Three weeks ago, I was at a cross roads of a sudden change in whether I still had a job or choose to end the 29 years at UPS by refusing the opportunity they were offering. It was nerve wracking few days as it unfolded. But now I couldnt be happier that it has occurred and am thankful. I moved from the sweet facility of Cerritos to the ghetto of Vernon never imagining that it would be a blessing.
2.5 weeks ago on March 7th, I started my new commute at 5:15am to the Vernon industrial area outside of Los Angeles for the position as Admin Assistant in the Grande Vista Plant Engineering dept. Now you might be asking what is Plant Engineering actually? Well, "plant" means anything relating to the facilities mechanical maintenance & housekeeping & the employees it takes to fulfill this. So my responsibilities are completely different than when I worked for 29 years in the Industrial Engineering dept in the moving of physical packages based on zipcodes, time in transit, truck volume, and training all the Hub employees.
Now I oversee 27 employees payroll & benefits, keeping them paid correctly, days off and vacation scheduling, and in uniforms. I order every supply that is required for people (like toilet paper, hand soap, etc),supplies for the porters to clean, bag trash, etc..amazing what all goes into that process. And I order everything mechanics need to repair or upkeep the machinery, from wire, iron, rivets, batteries, etc most of it comes out of three suppliers and I am learning who provides what and/or the fastest. I create the PO#'s prior to a vendor providing a service like plumbing or electrical, bringing us iron or steel, or compacting our trash. And then I process the invoices when they come in to us by snail mail, email or fax, get the approval signatures (2), and than send to the finance dept in Sandy Ut for payment to each vendor. Last step is 3 weeks later I verify payments have actually been made. (cuz we want them to keep providing the services for us) Other duties are processing Haz Mat Manifests for the Federal and State requirements after they are picked up by a company from Missouri every couple of months. What a process separating all of this material is and how it is handled, and the paperwork required to avoid hefty fines from the government.
Yesterday I went through the certification training for Hazardous Material Manifesting which is a complicated and confusing process. With my supervisor Bob, he explained it first in conversation and then we went through the slide show, verbal test aced with a 100%.. Whew...
Later that day he was on the phone with the PE Division Manager and they were discussing how I was doing......... And Bobs comment to him was that I was catching on quickly and doing much better than he anticipated, that I had just taken the HWM test and aced it first time through.. he told him that he feels that "we were very lucky to get this smart gal and she will work out very well". First let me say that just his using the word gal, made me feel younger.. Ha ha
It's been nerve wracking in taking this job saving position as to who and how you will get along with the new management, but I have two supervisors and a manager that are easy going individuals to share an office with. bob is the main supervisor I work under, Randy is less seniority and new to his job also. Bob is a salty individual, very conversational, outgoing, fair minded and devoted to his work. his personal life is rocky as he's in the middle of 2nd divorce. The salty part is that he has the use of profanity down to a worn out consistency.. The damns and shits I haven't much of a problem with, but it's the persistent taking of the Lords name in vain that has me cringing. He uses JC and G-dammit often and not in anger, just bad habit I think is how it came as his habit.
It has been a relief to be so pleased with this job, and since I have 3-5 more years left before retirement occurs it won't be a counting of the days till then just yet. Now let me share a funny story that happened on day six.
Two of the women porters have a history of cat fighting with each other, one is Chinese and the other Hispanic. So they come into the office or are calling Bobs cell phone griping and complaining about the other, what one did in the others area to dirty it up or what they said.. He repeatedly tells them to settle it and knock it off.. The Chinese woman comes ini to the office for Bob to request a last minute day off for the next day and he's giving her a line of questions as to why of late notice. She then walks over to the corner where my desk is and begins to start in what would appear to be a conversation with me that I didn't take notice of right away. But she begins with "I wasn't here when Bob introduced you last week but when you told the women that you don't speak Spanish, they all hate you and" at this point I have turned towards her and have held up both hands and in a stern voice to snap her to attention said "whoa, whoa, please, do not EVER feel that you EVER have to come into this office to tattle ANYTHING that ANYONE should tell you about me, because two things 1) I DONT CARE and 2) I don't do that kind of high school thing in my personal life and won't be doing it here on the job, so let's get this clear between us, and you can go back to work." It had my heart racing, but Bob agreed it's what she needed to hear, as they are all like high schoolers even though they are in their 40's & 60's...
So while I am more inclined to be a night owl rather than a early morning riser, I now rise at 4am and am generally in bed by 9pm hoping the 5mg of melatonin will knock me out into lala land pretty much when I hit the pillow.if I want to feel good for a full day.. I enjoy getting off at noon and my lawn/flowerbeds looks great with all the time attention they get. Love that.. God is good...
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