(Look what happens when it rains and rains and rains...)
We are back in the saddle again. I think Steve and I both wondered if we’d be able to or not at first. The general job came right back to us, but the computer commands and some of the handy tricks of the trade we’d learned, didn’t. We didn’t get a refresher course either like we’d thought. They put us on the computer for a couple of hours in order to set our scanners up and do some “paperwork” but after that we were put out on the floor to start picking. After a week, we were feeling better about things. We are both happy with our bays (in general). Steve is at a cut tape bay which he is comfortable with and I am in bulk which I don’t mind. My bay mate is a bit odd. She’s another Express Pro employee who was in our training class last July. She stayed here through the winter. She’s just different…I’ve gotten frustrated with her several times. She brags about how her integrity and desire to do the right thing at work, but yet she tends to neglect certain jobs. I’m not sure if she does it intentionally or if she’s just clueless, but she may drive me crazy. Express Pro asked returnees if they’d be willing to be buddies to people coming out of training. Steve and I agreed, so week 2 and week 3, we have been mentors to trainees. It’s been alright but due to questions and trying to help them, we aren’t able to get the number of picks that we need to get. They watch our numbers and expect us to do a certain amount of picks a day. We asked to have a break, so next week, we will not have buddies. They are supposed to be bringing in a lot of workampers in the next month, so I expect us to be mentors several more times in our 3 month stint.
It has been a rainy, windy and cool Spring. We weren’t sure what Spring would be like here. I think I’d take it over the high temperatures they’ve been having in Amarillo and Phoenix! One of these days, I hope to get my lawn chair out and sit outside some.
Steve thinks he’s figured out the problem with the slide and the leak. I couldn’t explain what he’s going to have to do if I tried. He tried to find a mobile repairman that could do the work, but there’s only one and he didn’t feel comfortable with the job…wasn’t in his skill set, I guess. So, that means Steve gets to do it by himself. He has to buy some “tools” to do the job and then he’ll get to it. Hopefully he’ll get it done before the rain stops or we won’t be able to check to see if he found the problem. We sure would like to get this problem checked off the to-do list.
It’s been weird working Sunday through Thursday, but we like working Sundays. It’s super chill on Sundays. There’s not many working and we basically just wander around looking for labels to fulfill. Last Sunday, we pretty much ran out of work and they told us we could leave early but we didn’t. We are here to make money! We never found a church here last year that fits our beliefs, therefore, we’ve been doing online church with our church in Amarillo. So, we still have church on Sundays before we go to work at 1:30.
We much prefer living in town. It’s so nice being able to run to Walmart without it being an event, especially since diesel prices here are over $5 (thanks Joe). Also we can make it to work in a couple of minutes, so we don’t have to leave as early as we did when we were parked at St. Hilaire. I do miss the peace and quiet of the city park but we are better off here. Last night, our neighbors had a party until around midnight. We are going to call the owners today and talk to them about it. Quiet time is late here but it’s still 11pm. They are young kids that live next door…not sure how many live there or what their situation is but with our schedules, we can’t afford to deal with late night parties. The other problem is they don’t have a camp host or even an after-hour phone number to reach out to in situations like this; so last night the only thing we could do was call the police and we chose not to do that. Hopefully management will take care of the situation and we won’t have to deal with it anymore.
