I'm BAAAAAAaaaack!

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but I've been extremely busy and extremely tired every day these last two weeks. I do have some great news to report, so I thought I'd better get some sort of post out there before you all think I've kicked the proverbial can!

As of my last post, I was recounting how the VP of Operations had tried to set the record straight about all the terminations that had occurred and that I felt quite relieved that my job was not in jeopardy. If I recall correctly, that post was on Wednesday, October 10. A quick hop to the Friday of that week and that is where I'll start this post.

That Friday, October 12, I was feeling very tired as I had been working for 4 full days after being off sick for a week with that lousy lung infection. I had an order that had a product which was proving very difficult to find, not to mention being full of very heavy items as well! I ended up not getting to take my lunch (we are not allowed to leave unfinished orders "lying about" when we go on our breaks) until about 1:30 pm. Being hypoglycemic, I was feeling very faint and woozy by the time I got into the lunch room. I had just finished eating my lunch when I heard my name over the PA system asking me to report to the order desk. My first thought was "Oh crap! What did I do wrong?" I rushed to put away my lunch bag and then raced through the warehouse to the order desk, expecting to be told I had screwed up royally on that problem order and given my walking papers. Instead, the Shipping Lead Hand, Jeremy, asked me what I was doing Saturday morning at 9:00 am, then before I could respond said, "Oh that's right! You'll be here at 9:00 tomorrow!" He had this funny grin on his face and I know my face fell as I had been eagerly anticipating a nice long Saturday morning sleep-in! Then he laughed and told me I had been selected for lift-truck training! Whoo hoo! Of course I quickly replied that I was ok with that! LOL!

When I first was interviewed for this job, I was asked if I would be interested in fork-lift training and I had said that I was. After I said that, the interviewer told me that lift-truck operators get about $2.00/hour more money than regular employees. Earlier that week I had put my name down on a list indicating I was still interested in getting the training. I was about 30th or lower on the list, but I was one of four selected from the "order pickers" to receive the training! Fortunately, I was still able to get a small sleep-in, as the start time was two hours later than my normal start-time.

To make a long story shorter, I aced the theory part of the training, getting 100% on my theory exam, and received an 83% on the lift-truck practical exam and 94% on the pallet-truck practical exam! I haven't actually received my certificate, but the trainer told me I was now a certified lift-truck operator! YEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAH!

Due to the shortage of lift-trucks in our plant, currently, I wasn't able to get back onto a truck until Monday of this week. I had one small order that needed to be taken off a high shelf, and the other lead hand, Samantha, wanted me to get some practice on the truck, so instructed me to "only get the order myself with a 'borrowed' truck." After I got the order, I was asked how it went, and I responded with, "Well, no one had to call 9-1-1, so I'd say it went pretty good!" I got a good laugh from the order desk employees and a big thumbs up from Jeremy. Tuesday, Samantha ordered me to get a truck for the day, and pick orders all day with another one of the "trainees" that had trained with me, Ryan. Ryan and I had a fun day bombing around the warehouse moving quite a few skids of product and both felt afterwards that we were feeling much more comfortable operating with other employees around. I spoke to one of the HR girls yesterday and confirmed that, once they get confirmation of my certification, my pay rate will go up, retro-active to my certification date!

Today, I was having random dizzy spells, thanks to some sinus congestion, so voluntarily took myself off the operator's list for the day. We are all hoping that the company will re-increase the lift truck inventory soon, so that all of us operators can have a truck if and when we need one. Last week we found out that the company had sent 11 rental trucks back to the rental company leaving 6 trucks for about 12 operators! Needless to say, if you don't get to work real early, forget about getting one of the popular trucks! I was lucky that the truck I used yesterday was available at all! I think that no one really likes the truck because of it's limited reach height, but I loved it. of all the trucks in our warehouse, it has the best controls, in my opinion! The handling on this little truck is simply "silky" to put it a single word.

I'm hoping to get a little more practise in this week, then I REALLY want a long Saturday morning sleep-in this weekend! I've been too busy these past two weeks! I need a rest!

Last Saturday I had a Leader's Conference for the Bible Club my kids are in, and that I volunteer as a Leader for. After that conference, I came home, and by 7:30 pm, was so tired I went to bed for a "hour's nap". I woke up at 12:45 am, and was up for as long as it took to wake up my wife from where she had fallen asleep on the couch (with all the lights on and the TV blaring) and get her into bed. I woke up again at 5:00 am long enough to keep the dog from going crazy when she left for work, then slept again until 8:30 am when my kids woke me up to tell me our ride to church had arrived! I told them to go and I went back to sleep until 11:15!!! That's 16 hours with only minimal interruptions! And yet I still felt tired all afternoon Sunday, and STILL feel tired! I need a vacation! LOL!

That's it for this post! Happy Hump Day everyone!