Ten-hour days -- Nov. 9 & 10, 2011

Fernley, NV: This week we started working ten-hour days at Amazon.com. Hard work is good in that you get completely absorbed in it and don't have time to worry about anything except: "Am I doing this right? How can I improve my numbers? When is break? When is lunch?" (LOL) I'm not kidding our jobs are physical in the receiving department so we get tired and hungry. 

All day we are each at our work stations receiving product. We move boxes off the line onto our receiving station, then scan the items and put them on carts. We're not standing still. There is constant motion: pulling boxes, emptying boxes, putting items on carts with three shelves. My forearms feel like I've been bowling every day.

The hardest time of day is waiting for our first break. We come in at 7 a.m. and break is not until 10 a.m. We have 15 minutes to wolf down a snack and get back to work. Lunch at 1:00 pm lasts 29 minutes; if we clock in at 30 minutes after the hour we're considered late. Afternoon break is 3:30 p.m.

When we went to Lincoln, CA on Tuesday, Bob was offered a job, but they wanted someone permanent. Bob let them know that he is available January to mid-April. He asked them if they decide they need someone during that time to do sales, he would be happy to help.

We did a lot of traveling over the past weekend; however, that will not be the norm. Great Basin National Park was on our list of places to see while we're here and we wanted to go before the winter weather got any worse. Both of us are looking forward to hunkering down and RESTING on our days off. Pretty soon we will start having mandatory overtime and will be working five 10-hour days...maybe even five 11-hour days!

We will take trips closer to Fallon such as Virginia City, Carson City and Reno on our days off.

The sunrises and sunsets have been quite beautiful this week. We go in to work at sunrise and come home at sunset. As the days get shorter, no more seeing sunrises and sunsets.

Morning temperatures have been in the teens necessitating scraping ice/frost off the windshield. Tonight we put a beach towel around the front windshield and both front side windows. We'll see if it eliminates the need to scrape windows in the morning. If that doesn't work, we are going to try the white vinegar/water mixture Mom told us about.

Must get more sleep tonight! Last night I got about five hours and I felt it today...seemed like time was dragging by. Good night all.