Busy Being A Zebra

Ah, My poor blog....  How I have missed you.   I can't seem to remember the last time I wrote a post...  Well, I guess I could simply re-read the last post to jog my memory.   But that would be less dramatic!  

Yes!  I'm back to write about the day to day things that happen to the Great Ethan Allen here in Kenosha!  ( Drum roll.....)  Pretty much nothing!

Well.  Work, mostly.  Being a zebra seems to consume a lot of time.  About 8 hours each day, to be exact!  With only two days off each week.   Crazy!  Right?  But... I think I can hang with the herd for a little while.   At least until I learn to blend in better. 

And that is hard to do when you are as unique as I happen to be.   I'm not braggin' here, but....  I have been told by almost everyone I work with that I am "Special!"   Yes, yes...   It is hard to blend in when everyone recognizes your amazing talents. But I have to try. 

So... today I spent  one of my valued days off creating a way to blend in with the herd even better than before.   A Way that will help me fit in instead of stick out in a world of black and white.   Today I personalized my uniform.   With Embroidery!  ( Because,  Nothing says "Normal" and "Standard" better than embroidering your name on your Zebra hoodie!) 

Now.... Instead of "Hey You!"  Or "That Guy over there..."   People will glance over in my direction, and, after the alarms  end and the dust settles, they will know beyond a shadow of a doubt... That it was I... The Great Ethan Allen.

It's an old title,  that people from previous jobs used to call me.   It's almost a little embarrassing, actually.  But,  Nicknames are what they are.    And no one really knows where or how they stick to people. (Unless it is on your back.... with tape.)  Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and hope that the people who give you the nickname are creative and clever with their selection. 

While I had the embroidery Machine out,  I figured I might as well make another t-shirt while I was at it.   You see,  the Hoodie can get rather warm in the middle of the warehouse.  And being such a "hard Worker" as  I am.... I often overheat from all of my labor and activity.   I'm not braggin' here.   Just stating the obvious. A T-shirt is more my style.  ( as long as it has pockets and buttons up... but, I will take what I can get for free.)  

After re-reading this,  It almost sounds like I have joined a cult.   Well,  Cults can be good.... sometimes.  There is a lot of context that has to be known before passing judgement.   In my humble opinion.  But at the end of the day,  I did manage to talk a couple former GXO employees into joining the Zebra team.   So this months recruitment quota has been met by me.   And I did it all with the blog.... Hurray for me and my unique writing skills.
All joking aside,  I have been rather busy at the Zebra.  In addition to recruiting new initiates, We have been re-labeling the racks.  And what I thought would take only a few days has taken a little bit longer.   Mostly because we are down to only one team now.   4 people!  Everyone else has been pulled away to help learn their actual job or do other duties that help the actual function of the warehouse. Every now and then they throw a dozen or so people to "Help" with the easy labeling. But only after they are done training or are out of work.    This means that the 4 "full timers" get to babysit the transients and fix all of their mistakes after they leave for the day.   But that rarely happens.    Mostly it is just Oscar, Cory, Lorenza and myself.  Since we finished the Main racks,  the rest has slipped in priority.  But not for me!  Because Material Handler ones were MADE for  jobs like this!  ( I'm not braggin' or anything.)

Monday we got the next wave of people from the old GXO.   Apparently, there is a third wave starting this  coming Monday, but that is only supposed to be 5 people.   We shall see how accurate that prediction will be.  In the mean time,  A lot of Familiar faces could be seen and we all got to catch up on how they have all been doing over the last three weeks.  I'm happy to say that Phil, Marian, John, Jeff, Hose' Fransisco, Joan, Tom, Jane, and a bunch of others are all back and ready to become herd members.  

In the mean time, I have been working with many of the outbound and inventory folks who I never really got to know when we were GXO.  Basically, I think we are getting a lot closer now that we have had the great change over. We shall see how long it lasts after Enoch's Basketball Challenge is engaged.  ( A possible sub-story for a future blog post)  

Other than that,   I have been doing Origami.  People seemed to enjoy my dragons so much, that I have been folding them over the last several seeks.  Unfortunately, they take about that long to complete. I just finished the green western Dragon several days ago.   And recently started another Eastern Dragon. Folding the scales takes almost an entire day to finish one small section.   Add in that I am pretty much wiped out after working all day, so I have very little energy to dedicate to folding after work.  But...  I still chip away when I can.   And hopefully get a large portion finished on Weekends. 

This post is getting long!   And here I thought I would have nothing to say...  Ah well, that is always the case.  I will mention that Cheryl came up two weekends ago and we hung out in Milwaukee. It was fun and way to short.  I didn't even have time to take many pictures. But we did managed to score and IKEA trip and some Honey Brown beer.  We looked at an apartment, but things did not pan out yet again.   Ah well....  Sometimes these things have to happen naturally.  And there will be other apartments in the future.... I'm sure.

And finally,   Dave,  the Roommate/Pastor guy.   Broke his wing flexing at Crossfit.  ( Funny I have not mentioned this before.) Well... The Friday before last was his surgery to reattach the tendon to the bone.  ( Yes,  he ripped his pectoral muscle!)   The doctor videoed the procedure and emailed it to Dave.   Who WATCHED IT!  In front of us! Giving me nightmare fuel for the remainder of the week.  ( The Human body is creepy and kinda gross. And muscle and tendons look like feathers and nylon fibers....  Ewww!  Shudder.)  Let me assure you,  it is not for the faint of heart!  ( Yes!  That means me!  I'm secure enough in my masculinity to admit I do not like the sight of human blood nor torn Muscle fibers being reattached..   To BONE!   On video!)  What kind of creepy doctor E-mails the video of the surgery to the patient?  Medicine has become a whole new level of weird.

Is that enough?   Well I hope so.   These posts tend to take a long time to write to begin with.  And then, if I let too much time slip by,  they get way to long!   So... That is all.  I'm alive,  I work for Zebra,  I had a good day running, writing, folding, washing, and embroidery-ing. It was a good day.   Then again, Every day is a good day.   It's GREAT to be alive.   Hope everyone is having a great weekend as well.  And thanks for stopping in and reading  this ridiculously long post. Have a good one.

The End Of GXO.... In The Kenosha Building.

 It was a pretty good day today.   Another free breakfast and Lunch. ( Today is the last day for that, though....)  Zebra has already successfully shipped several items with only minor hiccups...  So people are learning the outbound stuff.    And we have already received several things on the inbound side.   I can only imagine that it works best when you have experienced crew AND a system that actually works!  Hurray for Zebra!

That being said,  GXO is global and their system works for other things for other customers. GXO is not really dying or anything.  They just are not going to be working for Zebra here in Kenosha.  And as a symbolic gesture... Today was the day the huge GXO sign was officially removed from the Building.  

We have been cleaning up the building after the inventory audit,   removing tape and signs and cleaning up the rows.   And today we started the task of removing the old location stickers and replacing them with Zebra's system.   It will take a few days with only 4 teams going down each row,  but I think we are getting the hang of it after just a few hours.   It could go faster in the future.  And it is nice being one of the first people to get a head's up on how the locations are arranged. 

Today's training was all about benefits, volunteering,  and investments. Fun stuff!  I can hardly wait to jump into the website to set things up. Perhaps day when I can fully focus....

And then there was the group photo.  I'm near the back row...  

And finally,  while I'm actually blogging... I may as well not that my Mushrooms are finally Pinning!   They are supposed to double in size each day over the next few days, but the temps and sunlight might prevent that from actually happening.   We shall see though, as they progress.   I will continue to mist them and watch them to make sure we do not let them go too long.  Plus!  I have big plans for future harvests!   I have been saving coffee grounds and the Parkside forest has MANY dead trees that could use an oyster mushroom species to help with the recycling.   I will try to help mother nature along. 

So there it is.   GXO is officially gone and Zebra is hitting its stride.  And I'm on the ground floor while it is happening.  Kind of a cool place to be at the moment.  

Hope everyone is having a fine Wednesday.   And hopefully the rest of the week will be smooth and swift as the weekend approaches.   Thanks for stopping in.

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.

Checking In.

Is it dangerous?  We shall find out.....

  I figured I would post a brief message on the blog...  Late at night.  Under the influence of some expired Capri Sun with vodka added. (Don't ask... Call it a dare.)  So this post will be brief.  

I ran today.   It is cold today.   I ran IN the cold today.   And I folded Origami.   That is pretty much it.

All this time I could have kept it simple!

Wow!  All this time I have been writing elaborate posts with pictures  when things could have been summed up in just a few simple sentences.   Granted,  My spelling sucks under the influence of an adult beverage.   ( or maybe the expired Capri Sun...)  So...  there you go.  

And some Expired Capri Sun!

Now I'm off to read some of the blog posts of my awesome followers.  ( All 4 of them!)    And if I am able.  I will  try to leave a message to let them know I was there.  

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!   I begin my new job with Zebra on Monday.  I can hardly wait!  

   Thanks for stopping in. 

The Painting Of The Bathroom.

 We are Finally finished with the 100% Inventory at the warehouse.   Well,  technically,  there are a few hold overs cleaning things up, but I'm not one of them!  And so they have given us the remainder of the week off ( with pay!)  and some of them do not have to show up until February!  

But not me.   I have to show up next Monday for orientation for the new and improved Zebra take over.   I guess I was a "priority" for some reason.   Meaning:  I have to actually work, while many of my co-workers are sitting back, getting paid, and do not have to actually come in for another month.  

Well, what can you do?   Life is not fair.  But we soldier on. 

In the mean time,   what did I do with my day off?   Projects!

I folded some Origami and also volunteered my primitive painting services to Dave.  HE has been prepping for a house painting party one of these days, and I offered to start with the bathroom that I use.   I mean... It's a bathroom!   Smallest room in the house!   How difficult could it be? 

Turns out... kind of a big job.   Dave had a bunch of meetings and things, so I was mostly solo for the entire day.  But one of the challenges that I quickly discovered was that the ceiling is very, VERY high.   And this is not a small bathroom in a small apartment in Wellman.   But...  Painting is a lot like riding a bike.   Or something like that.  

After watching a YouTube video on taping up edges,  I set out to remove anything off the wall that could be pulled out.  Then I taped up all of the edges.  Apparently, for a clean line,  you have to paint the tape and edges first.   And I did that.   But I don't really know how well it helped in the end.  

The color was also an issue.   Terracotta orange was a beast to prime over.   IN the end, it took 4 coats to completely cover that color.  And I had to bring in chairs to stand on so I could reach the top layers.   I used a broom handle for the ceiling.  

In the end,  I finished it and reassembled the toilet and all of the wall mounts.  I think it turned out ok, but will require a bit of touch ups where the tape pulled off some paint.  

But as for now... it is late and I'm happy I now have a functioning bathroom to use tonight.  And I do feel a sense of accomplishment.    I will reward myself by being a bum tomorrow... and possibly refolding a couple of failures for Origami time.  

So just wanted to blog tonight.   Because I actually had something to blog about.  And the time to do it.   Hope everyone is having a great week so far.   and thanks for stopping in.