My First Day Of Being A Zebra....

Under new Management!  Officially now.   Zebra has taken over the building and all things GXO are banned....  In the most comical way possible.  I will start off by saying I am grateful to GXO for taking a chance on me and giving me the opportunity to prove that I can do Warehouse work as well as any Material Handler 3.    Or 2!   And I actually did not have too many issues with the company as a whole.(Seriously!  Hardly any!  Only one comes to mind actually.)   I would recommend them to anyone who was seeking a job change or wanted to get into the warehouse/ distribution world.  An easy job,  Good pay,  Generous leave time and a long rope to swing from if life got in the way of you coming to work.   ( perhaps a little TOO generous...)   

That being said,  I will admit I have very little to compare it to.   Other than my other jobs.   And many of those were FAR worse...  So take it for what it is.    Also,  there were a few bad players...  As with all jobs.   But many of them did not survive the first 90 days.  I would say that pretty much everyone I had the opportunity to work with over the last nine months were wonderful, hard working people.   And a joy to be around and work with.  

 

But now we are Zebra... And I like what I see so far.
 

I get the impression they really want to impress us. And the first impressions are impressive!   At least I'm impressed.   ( Just how many times is he going to use that word?...)  And I think others are as well.  

First...  They bought us breakfast!   Nice.   Catered from Panera!   

Next,   They gave us a Zebra Hoodie!   And took our shoe size!  ( apparently, they will be buying us safety shoes as well.  At least for many of the Material handlers and Fork Truck drivers.) 

They will also be providing us with zebra shirts...  kind of like a uniform, since the entire warehouse will be used as a showroom for future clients.   I have heard 5 at first with 2 additional shirts each year?   We shall see.   I do know that we can also purchase any color and style we want off the Zebra store for our own personal touches.  ( I love the uniforms... And the Slogans! )  

And then there is the swag.   Goodies for just showing up and staying for the orientation.   I got two tumblers,  a zebra book,  zebra lanyard, zebra sack, zebra box, two pens, a Sharpie, and two plush zebra chew toys!   (Not that I would want to chew them... but they are kind of cute. ) Any company that gives you a plush chew toy on your first day, can't be all that bad....  ( That is what Cheryl says, anyway. )

We also got our ID badges on DAY ONE!  That is kind of impressive since the HR person at GXO ( name withheld to protect the person....) seemed to struggle to get them to us after a month! And some people  never really got their's to work properly.   There is a theory that the HR person in question had something to do with it... as the people who had trouble with the badges also seemed to have trouble with HER!  But I digress... Having a badge with my picture on it... with a zip clip for my pocket that was not oversized for he badge slot... was kind of nice. 

They then bought us LUNCH!    Sub sandwiches from a local sub shop. ( I forget the name....  but it was better than Subway.)

Training was positive.   We know many of the Zebra people already and had the opportunity to work with several of them during the 100%  inventory.  Gary and Dave come to mind.   Along with a couple others who's names I forget at this moment.  I'm sure we will be seeing them in the future, as they live very close by and stated that they would love to be transferred to the Kenosha facility.  

So... So far so good!   Things are looking promising.   I also can't state this enough,  I will be working with a great crew of people.   People who I have had the blessing to work with over the last several months.   And I have become rather attached to all of them like a family.  I am encouraged so far that Zebra seems to recognize that and wants to instill a culture that will be a benefit to those  people and to the area of Kenosha. And wants to make opportunities possible for everyone who managed to tough it out through the transfer.  I know it is still early and I'm under no delusions that there won't be any bumps along the way in the future.  But right now... The first impression is  pretty good!  And you only get one chance to make a first impression.   Wish us luck!   And thanks for stopping in.