We have spent the last two months working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The last three weeks, we have worked six days a week for ten hours a day. With the commute and the state mandated breaks, we would usually be away from camp about twelve hours a day. Annie was always so relieved when we got home.
In those ten hour days, Angelica and I worked as “pickers.” Our job was to walk, averaging around fifteen miles a day, on the concrete, “picking” whatever the scanner told us to “pick.” We’d throw the item into our cart, then scurry off to the next pick location, often about a quarter mile away. Doing this for twenty of the last twenty four days, ten hours a day, we gained a pretty clear picture of the Chinese-made products that Americans are buying other Americans for Christmas.
A quick glance:
1. Socks
2. Star Wars
3. Cell phone accessories
4. Political paraphernalia
5. Sex toys
6. Columbia fleece jackets and Carhartt pants
7. Cordless headphones and virtual reality goggles
8. Gift cards, usually Amazon gift cards.
Oh well.
We saw and picked a lot of interesting things at that place. We are very glad to be done working there, and are enjoying our lazy morning. As for us, we didn’t do any Christmas shopping this year, and it was great. Not that we had time to do any shopping, anyway. We are looking forward to just spending the day together, calling family, making some food, and choosing how far we are going to walk for ourselves! It sounds like an absolutely merry way to spend the holiday!
Kenny is the chief fire builder and camp cook for a rag-tag team of dreamers. He holds a BA in English and has worked as a cook in a variety of different food service establishments. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded a short lived, but delicious, fried hand pie company. He loves wandering around flea markets and hiking through the woods. He has a passion for pizza and good beer. |