Work And Real Life

Hang in there, there will be something other than w*rk, along with pictures, a few paragraphs later.

Okay, so how are things going?  We hate to be that boring couple that can’t talk about anything but w*rk, however, we have several people who have asked us to let them know about the Amazon.com CamperForce experience (CamperForce what Amazon calls us workampers).  Currently there are about 1200 CamperForce employees spread over three Facilities (one in Kansas, one in Kentucky, and one in Nevada).  Amazon is looking to expand the program to as many as 15,000 CamperForce employees over the next several years.

The w*rk is tedious but not exactly difficult, however, you will definitely find some muscles that you forgot you had.  The killer maybe the long hours as we’ve yet to w*rk a ten hour shift.  Both Judy and I feel that it is a lot easier than the w*rk we did for Regis a couple of years back simply because of the Fulfillment Center’s organization.

Basically, Amazon.com is a well run company.  They have put many of the same initiatives in place that I was implementing in the manufacturing plants which I oversaw in my past life.  It’s nice to see a facility this size operate so efficiently.  Now, keep in mind that the general workforce doesn’t always see the big picture and tends to grumble about having to follow all these ridiculous “petty rules”.  But it’s those “petty rules” that makes sure the product flows in and out of the plant quickly without lots of quality issues.

Judy and I are w*rking in the Inventory Control and Quality Assurance department.  We use a Rubbermaid cart, a folding step stool (just like the ones you get at Camping World), and a scanner to validate the inventory in the bins.  The bins range from the floor to just above eye level (the reason for the stool) – that means lots of bending, stretching, and reaching which is the physical part of this job. 

The scanner tells us what bin to count, we enter the count, and the computer validates it.  If it matches, we move on to the next assigned bin.  If it doesn’t match, we have to recount the bin and re-enter the count.  If it still doesn’t match then it is flagged as a problem bin that will be assigned to someone else to resolve the issue and adjust the inventory as necessary.  There’s a whole lot more to the process than we’ve outlined here, but we have signed a confidentially agreement and don’t want to cross that line.

Right now, we would have to say that this is a good way to make a few extra bucks.  It’s not hard, but it’s not easy.  The real difficult part, for the “outbound” departments, will be the mandated overtime once the peak season begins (right after Black Friday).  Depending on the workload (that being incoming orders) it could result in up to 60 hours per week for them.  The “Inbound” departments will be on voluntary overtime during that time.  The verdict is still out as to whether or not we’ll return next year, but so far so good.  We’ll know for sure by December 23rd.

Now, as promised, here’s something non-w*rk related.  One day this past week, Miss Judy and I decided to figure out why the Green River is a lake.  Believe me it doesn’t take a rocket scientist here; it’s called a dam.  The Corps of Engineers (Gummint Beavers) gathered up lots of sticks and dammed up a section of the river which forced the water to flood the nearby low lands thereby creating Green River Lake.  We’re not sure why it’s called Green River as the water is pretty much blue, but we’ll leave that for someone else to figure out.

So anyhow, we took a drive down river to the Corps of Engineers dam site and visitor’s center.  As you can see, we had to drive across the top of the dam to get to the visitor’s center.

Why did the people go over the dam?  To see it from the other side of the lake/river.

Speaking of the other side, here’s the spillway on the backside of the dam.

And, yes, you can see that the Green River Lake is in fact blue.

This is the old Atkinson homestead that is located on the visitor’s center grounds.  It was tooooo cold and windy for us to walk down and investigate so we just snapped this picture and made a bee line to the truck.

And, on our way home, we passed by this old run down house.  Our sister-in-law, Shauna, loves old houses so we snapped this picture just for her.

There’s a Civil War Battlefield nearby as well as Lincoln’s birthplace.  We hope to visit both of those in the coming weeks.  So, hang in thar.  There is more to life than w*rk after all!!!!

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - - - - -