Hiccups

Philippians 4:4-11

.. .After reading the sign, I felt my heart sink to my knees, and I looked at Sam for his reaction. He felt the “big shots” were making changes, “cuz that’s what the big shots do. We shall soon see what’s in store for us now.!” Sarcastically mentioning, he didn’t think it involved a pay raise, at least not for us, and proceeded to punch out on the time clock. He looked back at me and smiled. He didn’t feel we had anything to worry about. The number of trailers we were emptying were increasing, and this UPS hub was super busy. We would find out more at the meeting. At that point I was looking at finishing the fall semester and still would need four classes to complete an Associates Degree. I was wondering what kind of changes would be in the making at UPS and how it would effect my taking classes. I would find out tomorrow for sure. I made sure to pray for positive outcomes only.

. ..The next day it was a very large meeting. All the drivers from this service hub were there as well. I was being paid overtime for staying past my 5 hour shift, and lucky it was Friday. I never took classes on Friday. I saw Sam and some of the other employees. Sam was speaking with the drivers. They didn’t seem to be happy and I was getting concerned. I then noticed a Teamster Union official talking with someone I presumed would be management. I was correct. The UPS management asked everyone to sit down, and they began the meeting. It turned out that this hub was very productive. Because of the increased volume of packages being processed here they were adding more trucks for distribution. They also decided to change the way the distribution trucks would be loaded. In essence, we would be loading the distribution trucks as well. We would load between 6 and 8 distribution trucks by addresses. We would have to unload the trailers first, and then load the distribution trucks.

.I looked at Sam for his reaction, and I noticed he was just shaking his head from left to right. That indication and the frowns on the faces of the drivers told me something was beginning to stink badly with this management reorganization of the work load. The drivers pointed out that they preferred to load their own trucks. That way they could optimize the deliveries. They knew the roads and would load their trucks in a way they could deliver the packages quickly. Although they seemed to provide a logical argument, the UPS management seemed to have made up their mind, and decided to implement their new system in steps. I was glad to be finishing this semester, I wasn’t sure I would be able to take any more classes not knowing the uncertainty of the work load. I was right with that decision. The week after I finished my finals, we began the new loading system at UPS, and it was pure chaos. …My Life’s Journey Continued…