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Forty-first Job of Bob - Parcel/package loading plant worker - I'm 50, next oldest worker...19 years old
This entry was posted on 7/20/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
The heavy but soft-ankled work boots still sit on the dehumidifier in the basement. They are dusty, but could be put back into service....but probably won't. They have sat there now for six years.
I had left graduate school in the fall of 2005. Just before finishing up that semester, by October I had secured a blue collar job delivering bundles of papers for the local regional newspaper. I was not a contractor in that role, but an actual employee using their trucks. I would work about 25 hours per week. I had also picked up a contractor job delivering a semi-weekly advertising publication...a different publisher. I delivered about 200 papers to residences in Janesville in that capacity.
The reason I retreated back to blue collar was it became painfully obvious that even though I was just one thesis shy of a Master's Degree, the soon-to-be-called "Great Recession was wafting across the country. No one believed it yet - or wanted to believe it. But, us old workers were the canaries in the coal mine. It was an ominous warning. Even with educations we were already being thrown under the employment bus. And, then years later our experience would be prophetic.
Before I finished my semester I had applied at a hundred or more businesses and colleges for jobs. The closest I got to an actual job relating to my degrees was almost landing a job teaching tech school part-time in Madison on a contingency basis with the understanding I would finish my Master's Degree. It was done all the time. But right on que, they hired a young woman with less education. And this would happen to me over and over again in the business work world.
One outfit enthusiastically called me a day after I dropped off my application. That should have been a bad sign. It was one of the national parcel/package delivery companies. The call came from their distribution center based in east Madison. At least it was just a line-drive journey up Interstate-90. You could see the building from the freeway.
"Blue collar," I said to myself sadly, but knew I had to go to the interview. Beggars can't be choosy. "Maybe they needed a clerk," I thought optimistically. Oh how wrong you are ol' perennial naive one.
The young chic that interviewed me could not wait to get me working - at loading trucks. The hours were from one-ish to six-ish in the morning Monday through Friday. I could (would....should) keep my other jobs as the hours did not conflict. Via past experience, I had learned that leaving existing jobs too soon could be bad due to realizing a new job was a bolo, and then of course it would be too late. And this time, it would turn out to be a wise decision to have held on to the paper jobs.
I would need heavy work boots. Another bad sign. "Just a loading plant rule," the nice young interview chic said, trying not to scare me away on our first meeting.
The first night I was shown the loading area. Two rows of big delivery box-trucks sat with their open back doors to a long loading platform running down the middle of the presentation. In the center of the platform was a conveyor belt that brought in the packages, items, and boxes to be delivered by the trucks. There must have been forty trucks - twenty on each side.
I had arrived early and waited patiently for the rest of the workers and some guy who would show me the ropes. As it turned out, once you got trained, you would have to load more than one truck....at the same time.
Slowly but surely, the loading crew showed up. Immediately I noticed not one of them was over 22 years old. And, they were all fit. There was only one girl. And although she was cute, watching her work, I noticed she was a bit of a tomboy. There was a tough chic under the pretty face and well proportioned body.
Once the conveyor belt started it was obvious why there were no old crew members. Heavy boxes, crates, and items blasted down the belt. We were suppose to pluck them off the belt if they were designated for our truck. While trying to watch for items on the belt we were to also put them on designated shelves in the truck and then dart back out to the belt to start again. The labels were hard to find. If you missed your box or item, it flew down the belt and was dumped in a holding pit. Digging the items out of the pit later was like rescuing a person buried under rubble after an earth quake. This process went on for five straight hours without a break.
After my shifts, my arms, legs, hands, feet, back, and even eyes, ached for hours.
"You're the only old worker," the cute young tomboy girl said with a worried face one night. I think she meant it as a compliment, as in, No old dudes have survived....until you.
Her compliment was short lived. After a few weeks, while heading off to the job and still in Janesville and just before entering the freeway to Madison, I picked up the cell phone and called the young interview chic and told her I had secured another job - it was a white lie of course.
When I crawled back in bed at one a.m. Heide said quietly, "Told you it would wear you down. You should have quit after the first night."
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Corporal Justin James Cain, 22, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, died October 13, 2010, in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was one of four Marines killed by a roadside bomb attack when his unit was conducting combat operations. Corporal Cain was assigned to Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force (often pronounced "eye mef"), out of Camp Pendleton, California.
The wausaudailyherald.com via Gannett Wisconsin Media notes Cain's Marine unit had been in Afghanistan since September of 2010. Corporal Cain and three other Marines were riding in a "mine-resistant, ambush-protected ATV" when attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device. Cain was a machine gunner. The Daily Herald goes on to mention Justin Justin was a 2007 graduate of Manitowoc's Lincoln High School. He later enjoyed spending time in Las Vegas.
The Web site greenbaypressgazette.com mentioned Justin was known as "...a great guy and would do anything for you." He had only been in Afghanistan a couple weeks when he was killed.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Corporal Cain was a devoted Marine who by his senior year had aspirations to join the Corps; and, had posed for his senior photo in a Marine Corps T-shirt. He enlisted in June of 2007 just after graduating. Classmates remembered Justin as, "....a trusted friend, a good listener, fun, and an easy going guy who enjoyed hunting and off-roading in his white Chevrolet pickup." Cain was also remembered as taking interest in several automotive and shop classes. He would visit his old school from time to time.
The Web site militarytimes.com posting information via The Herald Times Reporter out of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, notes Justin was part of a high school group that enjoyed "mudding." He was remembered as, ""going to "The Pipeline" near Crivitz to drive through mud in their jacked-up pickups with special tires."" Cain also participated in Youth Options as a senior, attending Lakeshore Technical College as part of its dairy herd management program.
The Web site freedomremembered.com mentioned that while growing up Justin enjoyed football, baseball, hunting, Boy Scouts and mud running.
Several interviewees remembered Cain wearing that U.S.M.C. t-shirt with an American flag in the background in his senior yearbook photo. A contingent of Patriot Riders, a motorcycle group that honors veterans, rode in Corporal Cain's funeral ahead of a four-horse-drawn caisson bearing Cain’s casket through his home town.
Some of Corporal Cain's military awards include: the National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal; Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal; the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon; the Purple Heart; and, the Combat Action Ribbon.
The Web site findagrave.com notes Justin was born on September 5, 1988. At the time of his death Justin Cain was survived by: his father Jim Cain; his mother and stepfather Judy and Tim Stock; two sisters Jolene Cain and Jeanne Cain; paternal grandparents John and Ethel Cain Sr.; maternal grandparents Wayne and La Verne Luckow; aunts and uncles Candis Cain, Kathleen Cain, John and Jane Cain Jr., Jeff Cain, Jerry and Julie Cain, Melody Cain, Joel and Deb Cain, Jed and Sheri Cain, Shawn Furrh, Jesse and Jenny Cain, Craig and Colleen Cornell, Kay Grady, Deb and Chuck Schuh, Jim and Shelly Luckow, and Jon and Diane Luckow.
Marine Corporal Justin Cain was the 24th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
101,837 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,091 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,473 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1665 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
927 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
32,153 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
12,593 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
34 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since October, 2001.
149 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org
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