Just for You
There is a great deal to express but I cannot say it all...but livejournal , let me lament to thee.
I work in a warehouse. I come in at 2 pm and look around a dirty table near the freezers where I'll be pulling meat from for an hour or more. I say hi to the only coworker on my shift. I move a folding table and rubber mat to my area. I take a recycling bin and a trash can over too. I find the tape gun. A box cutter. Maybe some silver pouches that hold turkey, chicken and fish. Perhaps I make coffee, plug in my phone, take some garbage out, eat a banana, reheat some spaghetti or some other random thing before I get started. The real work begins when I take a stack of paper which contains orders for organic meat that is to be included in a box full of other organic foods which will be delivered to a persons home the next day... I take the paper and cut them in half because two orders fit on each sheet. This takes only a minute or two. I sort the stack of paper into the 9 to 13 different routes. I start with the largest routes first because I like to do the hardest part at the beginning. Divide the route into stacks of which freezer the specified meat is in, and if there are specific weights to be found (such as a whole chicken 4.05 lbs) ,put those on top because they are harder to find than a a pound of ground turkey. I take a big black plastic produce bin and walk into the freezer (after putting on my hoodie, coat and gloves of course). Sometimes I have to take a hammer and crack the ice off the floor. The humidity and heat creates condensation and the freezer fans drip. I go through the stack of paper and find the meat, and place it in the bin. After I've found all the meat, I find some ice packs, prepare some plastic bags, put on my headphones, take a piss, get some water or other beverage, stretch, and begin to wrap 150 to 250 meat products in paper, plastic and silver bags. I include an icepack and tape a label to each. It takes me about 3 - 5 hours. Which apparently is extremely fast. At times, I went fast to impress myself and others. But mostly I go fast because I just want to go home. I stand there staring at a butchers table full of stains that won't come out, dirty old pieces of tape and cuts, a blank white wall with useless notes that I don't read and the loud sound of freezer fans competing for my attention between unknown Motown songs by Eddie Holland. I spend an hour in a freezer that can be anywhere from 5 degrees to 30 , and then stand in my corner where it can reach 90. I've been doing this same routine for months. Ideas of being a delivery driver, becoming market 'specialist', a raise, more hours have all been misleading lies. Perhaps if I were paid more the job wouldn't burden my spirit, but it does. The perception of working for a company that delivers organic food would seem to warrant a more 'progressive' attitude to its employees but reality sets in that its only a couple dollars an hour better than walmart. And the big meeting that was all about getting our organic certification = "don't worry we aren't becoming corporate" was a small truth wrapped in a giant lie, hidden in plain view. I've tried hard, and worked hard and lasted longer than most in my position. I don't care anymore, its just a mindless routine and I would be so happy to find new work somewhere else but the state of things are treacherous for our generation.
Fortunately, I don't work full time. Perhaps if I did I'd have my own place but I'd still only be getting by. I can only stand it because I'm only there part time.
So much to say. If you would listen it would mean so much to me.
I work in a warehouse. I come in at 2 pm and look around a dirty table near the freezers where I'll be pulling meat from for an hour or more. I say hi to the only coworker on my shift. I move a folding table and rubber mat to my area. I take a recycling bin and a trash can over too. I find the tape gun. A box cutter. Maybe some silver pouches that hold turkey, chicken and fish. Perhaps I make coffee, plug in my phone, take some garbage out, eat a banana, reheat some spaghetti or some other random thing before I get started. The real work begins when I take a stack of paper which contains orders for organic meat that is to be included in a box full of other organic foods which will be delivered to a persons home the next day... I take the paper and cut them in half because two orders fit on each sheet. This takes only a minute or two. I sort the stack of paper into the 9 to 13 different routes. I start with the largest routes first because I like to do the hardest part at the beginning. Divide the route into stacks of which freezer the specified meat is in, and if there are specific weights to be found (such as a whole chicken 4.05 lbs) ,put those on top because they are harder to find than a a pound of ground turkey. I take a big black plastic produce bin and walk into the freezer (after putting on my hoodie, coat and gloves of course). Sometimes I have to take a hammer and crack the ice off the floor. The humidity and heat creates condensation and the freezer fans drip. I go through the stack of paper and find the meat, and place it in the bin. After I've found all the meat, I find some ice packs, prepare some plastic bags, put on my headphones, take a piss, get some water or other beverage, stretch, and begin to wrap 150 to 250 meat products in paper, plastic and silver bags. I include an icepack and tape a label to each. It takes me about 3 - 5 hours. Which apparently is extremely fast. At times, I went fast to impress myself and others. But mostly I go fast because I just want to go home. I stand there staring at a butchers table full of stains that won't come out, dirty old pieces of tape and cuts, a blank white wall with useless notes that I don't read and the loud sound of freezer fans competing for my attention between unknown Motown songs by Eddie Holland. I spend an hour in a freezer that can be anywhere from 5 degrees to 30 , and then stand in my corner where it can reach 90. I've been doing this same routine for months. Ideas of being a delivery driver, becoming market 'specialist', a raise, more hours have all been misleading lies. Perhaps if I were paid more the job wouldn't burden my spirit, but it does. The perception of working for a company that delivers organic food would seem to warrant a more 'progressive' attitude to its employees but reality sets in that its only a couple dollars an hour better than walmart. And the big meeting that was all about getting our organic certification = "don't worry we aren't becoming corporate" was a small truth wrapped in a giant lie, hidden in plain view. I've tried hard, and worked hard and lasted longer than most in my position. I don't care anymore, its just a mindless routine and I would be so happy to find new work somewhere else but the state of things are treacherous for our generation.
Fortunately, I don't work full time. Perhaps if I did I'd have my own place but I'd still only be getting by. I can only stand it because I'm only there part time.
So much to say. If you would listen it would mean so much to me.
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