I’m on the customers side here… I don’t want to be out and around in public any more than I have to be so if I can order more of what I want online instead of dealing with traffic and people then I’ll wait a few days for it to be delivered. Though I kinda wish more of what I get from Amazon got shipped through the post office so I could intercept it earlier, and because the Amazon drivers take so friggin long to arrive at my place 
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After an office heavy week last week/yesterday I’m working from home today and running this in the background because no-one can tell me off for it.
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I swear, the postal maintenance guys in our district are about as apathetic as they come… The tilt lift motor and pump finally came in after some 5-6 months and the supervisor put the work order in to have them install it (because I wouldn’t get paid for it if I installed it)… Took this guy some 3 hours to remove the old one and install the new one (as well as talking on the phone half that time) only to find out he didn’t bring any hydraulic fluid for the new pump 
I found a half quart in our supply locker and he dumps half of that on the floor trying to pour it in the pump! It only lifted up about half way and then he had to leave for another job so I had to go to the local auto parts store to get another quart that I wound up having to pour in to get the lift to tilt close to full tilt capability but still not 100% as I had to go myself so I’ll try to finish it up on Thursday.
I swear, if you want something done right, just do it yourself! 
Hmmm…a Process Assistant job just came across my inbox today at work. Sort of like an Assistant Manager, or maybe a Senior NCO. Logical next step up for me, and I’m well prepared.
Weird thing, though. It’s an OTR logistics position, but for some reason the emphasis seems to be doing vehicle inspections and ride-alongs with the contracted drivers.
Well, I was able to truthfully say, in addition to all of my other experience with the company, that I don’t have any restrictions on my driver’s license and have only received two moving violations in over thirty years of driving, in any and all states of the union. No, I cannot be DOT certified for a number of years because of reasons…but…hey…I don’t have to volunteer that information.
Yeah, that dog might hunt.
Sounds like kind of a crap job, but I’m 47 years old, and over 5.5 years in on The Company. I’m not going noplace, to be honest, and the Big Bosses and the Smaller Bosses know damn well what I’ve been doing year in, year out. I don’t have to peddle my wares within The Company because my reputation and reference precedes me.
Likely won’t pan out, but it would be an interesting little peccadillo of an excursion. Actually sounds boring as sin, but I will do my share of exciting daily formal reports and…have the power! (Not so much the money…I’m capped out on the hourly step plan, and this is still an hourly gig, maybe an extra buck).
Oh…but I don’t think I can “date” Tier 1 Associates without disclosing it to HR if they “promote” me…hmmmm…oh well.
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Well now THAT’s just a darn shame right there 
Maybe. I think I can manage to behave ethically in that regard. I don’t think there’s an absolute prohibition (actually, I should know, because of how many times I’ve watched the onboarding videos with new hires that go over that stuff, but I don’t pay attention to those!!)…I may be a pervert (according to some puritanical definitions), but I ain’t no creep!
And certainly no Dabney Coleman in Nine to Five!
So, I got that going for me, which is nice.
/* oh, update: my boss’s boss, who used to be my former boss, whom I’ve known for several years and is one of my biggest boosters, gave me the heads up today that at this other site they need both RTS and Dispatch Process Assistants as well. He knows about my DUII, and probably deduced that I might not be chosen for that particular role.
However, I’ve actually done the PA’s job on Dispatch, and can certainly run RTS (Return-To-Station, meaning van driver’s returning empty bags or undelivered package) as a PA.
So, now I just need to get those mocrabs to make the only correct decision in hiring they likely will ever have made in their miserable, insignificant lives!
Meaning just click a few boxes online and submit a version of my resumé that omits any references to driving…namely, my original one, which kicks hinder. */
Work has been unmitigated chaos for the last 2 months…mostly good news, as our largest client has expanded and we’re getting more work from them…but we’re getting more work. It’s been all hands to the pump, and we just had a new hire come into my team AND everyone’s getting in their vacations before the holiday period and yeah…it’s been a lot.
And they resealed the concrete in front of the building and now our whole office STINKS to high heaven and I have a headache. WOO.
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Back at work and of course the clerks were complaining that the hydraulic tilt lift won’t go up all the way…
I know that! You can thank district maintenance for doing a half @$$ job installing it and not bringing hydraulic fluid… I was off yesterday and was not coming in on my day off, so I finished it this morning and it’s now lifting 100% instead of halfway.
You’re welcome 
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Coworker is being extra bossy this morning, enough so that I had to tell her to back off! My lower back has been bothering me all week and I’m working through the pain. I had to change 3 bulbs on the workroom floor so i had to push this manual sky jack lift around to get to each one. While I’m doing that, my coworker comes into my office and starts rearranging stuff… I have supplies that the carriers can use for cleaning their trucks and they supposedly tell her that my shop cart is in the way and that it can’t be in here. Ok first off, nobody has said anything to me about this and 2nd, I want in my office so i can rest my back and not listen to her nagging or false excuses about why my cart is in the way!!
2 hours into the day and I’m already at my limit with her!
Then I had to take her to the post office across town to get a mail truck. On the way back she’s driving 35mph in a 45mph zone… I asked her why she was driving so slow and she says I’m not speeding! Ok, but the speed limit was 45 and you were driving 35… I’M NOT GONNA SPEED TO GET BACK!! She responds… I turn around and walk off
Eh, this new crew that overlaps with mine…called “Sort 0,” starts at about ten minutes before 2100.
This new “don’t have to wear class 2 safety vests inside” is freaking me out! Like, if I don’t have my glasses on when doing something inside, I can’t tell who’s a person or not.
I guess it’s kind of cute as of the past few days when I come inside and help reset the station for the big sort, of course I have on the vest (required when within 10’ of moving vehicles, and I think also required for people who train n00bs), there’s always one or two timid souls who come up to me while I’m moving something and ask for help.
Yes, I know how to do their job, even though I’m not technically current according to the paperwork, and, of course, I whip out my device and see what the problem is.
WTF? Why is Sort 0 being shortchanged on their own Process Assistants and Learning Ambassadors and even Area Managers? We’ve had to carry their donkeys a number of times.
Back in my day, when you went to stow, you “virtually opened” your own darned bags on your assigned aisles!
Something ain’t right when they’re making our RTS manager cover for their … “absent”? … manager, and apparently they don’t even have any learning ambassadors of their own, so I get behind doing my own team’s stuff. Apparently “wears vest” and “looks like knows what they’re doing” is good enough to be the person to ask.
Which I’m happy to do, but often it’s just down to, “Well, that’s just how it does, this device! Just put it there, it’s fine. Trust me, I is expert.”
Careful, that will get you hauled into HR.
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Oh, I’ve been there. And I’ll probably be there any number of times in the future.
Perhaps my having left my headlamp with a red LED on when walking indoors might have contributed to my having been noticed as a person to ask random sh…tuff about. Should probably reconsider that fashion move.
Y’all how come no one’s found a way to make training videos AT ALL interesting? This thing could cure insomnia! Best part is the actual task I’m being trained for (web archiving) is actually really interesting to me and I bet I’ll enjoy the work, but I literally can’t look at the training for more than 30 seconds before my mind trails off
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I’m convinced that training films are not really for training. They are actually a form of hazing for new people.
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I was thinking they’re all made by a cabal of energy vampires and designed for them to feed on new and unsuspecting employees
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Exactly who made this training!
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Getting ready to leave at 12 and it’s been nonstop since 6am…
Taking another mail truck to the post office across town, working on another mail truck because the heater core hose ruptured and that’s now fixed, and of course the coworker wanted to get as much done as possible since I won’t be back until Friday…
My back is still not feeling much better, maybe I’m getting used to the pain…
More like What’s Not Going On at Work right now. My workplace is closed for three days surrounding Turkey Day, which means I’ve had a full day off already and am Ready to Go Back Now Please. I won’t be able to go back in until we open back up Saturday, and I know I’ll be busy with the Turkey Day marathon until then, but after spending several hours in a climbing gym almost every day, sitting still is hard. I can’t randomly start climbing the walls at home when I’m bored.
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Jessica the Hispanica (I hope that doesn’t offend…it’s meant affectionately) actually shared a good half hour wherein she shewed (not a typo…I just like that spelling!) me some of what she knows about scrubbing* parcels and doing some detective work.
For those of you following the ongoing saga, yes, she is married, and, no, I am not pursuing her in anyway except as a competent coworker from whom I can learn certain skills.
Good lord, I can hardly understand her English with her accent, but we communicate fine, even though I speak about zero Spanish. My (mediocre) Italian and my limited curse words in Spanish get the job done, as well as pointing and nodding.
But that was a pleasure to be able to learn more nuance about how we can turn around parcels and get them out PDQ.
The situation was we were only waiting on a few straggler drivers returning to station and we wanted to repack damaged packages and possibly send them out that same day (which would be Friday, since no Delivery Station is open tomorrow), and expedite returns so they get out of the way. Also, find loose items that may have fallen out of parcels, &c.
So, she taught me how to debrief drivers three months ago, and while I know Problem Solve/repack, she taught me again. Very smart woman.
And, dig this, The Company bought a full on catered T-Day supper for our crew of…what, five or six of our small team! I’m talking, full on, sausages, light, dark meat, rolls, sides, you name it.
I’m still full, and I only reloaded my plate once. Granted, they were full plates, but we work hard, some of us. That’s probably forty bucks of food per person.
I take back some of those things I said about my boss’s bosses. Ha. No, I don’t, but that’s a strategic move to employee retention.
[* “Scrubbing” parcels does not mean cleaning them physically — damaged parcels and such either get repacked or dumped into Hazmat for disposal, while also updating their status virtually.
It’s removing the previous virtual states of the parcels with either a laptop or a smaller device. And, when possible, going an extra step and updating current parcel status. If it can go out in the next dispatch, or even a flex dispatch even earlier, it does.]
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