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2006-12-13 1:07 PM

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Master
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Savannah,
Subject: What I learned at UPS

My time at UPS has ended a week early, I got a great job and had to relinquish my valuable holiday hours over to another "Driver Helper" at UPS.  But while there, I learned some stuff:

First, the funny/interesting stuff:

1)  People order way too much crap (the top three...Amazon, the Home Shopping Network and QVC)

2)  People in junky houses order more stuff than people with tidy houses.

3) People that appear less well-off/downright poor order just as much stuff as themiddle- upper classes.

4) 85% of people have dogs (my est.) 99.99% of the owners think their dogs don't bite.

5) There were WAY more people home during the day than I expected. 

6)  The UPS driver's I worked with have all been with the company for YEARS....they are unionized, so it took them, literally, starting from the lowest point in the company to get to be a driver.  Driver positions never come open. 

7)  It wasn't as hard physically as I thought it would be. 

8)  Those arrows on the boxes that show which end is up?  No one cares.

Now, the philosophical stuff:

1)  Everyone is human.  Some of the stuff people ordered was very telling....the super huge lady that got a shipment of gourmet food in dry ice 2-3 times a week.  Like it was some super emergency food situation.

Or the 80+ year old smoking lady that was holed up in a smoky cave of a house ordered a huge box of beauty products and wrinkle creams.....

2)  Somedays life (UPS) gives you heavy stuff.  And somedays it's just a TON of little crap.

3)  Sometimes the best feeling in the world is being alive and outside and healthy enough to move your body. 

  I have been way too snobby and needed to be a UPS lady to remind me how much I have taken for granted.  But I was impressed at what a consistently absolute GO GETTER I am, whether when I was a broker in training at Smith Barney, or a driver's helper at UPS....I worked just as hard at both.

There, now I have to go turn in my brown uniforms....wah.  



Edited by thegoddess 2006-12-13 1:08 PM


2006-12-13 1:13 PM
in reply to: #623198

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Buttercup
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
Good stuff, Missy.
2006-12-13 1:17 PM
in reply to: #623198

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Elite
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

Too bad about the uniforms.  Those brown shorts are hot.

 

TW

2006-12-13 1:26 PM
in reply to: #623198

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Giver
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
I'm surprised there were no revelations about "hot UPS guys."
2006-12-13 1:29 PM
in reply to: #623237

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Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

run4yrlif - 2006-12-13 2:26 PM I'm surprised there were no revelations about "hot UPS guys."

Uh, I've more depth than that....

2006-12-13 1:38 PM
in reply to: #623244

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molto veloce mama
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
i don't. come on! share!

sounds like it was a good learning experience all around. i always wondered if the ups guy/gal or mail man/women ever pay attention to the stuff people are getting. guess they do! we're the folks in the dinky house in a working class neighborhood getting shipments of clearance tri bikes and boxes from places like bike nashbar and crank sports. hee hee.


2006-12-13 1:41 PM
in reply to: #623259

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Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

autumn - 2006-12-13 2:38 PM i don't. come on! share!

On my last day the two diff. drivers I'd been with gave me a 40oz bottle of some really special malt liquor called "private stock" not even available in Savannah!  They have to get it from Atlanta......so great guys, but (refer to above mentioned snobbery) not really my type.

2006-12-13 1:50 PM
in reply to: #623269

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molto veloce mama
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
they gave you a 40 ouncer? NIIIIICE!

we just borrowed and watched 'elf' last night. i love that movie. favorite moments:
+ discovering & eating discarded gum (like a train wreck, horrified, yet can't look away)
+ putting the star atop the tree
+ the look on his face when he sees the big xmas tree - almost makes me cry (i know, i'm a big sap)
2006-12-13 2:36 PM
in reply to: #623285

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Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

autumn - 2006-12-13 2:50 PM they gave you a 40 ouncer? NIIIIICE! we just borrowed and watched 'elf' last night. i love that movie. favorite moments: + discovering & eating discarded gum (like a train wreck, horrified, yet can't look away) + putting the star atop the tree + the look on his face when he sees the big xmas tree - almost makes me cry (i know, i'm a big sap)

It may be my all time favorite movie.... "you're not Santa.....you smell like meat and cheese!"

Or....."Here's my dad, and I'm singing and ......I love you! I love you! I love you!"

2006-12-13 2:47 PM
in reply to: #623198

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Pro
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Pittsburgh, my heart is in Glasgow
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

sounds like it was a good learning experience all around. i always wondered if the ups guy/gal or mail man/women ever pay attention to the stuff people are getting. guess they do! we're the folks in the dinky house in a working class neighborhood getting shipments of clearance tri bikes and boxes from places like bike nashbar and crank sports. hee hee.


Oh hell yes we do. We. Know.All. Just kidding. No, we get a lot of really interesting stuff coming through the mail. For instance:

-A bumper. Yes. A bumper. It was big, and metal, with two strips of cardboard, one with an address and $90 worth of postage on it.

-A motorcycle tire. Just the tire with some postage on it.

- An Irish harp. I only knew because it was a weird shape and from a place in Co. Galway.

- COPIOUS amounts of porn. I work re-wrap sometimes, and having to match the porn inventories to the correct box and porn was always...interesting.
2006-12-13 2:57 PM
in reply to: #623374

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2006-12-13 2:59 PM
in reply to: #623198

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2006-12-13 5:29 PM
in reply to: #623198

Elite
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
Great story. I must have had 50 crappy jobs growing up and I think I learned something from everyone of them. Mostly I learned what I didn't want to do when I grew up.
2006-12-13 5:35 PM
in reply to: #623198

Elite
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Raleigh
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
WTF Shannon... where is our pic of you in the UPS uniform....
2006-12-13 5:53 PM
in reply to: #623532

Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

mndiver - 2006-12-13 6:29 PM Great story. I must have had 50 crappy jobs growing up and I think I learned something from everyone of them. Mostly I learned what I didn't want to do when I grew up.

Great, thanks....I'm 37.

And Chris, the Ups photo is in the other ups thread, hold on, I'll find it.

2006-12-13 5:55 PM
in reply to: #623198

Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS




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2006-12-13 5:57 PM
in reply to: #623394

Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

spokes - 2006-12-13 3:59 PM What "great job" did you get?

Here, copied from my blog:

Okay, here's the deal on my new, real, grown-up job.  Since I failed the Broker's exam on Sept. 4th, I have been sending out between 6-10 resumes a week trying to find something....then finding something turned into finding anything.....and hence, UPS.

A while back, on a whim and out of desperation, I sent a resume in for an import/export specialist.  Never done it, had no idea what it was, only I liked the nice salary it was paying.  Friday I had an interview and Friday afternoon the owner of the company called me and asked me to come work for him.  Yay!  Apparently no one in the import/export field starts out doing that, it's something you kind of fall into. 

So, bascially and in a nutshell, I will be working for  Page International which is a freight forwarding company.  They are a well established, but small (40 employees) and very lucrative company.  They are the middleman between the freight shippers and the transportation....mainly the shipping lines. So my specific job will be that of a diplomat and advocate for the customer should one of their containers not make it where or when it was supposed to go.

Whew.  A job.  I can keep my car and my house and my sanity.   

 

2006-12-13 5:59 PM
in reply to: #623374

Champion
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS

phoenixazul - 2006-12-13 3:47 PM

- COPIOUS amounts of porn. I work re-wrap sometimes, and having to match the porn inventories to the correct box and porn was always...interesting.

Yeah.  I meant to ask about that.  I appear to be missing a couple of magazines and a DVD boxed set that I ordered, um, for a friend. 



Edited by CubeFarmGopher 2006-12-13 6:01 PM
2006-12-13 6:03 PM
in reply to: #623553

Elite
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Raleigh
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
thegoddess - 2006-12-13 5:53 PM

mndiver - 2006-12-13 6:29 PM Great story. I must have had 50 crappy jobs growing up and I think I learned something from everyone of them. Mostly I learned what I didn't want to do when I grew up.

Great, thanks....I'm 37.

And Chris, the Ups photo is in the other ups thread, hold on, I'll find it.

 

Hmmm good pic, kind of have that "come here and sign this damn clip board thingy" look to it....  

2006-12-13 6:10 PM
in reply to: #623556

Expert
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The High Plains
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
thegoddess - 2006-12-13 5:57 PM

...A while back, on a whim and out of desperation, I sent a resume in for an import/export specialist.

They are a well established, but small (40 employees) and very lucrative company...


 

Import/export, eh? Small, very lucrative company, huh? Are you sure they're not ... connected?

 

Congrats on the new gig. Too bad you had to turn in the UPS browns. I liked the musings in your original post.

 

2006-12-13 6:36 PM
in reply to: #623198

Extreme Veteran
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Racine WI
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS-Off Topic
Received an email today throught the Wisconsin Dept of Corrections alerting us to the fact that UPS has recently had a "relatively large number" of thier uniforms stolen (or purchased by an unauthorized vendor) and that the public should be aware of people attempting to make "UPS" deliveries utilizing private vehicles. Not sure if the feds are considereing this to be a "plot" or just a personal safety issue but they seemed concerned due to the sheer large number of uniforms that were involved.


2006-12-13 6:43 PM
in reply to: #623589

Master
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Savannah,
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS-Off Topic

MarkK - 2006-12-13 7:36 PM Received an email today throught the Wisconsin Dept of Corrections alerting us to the fact that UPS has recently had a "relatively large number" of thier uniforms stolen (or purchased by an unauthorized vendor) and that the public should be aware of people attempting to make "UPS" deliveries utilizing private vehicles. Not sure if the feds are considereing this to be a "plot" or just a personal safety issue but they seemed concerned due to the sheer large number of uniforms that were involved.

 

Shhhhhh...........

2006-12-13 7:03 PM
in reply to: #623355

molto veloce mama
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Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
today ella pulled a 'you don't love me' thing (she's been doing that a lot lately - you love fiona more, you love the dog more, nobody loves me, etc. - i did the same thing at that age) anyway, i responded with humor...singing like buddy in the store 'i'm in a store, and i'm SINGING!' i sang 'we're walking to the bus, and I LOVE YOU!'
2006-12-13 7:08 PM
in reply to: #623198

Master
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Denver
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
Cool post. Bet they won't let you wear shorts at your new job though.
2006-12-13 7:20 PM
in reply to: #623198

Master
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Falls Church, Virginia
Subject: RE: What I learned at UPS
thegoddess - 2006-12-13 1:07 PM

4) 85% of people have dogs (my est.) 99.99% of the owners think their dogs don't bite.



We get a lot of stuff at the house, and my big dog has a huge scary bark, and my little (friendly) papillon looks suspiciously like an evil biting chihuahua. I have a little bag of dog treats on the front door for our FedEx guy, and he always gives them treats and has learned their names.
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