Now that I don't have any homework, I don't have to wait until Sundays to blog. But I might still end up blogging on Sunday (plus other days) simply because I'm used to it.
Today I started my first day of actually working at my job (yesterday I filled out forms, etc.). There are a lot of new people, but a lot of people I worked with before, including my fellow coworkers who were hired with me as the temporary crew. The job is pretty much the same.
We get a pick ticket and go down a line with a conveyor belt, and select the appropriate quantity of items from a shelf, put it in a box, and send it to be taped and shipped. When I started last year, we did it all manually and initialed on our ticket when we finished it. Then they introduced "pick to voice," which involves wearing a headset that tells us where to go and how much to put in.
Last year we could only do one box at a time with this system (even though we could do multiple boxes when we did it manually). Now we can do multiple boxes, which is something I'm not used to. Sometimes the headset is nice because it counts for me. For example, today I had to count 500 vinyl covers for the Missionary Handbook. These were annoying to count and stuck together. It was nice because it said "Pick 500." I could count only three, say "three ready," and it would say "pick 497," and so on. It was very nice because I didn't have to remember how much I counted, and I didn't have to count all over again if I forgot.
But it can also be a little annoying. For example, a few times I had several boxes asking for multiple copies of The Friend. You know, the magazine that has President Obama on the August cover. It told me to count out the total number of magazines, and once I had them all counted, it had me put them in each box. That's like counting twice. The pick ticket was useful for that. I probably think the old-fashioned, all-human way is faster, but I could be wrong. It will just take me some time to get used to multiple boxes on voice. (I have no problem with it on my own.)
What's especially weird is the time of year. Last year I worked from the week before Halloween until Christmas Eve. As the radio plays, a lot of the songs are ones that I first heard, or else first became really aware of, at work (e.g. Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" or Taio Cruz's "Dynamite"). I have found that music is one thing that really transports me back in time. So I hear those songs and I think of November (my first week they mostly listened to country and after Thanksgiving they mostly listened to Christmas music). But I look outside and the trees are fully clothed, I have to have the AC on driving home, and I know there will be no pumpkin pie ice cream in the freezer when I get home.
I hate August. It's always hot and there's never anything going on except for Back to School, and what's fun about that? I think the sole good thing about August is that it's close to September. That, and I can eat popsicles.
September has traditionally been my favorite month. Fall and cooler temperatures start, it starts the series of holidays that don't end until the New Year, and, of course, my birthday. So I always think that once it's September, everything will be OK. But I'm always disappointed. September 1 comes, but the leaves are still green, it's still 90 degrees, and it's still a little early to start thinking about Halloween. I've decided I like November better because there's nothing to the month that disappoints.
But September is still ten times the month August wants to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment