Things are finally going right!

[Anonymouse]

Well, my first week at Hermes is done. The job is immensely complex and difficult; it runs like this:

1) Turn up for work and report to reception for work assignment, i.e. which area I'll be working in

2) Report to team leader in said area for specific bay assignment

3) Take parcel out of cage or trailer or off pallet

4) Place parcel on conveyor belt, barcode facing upwards to be scanned

5) Repeat from 3 until break time

6) Have half-hour break

7) Repeat from 3 until end of shift

8) Er...no, actually that's pretty much it.

The training course was very demanding - training consisted of being instructed to do 3 & 4.

There is a somewhat blasé attitude towards handling at Hermes, I've noticed, but I handle the goods carefully. On my last shift, for example, one trailer I was unloading was filled with stacks of boxes - some of which were IMO way too heavy to be on top of such tall stacks. I had to effectively cause a controlled partial collapse of each stack so as to grab the top box and then each box below that in turn, making sure as far as possible to prevent the parcels from dropping onto a) the floor and b), far more importantly, me. Had I not been 5'10" with long arms I doubt I could have coped alone.

I didn't always manage it; I got knocked on the noggin a few times, fortunately not by anything heavy. Only 5 of the 500 or so boxes I handled on that trailer were damaged, and water damaged at that - one had fallen in transit, split open and damaged the other four when the contents leaked. None were damaged by my careless handling because I didn't handle them carelessly.

It would have been simpler and quicker (and arguably safer for me), admittedly, just to push over each stack - but that might have damaged some. So with me, at least, your Amazon (or Missguided, or ASOS, or Prettylittlething, or In The Style [Clothes won't change the world but the women who wear them will], or Wynsors, or whatever) goods are in safe hands...from cage/pallet/trailer to conveyor belt, at least.

After that, of course, it's out of my hands.

Next week will be a short one for me, i.e. only Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights - the only shift running on Christmas Eve is the 6am - 2pm shift, which is just as well because of course there are no trains or buses on Christmas Day and thus I'd be stuck at Hermes if I worked Thursday night. Saturday and Sunday I'd be off in any case.

Thus for the first time since February, I am finally, finally getting a few days off work!

To explain: I was originally planning to take the last week in August (for Redemption '20) and the first week in September off, but Covid-19 and being sacked from AO put paid to that. Then at ASOS I booked a week off in November to coincide with my birthday, but then of course I left to work at Missguided. There I booked the same week off, but then of course I was laid off and thus I only got the holiday pay, not the actual holiday!

True, it's only 2 days (4 with the weekend), but it is a break. I need it. This year's taken a lot out of me what with one thing and another, and I...am...tired.

[joglynne]

Well done Mr Mouse. Hopefully your diligence will be noticed and will pay dividends.

The one thing that seems to be happening is that the amount we are all ordering off the internet is increasing and firm like Hermes will need people who believe in working for their pay and not just doing the least amount of work possible.

Enjoy your time off sweetie you have certainly earned it considering the way you have kept going after so many lay offs this year.

Jo xx

[Anonymouse]

Unfortunately things aren't going well at the moment. I was off all last week with a bad cough and I felt (almost) well enough to go in this Monday night. But since I still had the cough I was turned away.

Turns out that was the right call: I got myself tested the next day and the result, to my surprise, was positive. I don't know how I caught it but apparently I have, so now I'm stuck at home self-isolating.

Oh well. Everything else I've ever caught I've beaten, and I'll beat this, too. Takes more than a damn virus to finish me off!

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

Unfortunately things aren't going well at the moment. I was off all last week with a bad cough and I felt (almost) well enough to go in this Monday night. But since I still had the cough I was turned away.

Turns out that was the right call: I got myself tested the next day and the result, to my surprise, was positive. I don't know how I caught it but apparently I have, so now I'm stuck at home self-isolating.

Oh well. Everything else I've ever caught I've beaten, and I'll beat this, too. Takes more than a damn virus to finish me off!

Good luck. More than likely you'll be fine. Catch up on some of those boxsets we all never get round to.

Originally Posted by Mr K

Good luck. More than likely you'll be fine.

For once Im in agreement with Mr K. I hope you feel better soon.

[TheDaddy]

Best of luck to you

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

Unfortunately things aren't going well at the moment. I was off all last week with a bad cough and I felt (almost) well enough to go in this Monday night. But since I still had the cough I was turned away.

Turns out that was the right call: I got myself tested the next day and the result, to my surprise, was positive. I don't know how I caught it but apparently I have, so now I'm stuck at home self-isolating.

Oh well. Everything else I've ever caught I've beaten, and I'll beat this, too. Takes more than a damn virus to finish me off!

Ah bad luck Mr mouse. I hope you are feeling better soon. Make the most of your time off and remember we are here if you want a natter.xx

Good luck and I hope everything goes your way.Fingers crossed

[Anonymouse]

As of today I do feel a bit better. I'm not coughing as much and my headache's easing. But I've completely lost track of my sleeping patterns; I'm not even sure if I have slept the last two days, though I suppose I must have at some point since I do feel wide awake. I have three seasons of Westworld I've been getting round to watching for ages now, but I'm not really in the mood.

I hate being ill.

I think season 5 of Red Dwarf might be called for. Loved The Inquisitor:

Lister: 'ang on, why do we have to take any notice of some crazed rogue robot who's appointed 'imself judge and jury to the whole of humanity? Why should we kowtow to his judgement?
Inquisitor (through Lister): Because I have the power to snap your body in two like a dry reed!!!
Lister (gasping): Good answer, man, good answer!

Inquisitor: You have been granted the greatest gift of all: the gift of life. Tell me - what have you done to deserve this superlative good fortune?
Rimmer: Well, I say this with the highest respect, but...what gives you the right to ask - no, actually, demand - that answer of me - your magnificence? (this last is delivered hurriedly with a bow)
Inquisitor: ALL must answer to the Inquisitor!
Rimmer: But how do I know I'll get a fair hearing?
Inquisitor: Because...like all who stand before the Inquisitor...your judge shall be... (he flips up his visor, revealing...Rimmer!) ...yourself!
Rimmer: Oh, smeg.
Inquisitor Rimmer: 'Oh, smeg' indeed, matey!
Rimmer: Everyone is judged by their own self?
Inquisitor Rimmer: It's a bit metaphysical, I know, but it's the only fair way. Now then: justify yourself.
Rimmer: Well...first, I've -
Inquisitor Rimmer: Liar!

Inquisitor Cat: Justify your existence. What contribution have you made?
Cat: I have given pleasure to the world because I have such a beautiful ass!
Inquisitor Cat: Well, that's true.
Cat: Can I go now?
Inquisitor Cat: ...That's your case?!
Cat: You need more?!
Inquisitor Cat: Some might say that's a pretty shallow argument.
Cat: Some might say I'm a pretty shallow guy, but a shallow guy with a great ass!

Inquisitor Kryten: Well, Kryten? Justify yourself.
Kryten: I'm not sure I can.
Inquisitor Kryten: But surely your life is replete with good works? There can be few individuals who have lived a more selfless life.
Kryten: But I am programmed to live unselfishly. And therefore, any good works I do come not out of fine motives, but as a result of a series of binary commands I am compelled to obey.
Inquisitor Kryten: Well, then, how can any mechanical justify himself?
Kryten: Perhaps only if he attempted to break his programming and conduct his life according to a set of values he arrived at independently.
Inquisitor Kryten: Your argument invites deletion.
Kryten: The rules are yours, not mine.
Inquisitor Kryten: Do you wish to be erased?
Kryten: I am programmed not to wish for anything. I serve.
Inquisitor Kryten: In a human, this type of behaviour could be considered "stubborn".
Kryten: But I am not human. And neither are you. And it is not our place to judge them. I wonder why you do.
Inquisitor: (closing his visor) Enough!

Inquisitor Lister: (Opening his visor) Well, get out o' this one, smeghead.
Lister: What are you talking about?
Inquisitor Lister: You know what you could have made of your life if you'd tried, what you could've become.
Lister: So?
Inquisitor Lister: You've got brains, man, brains you've never used.
Lister: So?
Inquisitor Lister: So justify yourself.
Lister: Spin on it!

- classic stuff!

[Dude111]

Im so glad things are going g00d buddy!!!!

[Anonymouse]

Welll...

Self-isolation's up, so I've finally done some shopping. But I hadn't realised how much this thing has taken out of me - it's only a short trip, bit more than a mile round trip, but I'm shattered. Plus the cough's still with me, so I am not going in this week. They'll just turn me away again if I do and that's a train fare wasted. It's not a problem if they get enough notice.

But if this is what a short shopping trip does to me, I don't even want to think about what work would be like. No, I'm not chancing it.

[joglynne]

Seems a sensible decision. You can't be the first person your firm has had to deal with, as you say keep them in the picture. xx