laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold
and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .
Sadly, the End.
Here's something else to think about: Ford has
spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming
they can't make money paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more
than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in PROFITS, while Ford racked up
9 billion in losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads
(and collecting bonuses)
and want the U.S. Government to 'bail them out'
What AUTO be done with them?
In reading a recent RV newsletter I see where a congressman from Indiana has or is thinking of asking Congress for money to help bail out RV manufacturers. As those of us in this lifestyle know many manufacturers have closed their doors due to the state of the economy but give me a break....where does it end ? How many businesses should we bail out ? This is the normal state of survival economics and the strongest of businesses will survive if they have their "financial houses" in order. I think it has gotten really ridiculous with everyone wanting a handout. On a recent news program there was a financial guy on there that said, "What's the big deal if the big 3 fail ?" The company would be broken up into 10 smaller companies. It may create innovation and move us in the right direction instead of the backward thinking that the big 3 have been using for the past 20 years. Seems like Washington has a "money tree" at their disposal cause everyone keeps stepping up to get their share.
(Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.
Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before
the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided
to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.
A management team made up of senior management was formed
to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing
and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people
STEERING and 2 people rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order; American
management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of
money for a second opinion.
The consultants advised, of course, that too many people were
steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but
wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's
management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area
steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent
steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that
would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work
harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with
meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting
new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices
and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the
competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting
programs and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by TWO miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid-off one
rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved
was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated
rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles) so he was
laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold
and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .
Sadly, the End.
Here's something else to think about: Ford has
spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming
they can't make money paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more
than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in PROFITS, while Ford racked up
9 billion in losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads
(and collecting bonuses)
and want the U.S. Government to 'bail them out'
What AUTO be done with them?
In reading a recent RV newsletter I see where a congressman from Indiana has or is thinking of asking Congress for money to help bail out RV manufacturers. As those of us in this lifestyle know many manufacturers have closed their doors due to the state of the economy but give me a break....where does it end ? How many businesses should we bail out ? This is the normal state of survival economics and the strongest of businesses will survive if they have their "financial houses" in order. I think it has gotten really ridiculous with everyone wanting a handout. On a recent news program there was a financial guy on there that said, "What's the big deal if the big 3 fail ?" The company would be broken up into 10 smaller companies. It may create innovation and move us in the right direction instead of the backward thinking that the big 3 have been using for the past 20 years. Seems like Washington has a "money tree" at their disposal cause everyone keeps stepping up to get their share.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Delays....
Funny how the best plans get screwed up when you're not expecting it. We are still in Smith Center, waiting for our rig to get finished. Luckily one of the service men found a problem with our bedroom slideout that they are now dealing with. Seems that the caulking was bad around the base of the slideout and the floor is rotten. To fix it they have to remove the whole slide out and replace the floor. A two day job.....so now we will miss two days of work, stay in an area motel (at Excel's expense)and wait for it to get done. Luckily it was caught while the rig is still under warranty. We also had them check the grey water tank to see why it was dripping the last time it was full. Seems there is a crack in the area where the waste line comes out of it. They are gluing the crack to see if that will fix it. If that doesn't work, then they will have to replace the tank and Lord knows how much longer we'll be here. Are we having fun yet ??
Monday, December 8, 2008
Currently in Smith Center...
We are currently in Smith Center, Kansas getting warranty work done on our rig. Saturday, before leaving for work we got the rig ready, hitched up and then rode in to work with friends of ours. Once we finished our 11 hour shift we got in and headed out for here. It took us 7.25 hours to get here so arrived at 12;15 p.m.....got unhooked, settled in...had some lunch and then took a two hour nap (which was way too short). We were afraid we wouldn't be able to sleep the night if we slept too long so we got up and came into the lounge to hang out for a while and use the internet (which didn't end up working).
Met a nice couple that were watching the Sunday night football game...Jerry and Ann. Had a great time talking with them. We're going to go see a movie tonight with them here in town. "The Express" is playing here in town....the story of Ernie Davis..first black winner of Heismann trophy and who is from Elmira, NY..back home. The local high school, in Elmira is named after him. Neat how we are half way across the country and will get to see a film, we've been wanting to see, about a guy from back home.
Work on the rig needs to be done by end of day tomorrow as we need to back to work Wednesday. Are hoping to start back tomorrow night and arrive Wed morning so we have time to rest and relax before going in for work. This week will be the busiest of the whole time...they expect to ship 1.5 million units from our facility this week. Just two weeks to go....yippee !!
Met a nice couple that were watching the Sunday night football game...Jerry and Ann. Had a great time talking with them. We're going to go see a movie tonight with them here in town. "The Express" is playing here in town....the story of Ernie Davis..first black winner of Heismann trophy and who is from Elmira, NY..back home. The local high school, in Elmira is named after him. Neat how we are half way across the country and will get to see a film, we've been wanting to see, about a guy from back home.
Work on the rig needs to be done by end of day tomorrow as we need to back to work Wednesday. Are hoping to start back tomorrow night and arrive Wed morning so we have time to rest and relax before going in for work. This week will be the busiest of the whole time...they expect to ship 1.5 million units from our facility this week. Just two weeks to go....yippee !!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
A grand 'ole time....
We had three days off this week...the first to have all of our days off in quite some time. As it turns out, when we got to work on Wednesday, several of the regular Amazon workers said they got a call to come in on Tuesday due to the volume of work. We didn't get called and surely would have come in for some additional overtime.
Instead on Tuesday we decided to find the closest Barnes and Noble and have a "reading" day. Found that the closest one was in Tulsa so late in the afternoon we headed there. Filled up with diesel on the way for $2.29 gal (saw gas for $1.43). Been a while since we could fill up for under a $100 and it was very nice. Hung out at the Barnes and Noble for a few hours and got home around 8 or so.
Last Saturday (our last day of work before our days off) had seen a spike in the number of Christmas orders coming in. When we had our stand-up meeting they told us that for the first time Amazon had broken the 200,000 order mark and did it with flying colors. They had always had that "glass ceiling" of hoping to get to that number of orders but had never experienced it until now. Last week they had said that at one point (on Friday or Saturday) orders numbered 9000 per 5 minutes on the internet...WOW !
Last night, shortly after we started picking, I could hear music...loud music coming from the floor below (keep in mind we are up on a 3rd tier platform where Linda and I work). Since I wasn't near the railing, I couldn't see where it came from but it really sounded like a marching band....hmmm....I closed out the tote I was working on and went over to the other side where I could see the floor below and sure enough there was a high school marching band parading through the plant, playing Christmas songs. It was very cool ! You never know what Amazon has up there sleeves....how neat to make arrangements with the area high school to have them come in and play for us. It was a little pick-me-up to get the night off to a good start. I've read where, at some point, there will also be a caterer that will come in and have dinner for us some night. Although there were alot of orders last night, there were a ton of pickers...89 at our second stand-up. At one point, in the night, I was picking in an aisle with two other pickers....too crowded and it really spreads out the work and makes for a lot of running (again). Tonight may not be so bad, although many of them will be putting their overtime night in tonight. Wednesday is always the overlap night for the two shifts, which makes it unusually busy. By Friday and Saturday, it should be back to just our crew and it will be much better. When we finish up Sunday morning, we will be taking the rig up to Peterson Industries to get the last of our warranty work done on the rig. Will be about a 7 hours drive to get there. We'll spend our days off up there, getting the rig worked on and be back in time to go to work Wednesday afternoon. We are on 11 hour shifts "until further notice" AND we have to pick to work one of our days off each week. That won't be possible this next week since we already had this appt for almost two months to get the rig worked on.
The wind has finally died down here. Has been blowing hard for the last four days....gusting over 30 m.p.h. and rocking the rig. We realized last night that several other workampers have left. Not sure why but seems the number of us remaining is dwindling. We are here for the duration.....
Instead on Tuesday we decided to find the closest Barnes and Noble and have a "reading" day. Found that the closest one was in Tulsa so late in the afternoon we headed there. Filled up with diesel on the way for $2.29 gal (saw gas for $1.43). Been a while since we could fill up for under a $100 and it was very nice. Hung out at the Barnes and Noble for a few hours and got home around 8 or so.
Last Saturday (our last day of work before our days off) had seen a spike in the number of Christmas orders coming in. When we had our stand-up meeting they told us that for the first time Amazon had broken the 200,000 order mark and did it with flying colors. They had always had that "glass ceiling" of hoping to get to that number of orders but had never experienced it until now. Last week they had said that at one point (on Friday or Saturday) orders numbered 9000 per 5 minutes on the internet...WOW !
Last night, shortly after we started picking, I could hear music...loud music coming from the floor below (keep in mind we are up on a 3rd tier platform where Linda and I work). Since I wasn't near the railing, I couldn't see where it came from but it really sounded like a marching band....hmmm....I closed out the tote I was working on and went over to the other side where I could see the floor below and sure enough there was a high school marching band parading through the plant, playing Christmas songs. It was very cool ! You never know what Amazon has up there sleeves....how neat to make arrangements with the area high school to have them come in and play for us. It was a little pick-me-up to get the night off to a good start. I've read where, at some point, there will also be a caterer that will come in and have dinner for us some night. Although there were alot of orders last night, there were a ton of pickers...89 at our second stand-up. At one point, in the night, I was picking in an aisle with two other pickers....too crowded and it really spreads out the work and makes for a lot of running (again). Tonight may not be so bad, although many of them will be putting their overtime night in tonight. Wednesday is always the overlap night for the two shifts, which makes it unusually busy. By Friday and Saturday, it should be back to just our crew and it will be much better. When we finish up Sunday morning, we will be taking the rig up to Peterson Industries to get the last of our warranty work done on the rig. Will be about a 7 hours drive to get there. We'll spend our days off up there, getting the rig worked on and be back in time to go to work Wednesday afternoon. We are on 11 hour shifts "until further notice" AND we have to pick to work one of our days off each week. That won't be possible this next week since we already had this appt for almost two months to get the rig worked on.
The wind has finally died down here. Has been blowing hard for the last four days....gusting over 30 m.p.h. and rocking the rig. We realized last night that several other workampers have left. Not sure why but seems the number of us remaining is dwindling. We are here for the duration.....
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