14 Comments:

April 29, 2005 8:09 AM,  Kerouaced said...

As usual good stuff. I think you could really piece together the different subjects you write about into a book or books. Have you thought of trying that?

 

April 29, 2005 8:21 AM,  Bottle Rocket Fire Alarm said...

Steve, a little bit. I'm still trying to decide whether to try some sort of collection / diary or if I should give a novel a shot.

The thought of publishing has really tickled my cranium a lot lately.

Sis, He was my favorite guy there. Very cool fella.

 

April 29, 2005 8:25 AM,  Other Brother said...

When I worked at the bowling alley there was a lane attendant there who still wore diapers. He was 22. Good guy, great attitude, had a mullett. But they let him go because of the smell.

 

April 29, 2005 12:21 PM,  EcamirG said...

my favorite part of working in a warehouse (the only part i liked) was wrapping palettes.

the fact that people exist who do not enjoy this activity gives me pause.

 

April 29, 2005 2:18 PM,  Wardo said...

Poor "Skidmaster!" Leave it to the warehouse trolls to boss him around. They'll use up their whole life there.

I liked wrapping skids too. Also, whipping out my Exact-o and slashing the plastic off. The dressing, then the denuding.

One time, we cut the wrap off this skid of new cookies, this great new brand that nobody else had tasted...naturally, the knife "accidentally" opened one of the bags, so we had no choice but to eat them. We frisbeed the ones we couldn't eat at the wall, laughing at the dusty detonations, and then we placed a full bag beneath the elevated skid, and released the air, pancaking the bag. We cheered. Nothing is more decadent than mutilating tasty food. Jumping on cream-filled donuts is particularly good. "Let's have a donut race!" we'd yell, and measure the distance the donut-jizz would spurt.

Those were the days. I have a way better job now though, looking at papers. When I am done, they are filed. It's almost as fun.

-A

 

April 29, 2005 2:36 PM,  Other Brother said...

One time I was working in a warehouse for a certain Lite beer company. My clumsy co-worker dropped an entire pallet of 30-packs from about 15 feet up.
We were forced to stay late and repack what we could. The rest we took home.

 

April 29, 2005 2:37 PM,  if_i_had_a_hammer said...

i used to work in a warehouse for an italian food distributor when i was a teenager, lugging around blocks of mozzarella and cases of tomato sauce. my cousin was the warehouse manager, a big burly guy with a loud mouth and a good heart, no one fucked with him. being the boss' cousin got me equal amounts of ridicule and respect. every manager of every restaurant we delivered to knew my cousin, so i ate like a king whenever i went out on the trucks. the drivers loved having me along.

they used to call us 'get-gos' because when the higher-ups would send down the bills from the airconditioned office upstairs, it was our jobs to 'go get it.'

i sometimes worked 12 hour days in the sticky brooklyn summer heat, made more money than i'm making now in my grown up job, and speed-smoked cigarettes and slept in the refridgerator whenever i had free moments.

 

April 29, 2005 2:42 PM,  EcamirG said...

oh man, argus, yes. slicing that stuff open, especially with a brand new blade.

rad.

 

April 29, 2005 7:41 PM,  Ray Nolan said...

You don't saccarinize your stories.

Very well balanced, very good.

 

April 30, 2005 11:41 AM,  ... said...

I have never worked for a warehouse, but I used to throw freight at night for a retailer I worked at during the day. I always enjoyed cutting the tape on a box the long way and then punching the box to open the ends....so gratifying...

 

April 30, 2005 5:52 PM,  Latigo Flint said...

You move me Steve, do you know that?

 

May 01, 2005 9:51 PM,  You've Got What I Need... said...

It's like this, who'd you rather be? Which is the best question ever. It's simple but perfect. Being able to choose your demons and curb-kick the rest and all that.

I dig this post, Steve.

 

May 02, 2005 9:39 AM,  Other Brother said...

Your latest entry sparked my interest, so I went out into the warehouse to see if any Squidmaster-types were working here. Imagine my shock when I saw that not only was everyone in the shipping department relatively competent, but that the whole dizzying process of wrapping pallets had become obsolete. The Squidmaster has been replaced by a machine. One of those funhouse-type spinning disks that you place the pallet on. The only thing an operator must do is hold the plastic wrap. Where's the fun in that?

 

May 03, 2005 11:35 AM,  Bookfraud said...

i've spent time in a warehouse and work now in a place with a large mailroom, and it seems like these are the places for people like poor squidmaster. i don't know what's more heartbreaking -- the loss of one's brain, essentially, or the fact he's never going to be aware of everybody's condescension. i knew a brilliant lawyer who was in an auto accident in his mid 50s, and basically turned his brains to mush. it can happen to you.

 

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