RNO1 - Day 24 - 4 miles and VTO

Just so you will have some perspective, the exit for Amazon in Fernley, NV is mile marker 48 on I-80.  Our exit in Sparks is Sparks Blvd., which is mile marker 20.  We were on the Interstate by 5:05 pm headed eastbound, and at precisely 5:10 pm just as we were coming even with mile marker 24 traffic came to a dead stop.  After about 15 minutes we tuned into a local AM radio station to see if we could get a traffic update.......the news reader announced that there was an accident on I-80 eastbound at mile marker 28.....we were 4 miles away from the accident site.....behind 4 miles of red tail lights.  We finally passed mile marker 28 at 6:30 pm.....one hour and twenty minutes after traffic stopped.

We finally arrived in the Amazon parking lot at 6:55 pm along with many other associates caught in the same traffic jam........just about 1 hour late for work.  Of all the things I imagined that might cause us to be late I was most worried about weather.....ice, sleet, snow, torrential rain.  In retrospect, an accident was statistically more likely to make us late,and that is what happened on our 24th day at Amazon RNO1.

TLE and I checked in at the 'Stand Up' area to see what our assignment this night was, and much to our chagrin we were both assigned to 'Tranship' on the 3rd floor of 'Blue'.  The good news is that is was pretty easy to stow up there......lots of holes to stow stuff.    When I came back to the staging area to pick up another cart there was a sign on the wall advising that VTO (Voluntary Time Off) was available, and to see the 'Problem Solver' if you were interested.  Both TLE and I were interested, and put our names in for said VTO.  After our 10 pm break we both returned to 'Tranship' and noticed immediately there were not a lot of carts left to stow, and, in fact, when I returned about 10:45 for another cart I was told to stow the last cart and then I was free to go home (along with The Lovely Elaine).  

We were both in the car headed for home by 11:15, and home about 11:45......I found out just as I was reporting to our manager to be excused for the night that they were running short of things to stow (airport closures due to weather in the east had delayed shipments) and that those remaining were going to be asked to "Pick".......when I heard that I was so glad we had opted to take VTO.  While we did work as 'Pickers' in Campbellsville, KY for 11 weeks two years ago, it is not my favorite job.  'Picking' requires you to know how to find all the bins.....as 'Stowers' we only have to know what floor we are on, and we just walk around pushing a cart looking for space to 'stow' our stuff.  Learning the layout of each 'Pick Mod' was one of the hardest things when we were 'Pickers'.

At any rate that was the sum total of our 24th day at Amazon.......only 5 work days remain before departure.

Thanks for stopping by!