Whoa, who knew five o’clock was so early in the morning. It was still dark and more than a little bit chilly but I managed to drag myself out of bed in plenty of time to get to work by 6.45 a.m. From where we are staying we have to drive about 30 miles to get to the Amazon fulfillment center so at least I had that time to drink plenty of coffee; by the time we got to Fernley I felt almost human.
When we arrived there was already a long line of workcampers waiting in the lobby; we couldn’t get in out of the cold because we needed cards to get through the turnstiles so we all stood around waiting for someone to come get us. Someone did around quarter to 7, and we were all herded into a conference room; there are about 65 or so starting today but I think they are planning on employing around 350 workcampers here this year.
The first order of business was to hike from one end of the building to the other – on the outside – to sit in another room and wait to have our names called. We were called in groups of 10, alphabetically by first name, and we got to smile for the camera. We had to have our pictures taken for our badges that we get to swipe or scan every five minutes or so so that those upstairs know where we are at every minute of every day.
Since M comes before R Mike was called first and that was the last we saw of each other for a few hours while we attended SAFETY SCHOOL. The things I learned at safety school are mind blowing, or maybe attending made me want to blow my brains out? Anyway, everyone had to do it, and they showed us how to push a three tier cart the correct way, how to use a box cutter the correct way (it has a blunt end so I’m not sure what damage I could do if I used it the wrong way), how to lift a package the correct way, and the best one of all, how to use a folding step stool the correct way.  Only a single step though as we aren’t certified to use a two stepper or a ladder!
After safety school we had to take a multiple choice test which I think was impossible to fail, then we were taken back to a conference room and got to have lunch. Little did we know that the best was yet to come.
After lunch we filled out a bunch of forms and then we got to watch videos about more safety stuff and other stuff and sexual harassment stuff – it didn’t make a big impression to be honest. We got introduced to a bunch of people who in a place this size we might never see again, and then we got to leave.
Our first day didn’t involve anything too strenuous but I’m sure we’ll make up for that in the coming weeks.

Mike: Wow! I learned sooo! much!