Jelly Donuts:
I've been really fortunate. I've also worked very, very hard. I started at UPS less than five years ago loading feeders between 11 pm and 3 am. Almost a year later I was still loading feeders (by choice...I could've gone to sort or smalls or even management) and working as a driver's helper my first peak season. Next summer I started driving Saturdays and covering drop-box routes. I drove FT for two months that peak and temped for a total of ten months over the next two years. This spring I won one of the new PT air bids. I started temping in June and got a FT cover position in September.
Nothing but hard work and Safety and waiting out the seniority list. That's how fast it moved here. In other places, it'll be slower. If you get hired off the street, cheers to you!...you're luckier than me to be in a better place at a good time, but you'll miss something important to the process of becoming a UPSer.
It's not thankless to all of us. I'm 'old' to be so new at this - 37 - and my body will not last to retirement doing what I am right now. So I'll go into feeders or who knows. I've been mad enough to turn red, jump up and down, and cuss out supervisors. I've been injured. Shoulder-hurt, leg-stitched-up, motor-oil-squirted-on-me-by-a-red-neck-named-Buddy-working-on-a-Bobcat-in-the-middle-of-the-road. I've worked twelve hour days weeks at a time. I've hauled 30 packages more than half my weight up two flights of stairs. I've hated my job. I've also enjoyed the heck out of it. When I can no longer find that balance, I'll quit. I don't see that happening. Every day's different, I'm rarely idle, and I get to see lots of dogs. Plus I get another week of vacation next year. That's 3 weeks plus 1 sick plus 1 personal...that's almost 1/10 of a year!
And I'm not even at top pay yet. Eight more bucks to go, I think.
Anyway, my suggestions for you are be willing to work harder than you thought was humanly possible, pay special attention to all of the safety guidelines that UPS teaches you, and find some very personal reasons to like the job. You've got the stress wrapped up - you've been a cop!
Oh, and every being in the world has something to teach you, even the oldest, hardest sourpuss in your center (in my building that person just happens to be management). A lot of workers do get the pooh end of the stick, too, just like everywhere else. It'll even happen to pollyanna here.
Balance.
Best wishes!
(Message edited by hubrat on October 18, 2005)
