Where To Next?

We have our next stop all arranged. We'll be working at the KOA in Statesville, NC. Click here to go to their website.

It might have been nice to go to Florida or someplace further south, but this year we are going to NC. Jobs in Florida are hard to come by, especially since we are not available until about January 1.

Another consideration is the cost. Remember, we aren't retirees or vacationers, we're working and trying to pay bills. Even with lower gas prices (I saw $2.50/gal the other day) it still costs us about 50 cents per mile to travel. Since we plan to be in DC in April, the cost of traveling from here to Florida and back to DC would have been nearly the same as the benefit of having a free site for three months.

Anyway, we are excited about the job in NC. The job is for our site only, but we only have to work 6 to 8:30 am every day. And only one of us has to be on duty then. This seems like a good deal for us, though we won't be earning any additional cash. It's possible there will be more work available, but right now that's our deal.

Plus, we're much closer to our friends in Ohio and on the East Coast...in case anyone wants to visit. hint...hint

Thankful for Some Rest

We were scheduled to work the Wednesday night/Thanksgiving morning shift. Voluntary overtime was available for Black Friday.

After we got to work in Wednesday night, Chris started not feeling well. At lunch time he decided he needed to leave. I didn't argue or try to figure out a way to finish my shift. We weren't really sure what the procedure was since neither of us had ever left a job mid-shift due to illness (at Amazon or anywhere). We found someone higher up the food chain and explained the situation. She said, "No problem. Just clock out."

No need to exaggerate his symptoms. No one questioning why he was sick the day before a holiday.

It was great. I guess this is one of the perks of not having a job with any responsibility...if you're not there, it doesn't really matter.

We got home around 11:30 pm. I thought I'd stay up the rest of the night like we usually do on our days/nights off. Instead, we both went to sleep around 2 am and slept through until 5 pm the next day. I did get up to take Dooley out at some point. We are especially thankful for his iron-clad bladder.

Basically we slept through Thanksgiving. Then we woke up and stayed up most of the night and had another long day of sleep.

Apparently two overweight middle-aged people cannot work 50+hours per week at a physically demanding job for 4 weeks without taking a tiny bit of time to catch up on their sleep.

We are both feeling much better and plan to be well rested for the last three full weeks of work at Amazon.

Raffles and Appreciation

It's peak season at Amazon. You may have heard....Cyber Monday is just a few hours away.

Amazon has several different things happening to motivate workers to show up, work hard, and put in extra time. Most of these are in the form of raffles. A couple times per week there will be a "power hour" where there is some goal for us to reach as a team and if we do, we all get a raffle ticket.

Chris and I got our first tickets and eagerly went to peruse our options.

A 50" TV---where would we put it? I know...your house.
Playstation---nope
Airline and hotel vouchers----maybe, but we live on the road.
Kindle---all set there.
Camera----doesn't everyone just take pictures w/their phone?
KitchenAide Stand Mixer---we barely have room for a couple whisks.
Bose Sounds system---got one. 

Which leads to (by default) the one item that we are attempting to win

Beats Headphones By Dr. Dre 


So far, I think our tickets are the only ones in the box.

Which leads to a nice story about raffle tickets and appreciation.

A very nice man named Greg is our manager. I'm not sure of his official title, but he seems to be pretty high up the food chain. He's in his early-mid 30s and a very nice guy. We both enjoy talking to him, though we know he's very busy.

The other night, Greg sought us each out while we were stowing and gave us each another raffle ticket to show his appreciation for our hard work and good attitudes.

Totally made my day (night). Chris too. It's not so much about the raffle ticket (though we now have four in for the Beats...) but the fact that he acknowledged our efforts.

P.S. We are far from the best stowers, but we might be the most fun.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

We have much for which we are thankful, particularly our friends who follow along (and cheer us on) as we continue our adventure.

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving.

Life Without TV

I'll admit that when I realized we wouldn't have cable during our stay in Tennessee, I imagined Chris staring at the TV screen, gently rocking back and forth, weeping quietly.

Turns out, he's done much better than that and I'm proud of him.

To be honest, I think that not having a TV has helped us because when we are home, we are mostly sleeping. If we had cable, we'd spend time watching when we should be sleeping.

We do get one channel: ION. It has some of the worst cop shows ever, but after a few episodes, you become numb to it all and it's not so bad.

There's also the RedBox which he visits a couple times every weekend.

Fortunately, the wifi is good enough that we can stream online videos through Youtube and Amazon Prime, so he's been able to keep up with The Blacklist. We've also been watching the Sopranos on Prime. Still a great show all these years later.

Confession: once we finish up here, my dream would be to move to a nice campground a bit further south and spend about a week just sitting in front of the TV.

Maybe Chris isn't the only one with a problem.

Time Clock

I've never had a job where I punched a time clock. I might have written my time down on some time cards at a restaurant or two back in high school, but being governed by the time clock is new to me.

At Amazon, there are specific rules about when you can and can't clock in. Everyone stands around and waits until exactly 4:30 am to clock out. One day Chris walked to the front of the line and clocked out at 4:28, figuring it was no big deal.

Turns out those people waiting in line weren't just creatures of habit. They knew the rules. I think Chris got docked for an hour or two of work for clocking out early. We haven't checked our paystubs, but I got paid about $20 more than he did that week.

At the end of the workday, a couple hundred people pile out of the innards of the warehouse and punch the time clock before heading home. I've become one of them and each time I'm in the line of people leaving the mods, it reminds me of this: 

Yabba Dabba Do!

Lean Mean Stowing Machine

I'll admit I was apprehensive about the physical demands of this job. Years ago, I walked several half marathons and was in pretty good shape. But...that was years ago.

The description of the job of stower is that you will walk 2-4 miles per shift, plus going up and down stairs, bending, lifting and squatting. But, I was also optimistic. This could be just the thing to help me get into shape. Plus, I heard of someone who lost 40 lbs while working at Amazon. I was psyched. In fact, it reminded me of this classic scene from one of my favorite movies.

(Watching this made me sad to realize that both John Candy and Harold Ramis have passed away.)

Three full weeks of work in, how is the weight loss going?

First, when paring down our possessions, the scale didn't make the cut. Darn. So, no actual numbers to share.

But, I have noticed the following:

• My thighs are rock hard. 
• My butt isn't rock hard, but it's improving. 
• My jacket that used to be too snug around the hips when zipped, fits nicely now. 
• When I go to the third floor, my calves are complaining before I finish the two flights of stairs, but my heart isn't pounding. 
• It's possible that I am developing some arm muscles. Not enough to make up for the flappy part at the bottom, but an improvement.

I don't mind the walking at all. In fact, the worst part is when I have to walk slowly (looking for bin space) or standing still. That's when my feet and legs start to ache.

I'm excited to see how buff (haha) I get before we leave in a few weeks.