Light Bulb Quest
They have coexisted uneasily in the same country for centuries. They don’t often mix, but you can find their respective communities in close proximity to each other. They identify as different ethnicities with all that entails. Each group has its own dialect, religious tradition, and cultural heritage. These differences produce different visions of the country […]
Peak season during a pandemic was the best possible time for me to do my 30-day trial as a UPS driver. Yes, I was being thrown into the deep end of the pool where I’d either sink or swim. But being in my 30 Days came with certain safeguards. For one, I could look forward […]
As a new package car driver for UPS, I’ve been assigned to a particular training route for a 30-day trial period. I call it ‘the box,’ as it’s a perfect square about .75 miles on each side; perfectly flat, laid out in a simple grid. But inside this box is an amazingly rich and diverse […]
I’ve shared some personal things in this blog. Losing my dream job. Losing our house. But this is probably the most personal post I’ll ever write. Today is the eleventh anniversary of my dad’s death. On December 14th, 2009, my dad was killed on the job. He was involved in a freak single-vehicle accident while […]
You might assume from the name of this blog that my favorite part of the holiday season is all the lights. That’s a perfectly reasonable guess, but it happens to be wrong. Instead, my favorite part of the holiday season is the music. Like my affinity for light bulbs, my love of Christmas music drives […]
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m in the middle of my 30-day trial period as a package car driver for UPS. Here’s how it all went down. Because UPS is a ‘union shop,’ everything is governed by the current collective bargaining agreement between the company and the Teamsters. The contract states that you […]
Earlier I mentioned a book, Designing Your Life, that I was using to help me move forward after losing my dream job. Some of you were eager for me to share more about it. So here is the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series of Book Club posts. I’d never heard […]
I have some exciting news! After nearly five months at UPS as a warehouse worker, I recently began training to become a package car driver. This is a big step up for me. It means moving from part-time early mornings to full-time days. I also earn a higher wage and get to wear the iconic […]
Although it feels like much longer, I’ve only been working at UPS for about five months. It’s been an interesting transition from my former career as an academic administrator, where I dealt with people and ideas from behind a desk in an office, rather than with physical objects in a warehouse. Many of the people […]
United Parcel Service is Big Business. With $74 billion in revenues and $4-plus billion in profits, it currently ranks 43rd on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations. UPS is also Big Labor. One source places its workforce of 377,640 employees worldwide as the 9th largest U.S.-based private employer. (The company website lists its […]