Weekend Wrap-up
Dear blog,
This was another rather unremarkable weekend, catagorized by a lot of napping on the couch and watching football (more on that in the sports blog, of course).
Friday night was supposed to be the "graduation" celebration at UPS for me and the coworkers who had also made seniority since the last such celebration, but because 10 of the 14 workers who were supposed to be so honored didn't show up for work on Friday, the celebration was pushed back (nothing too special about the celebration, just freee pizza and an extra 15 minutes of break time). So, I still have it to look forward to, I suppose.
As usual, Kait and I went down to the Cape on Saturday morning, meeting our parents and Duncan - the folks' dog - there for the weekend. They won't be up next weekend - they are going to Florida to visit friends. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing that weekend.
That's really all I have to report. I think I'll spend the rest of the entry telling you about my coworkers. On any given night, somehwere between 6-8 people will be manning the sort aisle, not including John (the supervisor), Matt, or Keith (the trainers). People move around, even from night to night, but on a typical night the people on the sort aisle will be me, Andy, Adams A & B (the A and B don't stand for anything - I don't know either's last name), Bobby, Fred, and Jen.
If Jen stands out to you on that list, you can imagine how she stands out on the aisle. I'd guess her height to be around 5'2" or 5'3", but I might think that she is shorter than she actually is because of her company on the aisle. She is blond, always smiling, and perhaps the most aromatically pleasing person I have ever met. When you're up to your knees in packages and your unloader has the labels facing every which way and you'd really like to kill yourself, nothing makes you feel better than someone floating by with a smile on her face and leaving a floral aroma in her wake. She is the only girl on sort in the entire shift (there are 4 aisles), and I'm glad she's with us. She and Fred are the only people from that list who have been on the aisle for more than two months - the rest of us have been brought into the aisle in recent weeks to reduce the friction between the sorters and unloaders that was apparently getting in the way of production on the aisle.
I've mentioned Fred before. He is in his early-middle-age, and he is by far the best sorter on the aisle (every night he is there they set him to sort Chris - the fastest unloader; it's rumored that Chris is able to unload at his superhuman speed because he shows up to work high on cocaine; almost nobody can keep up with him - nobody except for Fred, that is). If you're not careful, you can find yourself just watching him, awestruck, as he goes about his business. Why he is sorting packages at his age is beyond me - it seems to me he should at least be a driver at this point - but I don't pry, mostly because my level of self-absorbtion is so high that I'm really quite disinterested. Hey, I'm not proud of it - that's just the way I am.
If Jen is the perpetual ray of sunshine, then Adam A is the perpetual storm cloud. Adam got to the aisle not long before I did - he still hadn't made seniority when I arrived, and working there while most of the combatants were still on the aisle seems to have tainted his view of the unloaders. In addition to that, he has two personality traits which make him quite unpleasant; first, he is a classic one-upper - you know the type, whatever story or gripe you have, they always have something that happened to them that was just a little bit cooler, or better, or worse, or more painful, and they're happy to let you know exactly what it was in such a manner that makes it clear they aren't sure why you told your story at all; and secondly, he makes it his business to be the most pissed off person on the aisle at all times. However, Adam is an intelligent enough guy who can be good for some decent conversation provided you catch him in one of his rare happier moments.
Andy I have mentioned numerous times. He came to UPS the same time I did - we did the training class together, then ran through the certification tests that all the sorter's have to pass at the same breakneck pace. Specifically, it took us all of two days. For comparison, Bobby, who arrived a week after us, only passed cert last week, and Adam B, who arrived with Bobby, still hasn't passed. And that isn't a bad reflection on them. Anyway, as the only two sorters from our training class, Andy and I became fast friends - especially since, as I mentioned, I don't really have other friends up here yet. Recently, though, Andy had a near-death experience in his automobile due to the lack of sleep he was getting in his ridiculous schedule, and so he has cut back to working 3 nights a week. Honestly, I don't think that's enough, but I'm his friend, not his mom.
Adam B and Bobby, like I mentioned, have been at UPS a week less than have Andy and I, which means they make seniority this week. Bobby is a smaller kid - he can't be older than 18. When he first got to the aisle he had to stack the larger boxes that were destined for the belts above his head next to him until he could get help getting them up. But no more (you'd be amazed how quickly you get into shape working at UPS...I've already lost enough weight that I have problems keeping my jeans up). Adam B is probably my next closest friend at work; he's not quite as sharp as Andy but he is an agreeable guy with strong opinions but will respect anything you say.
Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better batch of co-workers. My interactions with my fellow sorters have always been pleasant - even Adam A has never directed a harsh word at me, or anyone else on sort - and we watch out for each other, without having to be told to do so by the supervisors. They are the reason that a job which on its merits is barely tolerable is, in fact, very decent and sometimes even, on rare occasions, a little bit fun.
This was another rather unremarkable weekend, catagorized by a lot of napping on the couch and watching football (more on that in the sports blog, of course).
Friday night was supposed to be the "graduation" celebration at UPS for me and the coworkers who had also made seniority since the last such celebration, but because 10 of the 14 workers who were supposed to be so honored didn't show up for work on Friday, the celebration was pushed back (nothing too special about the celebration, just freee pizza and an extra 15 minutes of break time). So, I still have it to look forward to, I suppose.
As usual, Kait and I went down to the Cape on Saturday morning, meeting our parents and Duncan - the folks' dog - there for the weekend. They won't be up next weekend - they are going to Florida to visit friends. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing that weekend.
That's really all I have to report. I think I'll spend the rest of the entry telling you about my coworkers. On any given night, somehwere between 6-8 people will be manning the sort aisle, not including John (the supervisor), Matt, or Keith (the trainers). People move around, even from night to night, but on a typical night the people on the sort aisle will be me, Andy, Adams A & B (the A and B don't stand for anything - I don't know either's last name), Bobby, Fred, and Jen.
If Jen stands out to you on that list, you can imagine how she stands out on the aisle. I'd guess her height to be around 5'2" or 5'3", but I might think that she is shorter than she actually is because of her company on the aisle. She is blond, always smiling, and perhaps the most aromatically pleasing person I have ever met. When you're up to your knees in packages and your unloader has the labels facing every which way and you'd really like to kill yourself, nothing makes you feel better than someone floating by with a smile on her face and leaving a floral aroma in her wake. She is the only girl on sort in the entire shift (there are 4 aisles), and I'm glad she's with us. She and Fred are the only people from that list who have been on the aisle for more than two months - the rest of us have been brought into the aisle in recent weeks to reduce the friction between the sorters and unloaders that was apparently getting in the way of production on the aisle.
I've mentioned Fred before. He is in his early-middle-age, and he is by far the best sorter on the aisle (every night he is there they set him to sort Chris - the fastest unloader; it's rumored that Chris is able to unload at his superhuman speed because he shows up to work high on cocaine; almost nobody can keep up with him - nobody except for Fred, that is). If you're not careful, you can find yourself just watching him, awestruck, as he goes about his business. Why he is sorting packages at his age is beyond me - it seems to me he should at least be a driver at this point - but I don't pry, mostly because my level of self-absorbtion is so high that I'm really quite disinterested. Hey, I'm not proud of it - that's just the way I am.
If Jen is the perpetual ray of sunshine, then Adam A is the perpetual storm cloud. Adam got to the aisle not long before I did - he still hadn't made seniority when I arrived, and working there while most of the combatants were still on the aisle seems to have tainted his view of the unloaders. In addition to that, he has two personality traits which make him quite unpleasant; first, he is a classic one-upper - you know the type, whatever story or gripe you have, they always have something that happened to them that was just a little bit cooler, or better, or worse, or more painful, and they're happy to let you know exactly what it was in such a manner that makes it clear they aren't sure why you told your story at all; and secondly, he makes it his business to be the most pissed off person on the aisle at all times. However, Adam is an intelligent enough guy who can be good for some decent conversation provided you catch him in one of his rare happier moments.
Andy I have mentioned numerous times. He came to UPS the same time I did - we did the training class together, then ran through the certification tests that all the sorter's have to pass at the same breakneck pace. Specifically, it took us all of two days. For comparison, Bobby, who arrived a week after us, only passed cert last week, and Adam B, who arrived with Bobby, still hasn't passed. And that isn't a bad reflection on them. Anyway, as the only two sorters from our training class, Andy and I became fast friends - especially since, as I mentioned, I don't really have other friends up here yet. Recently, though, Andy had a near-death experience in his automobile due to the lack of sleep he was getting in his ridiculous schedule, and so he has cut back to working 3 nights a week. Honestly, I don't think that's enough, but I'm his friend, not his mom.
Adam B and Bobby, like I mentioned, have been at UPS a week less than have Andy and I, which means they make seniority this week. Bobby is a smaller kid - he can't be older than 18. When he first got to the aisle he had to stack the larger boxes that were destined for the belts above his head next to him until he could get help getting them up. But no more (you'd be amazed how quickly you get into shape working at UPS...I've already lost enough weight that I have problems keeping my jeans up). Adam B is probably my next closest friend at work; he's not quite as sharp as Andy but he is an agreeable guy with strong opinions but will respect anything you say.
Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better batch of co-workers. My interactions with my fellow sorters have always been pleasant - even Adam A has never directed a harsh word at me, or anyone else on sort - and we watch out for each other, without having to be told to do so by the supervisors. They are the reason that a job which on its merits is barely tolerable is, in fact, very decent and sometimes even, on rare occasions, a little bit fun.
posted by k - L - g | 12:28 AM
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