Week Five Update

Location: Campbellsville, KY (High 81, Low 57)

We’ve made it through another work week! When we arrived back at the end of August, we found out that there was going to be a bit of a work slow down through the month of September. There are a couple new facilities and some of the product that comes into the fulfillment center here in Campbellsville was being redirected there. It was announced at yesterday’s morning startup meeting that the redirect process ends next week and then the work will start ramping back up in preparation for peak. VTO (voluntary time off) was offered every day over the past work week, but we stuck it out and stayed every time. A lot of people left, even many campers. On Monday at the afternoon startup meeting there were three people left in the Receive department – the two of us and one fulltime employee. The nice thing about that is that there’s been plenty of work to keep us busy for the rest of the shift, so we haven’t yet been stuck with scraping tape or cleaning.

Our days have settled into a familiar rhythm. Most work days I get up between 3:30 and 4 am. Watch a little tv while I drink my coffee…then make our lunch, have a little something to eat and get ready to go to work. We leave for work around 5:30 am. Even though there are lights, it’s dark enough when we’re walking over that I can see the night sky with all the stars which is very beautiful. We clock in at 5:55 and the fun begins! In the afternoon, by the time we clock out, gather our stuff and walk home, it’s about 4:45 so we’re basically gone for 12 hours of the day. At that point we have just about enough energy to take a shower and eat our dinner. I usually head for bed between 7 and 7:30, because by that time I am whipped. Don’t those sound like exciting days?! You can see why work starts to feel like life during the peak weeks – when you’re following that schedule for 6 days out of 7! (Harry and I do plan to do the 60s again this year. Even though we will be very tired at the end of it, it’s only for a couple weeks.)

This morning we begin our three days of rest. Time to catch up on a few of the new shows that started this past week and do a few chores….

Next up - week six out of the twelve weeks we have left!