We are Amazonians!

Our first official day at Amazon.com was our "orientation" day.  I do get a kick out of terms like orientation, because exactly the opposite usually occurs.  You are deluged with more information that one healthy, vital brain can absorb in 6.5 hours, which is completely dis-orienting, right?  Then you are told "they" know you can't remember everything they just spent 6.5 hours trying to "pour" into your 63 year old brain.  "They" go on to tell you that some other "they" will cover that again during your "process" training day.  OK, I know that repetition is good for the brain, but if your particular brain fills up in the first hour, and the rest of the information just spills on the floor, where does the repetition start?  I know, I'm being a little dramatic, and absurd, but I think you get my point.

Our "orientation" day began at 5:30am when TLE suggested we get up on Tuesday in order to be ready to leave the coach at 8am to arrive at the Amazon.com entrance by 8:15....of course it is a 4 minute walk.  The good news is, as I reported yesterday, we have the night shift so we won't have to "get up" at 4am to get to work by 6:30am.....instead we'll be going to bed at 4am four days a week for the next 9-10 weeks.

For the first time since we arrived at Campbellsville we had a heavy fog blanketing our immediate geographical area.  We found out later from those who are staying in parks near Green River Lake that they get fog every morning......another great reason why I'm glad we are at Heartland.....no driving in the fog.....just an occasional walk in the fog.

As we entered the waiting area our Camper Force hosts were passing out our new ID badges that we will be using to ingress and egress each day at Amazon.com, as well as using to "punch" in at the time clock 4 times each day (beginning and end of each shift, plus out for lunch, and back in from lunch).  One of the things that did stick in my brain is that we have "EXACTLY" 30 minutes for lunch....there is no grace period.  We also learned that we can clock in for the day up to 7 minutes early, and no more than 2 minutes after our start time.  If we are late 1 minute we earn 1/2 point on a 1-6 scale.....if you hit 6 attendance points you are shown the door....and I thought the pressure would be doing the job.....lol!!

Since we are assigned to the night shift we will receive a pay differential meaning that instead of $9.90 per hour we will be paid $10.50 per hour.  In addition, if we complete our work assignment we will receive a $1.00 per hour worked bonus at the end on December 23rd.  Additionally, any overtime is paid at time and a half.

From 8:30 until "lunch" at 11am we completed our "I-9" documentation (photo ID, SS, W-4, etc.) and went over the attendance point system, pay scale, harassment in the work place (love those movies), etc.  Lunch went smoothly, and then back to Safety training from 11:30am to 2:30pm....again more information than one can absorb.

TLE and I are both glad we will be on the "Picking" team.  We both prefer to be moving around, as opposed to standing in one place.  We also learned there is no way to get used to standing/walking on concrete for 10 hours other than standing/walking on concrete for 10 hours, which is why the first two weeks you are given half shifts of 5 hours each to "work harden" you for the 10 hour days.

By the time we exited the 1 million square foot Amazon.com building it was 2:40pm, and sunny!   The first day was a  little tedious, but we did well.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, we start at 5:30pm in our "Process Training"....learning Amazon.com's processes for picking, and learning how to use the hand held scanners, which will be like part of our persons for the next 10 weeks.

TLE prepared some homemade tacos for dinner, always a favorite of mine, and we settled in to watch some pre-recorded TV programs  from Friday, Sunday and Monday (Castle, Revolution, Mentalist and CSI - NY)....nice to watch 4 one hour programs in 3 hours with no commercials!!

We met some interesting people yesterday who will be on our shift, and got better acquainted with our immediate neighbors in Heartland, Jim and Jackie, who invited us to brunch on Sunday.  Apparently Campbellsville University allows non-students to utilize their cafeteria for $7 per person, all you can eat, and if you buy a booklet of ten meals the price goes down to $5.75/meal.  And, according to them, the food is quite good.  So, we'll report on that experience on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!