Thanks for all the encouragement, guys....
WEEKS SIX, SEVEN AND EIGHT
After the low of Week Five, I must admit that it's been much more tolerable in recent times. During most of Week Six, I was called off packing boxes along with one other guy who was coincidentally called Mike, to put together a number of 'cages' for product. So, basically, it was a lot of DIY stuff, which I'm not great at, but which was much more enjoyable that what I was doing in Week Five! We seem to have done a good job of it, because it was commended.
Then, during Weeks Seven and Eight, I was asked to play the role of a 'water spider', which is a curious title for someone who is assigned to a particular line of packers, and has to ensure that they have all the right size boxes, tape, dunnage paper, etc in a timely basis. It was very tiring, but more satisfying than actually packing boxes, and was something I was actually good at for a change. But it's not something I can do for long...the lack of use of the mind is a bit stifling.
Then, on Wednesday night, we had a bizarre staff meeting...all the managers were dressed as witches and vampires, and seemed somewhat disappointed that none of the workers turned up in similar fancy dress.
Some may say that the attire was somewhat appropriate....
I'm upbeat, because after two months in the job, I'm entitled to four days' leave, which I have to take before mid-November, before the busy time starts, and then no one is allowed to take leave. I applied for, and got, four days next week, when I will hopefully be able to rest, and concentrate on finishing writing my dissertation for my History Masters at the Open University. Quite naturally, if I find Amazon and the Masters clashing and competing for my time, it's obvious which of the two I'm going to choose.
In the middle of Week Seven, I was applying safety tape to the floor of the warehouse, under instructions from a German manager from the European Head Office in Luxembourg, and I had a chat with him about how I feel the job doesn't quite fit my qualifications. He advised me to look up some Amazon jobs on the website, and apply for them. I did so, and even though the closing date is not until early December, I already received rejection emails!
I think that tells me what I've always known....Amazon has no use for a person of my skills. I've a feeling this will be my last month there. Already, a few of the friends I made are not there any more for one reason or another. One got a better job offer in another company (not hard to imagine!), another got a promotion to the job I'd applied for, another is getting married and didn't fancy coming back to this, and a couple more have moved to the graveyard shift. Now, the only person I feel I can have a decent conversation with at the dinner break is the other Mike, and one other guy I just started chatting to, a guy from Hyderbad named Shiv (good name!). Shiv is probably the guy in the warehouse with better educational qualifications than me - he recently graduated from Middlesex University with a Masters in computing, and is allowed under Home Office rules to work in Britain until 2014. However, the only job he could get is this one...says a lot, doesn't it?
There is a lot of tension in the warehouse, and sadly, it hurts me to say this, because I'm a strong advocate and supporter of immigrants working and filling needs in the economy. But there are a lot of employees from a certain Eastern European country in this warehouse, and a couple of them have made it to managers, and rightly so, because both are good at their jobs. But they seem to be abusing their positions by promoting their countrymen and women, quite a few of whom are less efficient workers than others in the factory, to more favoured positions. This practice is being muttered about by British-born workers, and even the normally quiet Asian workers are starting to grumble about it.
Both Shiv and I have resolved to leave by the end of the month. I would happily work in a Waitrose now, after this experience....
But my previous experience tends to be that supermarkets think I'm over-qualified, and won't stay - I got that response from the local Morrisons. Still, the search goes on....
Nobody has a stance quite like the mighty Shivnarine....
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