1701

Yeah, that number is right...Star Trek association time, :-). Today the (I believe) second house I dropped off a package at had an address of 1701. I always make associations with addresses as we drive around such as reading 9145 as 1945 because that was the year World War II ended, so it was fun to see a Star Trek reference, :-). But speaking of work...I had an interesting day.

The first guy I worked with was Mike, and he got a call last Thursday that his grandmother had died, so he got off work early. Brad was the driver that I worked with Friday, Monday, and Tuesday as he replaced Mike. Today Mike was back on the job so his regular helper was back working with him (he had strained his ankle last week). I got a call (as expected) telling me to come into the center instead of meeting a driver en route as had been usual. Once I got in there I finally got my UPS shirt (so now I'll wear a black T-shirt, UPS shirt, and UPS pull-over) and UPS cap! :-) Okay, back to the timeline...I was sent out to meet a driver and told that he would meet me in about twenty minutes (in a commercial area). I was given an address, but unlike what I've seen in Southern California, most buildings out here don't put their street addresses on the building. This makes it very difficult to find a commercial address...but I finally found the place I thought I was supposed to be at. I drove my car around the parking lot for fifteen minutes, worrying that perhaps he had already arrived and departed after not seeing me. Fianlly he did arrive, but I found out that he didn't have a jump seat! I couldn't (physically nor according to company regulations) stand in his truck the entire day. I didn't have a cell phone (and his was broken) so I had to drive all the way back to the center. He must have messaged the supervisor (using the boards they scan package bar codes with) because when I got back he sent me out to meet Brad on his regular route.

Hopefully I'll be able to continue working with Brad, he is a good guy and I enjoy working with him. Oh, he does have two nicknames though...the guys that eat lunch with him call him Cornbread. One time one of them said "Come on Brad" quite fast and everyone else heard it as Cornbread, so the name stuck. "Gas Pump" comes from a story he told me Friday before we met for lunch, warning me that the guys would really tease him about it. On Thursday at the end of his shift he was refilling his truck when he forgot about the gas and drove off. He was half-way across the building before someone flagged him down and pointed to the detatched nozzle. There was no gasoline spill as pumps have a quick shut-off, but he has been teased about it quite often.

The temperature was higher today, and the wind was much lower. These factors, plus the extra shirt, all combined to make for a much more pleasant experience than yesterday. I am enjoying this job, but I do know that it isn't something that I would want to do full time as I wouldn't really want to deal with the high heat and humidity out here in the summer and the cold in the winter. The cold really isn't that bad if you're moving around (out of the wind) and can put on a good jacket (like my trenchcoat--which doesn't conform to UPS uniform regs...*sigh* ;-) )--neither of these is true with UPS. It does look like I'll be getting more than 20 hours a week, so I'll not be complaining. I can use whatever money I can get from this job.

Okay...I don't think that I was going to write any more...I hope not. I'll do my very best to get on tomorrow night to update y'all...I'm sorry about not getting on last night...I thought I would be able to get on (at least briefly) Wednesday morning...but alas I had to leave too quickly...

~Matt