As I️ begin this post, we have officially finished 9 weeks here at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY. I am very ready to leave, but we have one more week. We learned today our last day will be Thursday, December 21. I was so hopeful that we would only have 3 days this week, well, actually it would have been 2 1/2 since we have 5 hours of PTO we can take. Instead we have 4 1/2. The only happy entity in this situation will be our checking account.

It has been a LOOONNNGGG week here. There was MET on Thursday, so it was a full 50 hours.

I was taught a new job this week, Manual Slam. This is not an every day job, it is only necessary when the line has been down and packages have built up and need to be added in large quantities. It could also be needed when the machine that adds the label isn’t working. It is an easy job, took only about half an hour to learn. Basically, you take a package, set it on a calibrated scale, manually scan the SPOO label and the box/poly bag/jiffy mailer identifier; this prompts the mailing label to print and you manually add it to the package; you are done after you put the package on the conveyor. See? Very easy!

It was a week full of multi’s, with a few quarters of rebin and singles. I’ve got to be honest at this point and say that even rebin, which I was so initially excited about, has now become as boring as the rest. Time still passes more quickly, and also keeps my mind more occupied than regular packing, so that’s positive, and I’m still happy to do it when I see my name under “rebin” on the roster.

We have also spent most of our Campbellsville Cash, as to not just leave it here when we leave. Campbellsville Cash is virtual “dollars” in an account in ones name. You access it at the HR hub and can spend it only on Amazon swag. They have t-shirts, jackets, insulated lunch boxes, ear warmers, key chains, etc. Most of it is a fairly nice quality, and of course, says Amazon and/or Fulfillment all over it.

Outside of working, we have done some fun things. On Thursday evening, Harry and Vicki joined us as we enjoyed our last meal at the college, as well as a play in the tiny on campus theater. The play was a “Live Radio Show” of “It’s A Wonderful Life.” The ensemble included 6 actors/actresses who were dressed in 1940’s style clothes, and performed in front of a radio head of the same era. Those 6 people changed their voices, body postures and attitudes to become each of the characters of the Frank Capra movie of the same name. There was also 2 people off to the side, responsible for the sound effects, doors opening and closing, walking away, bells ringing, etc.

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We had no idea what to expect, but we all love the movie so expectations were high. We were not disappointed! The cast did an awesome job of making us feel like we were watching a live radio broadcast, set in the 1940’s.

We love when we find to local things like this to take advantage of, it is one of our favorite things as we travel. You may remember that this past summer, while living and working down the Jersey Shore, we went to see “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Ocean City High School, which was put on by the Ocean City Theater Company. We love getting out to local festivals and the like, as each community around the country has their own way of celebrating their individual towns.

Just yesterday, we had a day out with Tracy and Lee, finally earning our “KY Bourbon Trail” t-shirts! It was their first distillery visit, and thankfully Jim Beam did it right! The grounds were decorated beautifully for the holiday. The tour was $14 per person, but 90 minutes long and totally worth it, especially since we were able to keep our tasting shot glasses. Our guide did a great job of explaining the processes in a factual manner, throwing in a bit of silly humor here and there.

Lee decided at the very last minute to purchase a bottle of the single barrel Knob Creek. Part of the tour was allowing guests the opportunity to take an empty bottle, manually rinse it in Bourbon, add it to the bottling line and watch it go through the filling station, get it’s label and cork style cap, then have it dipped in wax (they don’t let guests dip like at Makers Mark) and then add their thumb print to the wax (if desired). If they had the option of getting smaller bottles, not just a 750ml, I may have considered it, but we hadn’t had tastings yet and I had no idea if we’d even like it. It was very cool though, something that set their tour apart from others.

After we enjoyed (well – some of us enjoyed – wish I had a pic of Tracy’s “I don’t like this” face!) tasting some Jim Beam products, my favorite being the Jim Beam Double Oaked, it was time to move on. We were all starving!

TripAdvisor showed a couple of options for Chinese food (our chosen food genre) in Elizabethtown, and we decided on the Green Bamboo Restaurant. It’s 4 1/2 out of 5 stars didn’t disappoint. Sadly, I left the bag with my leftovers on the table when we left. Leftover Chinese food is one of my favorite next day lunches – oh well!

On our final full day off here in Campbellsville, we finally got to spend some time with Karen & Al! We met them last time we were here, but this year our schedules are completely opposite, as they work nights. To accommodate this, we (Karen & Al, Tracy & Lee and Bill & I,) met at Brothers at 3pm for an early dinner. We enjoyed delicious BBQ, but the best part was the company and conversation. Two hours passed very quickly and it was time for Karen & Al to head in for their shift. Hope schedules allow for us to see them in FL!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that day (12/16) marked three years since my nephew, Andrew’s, passing. Long time readers will recall how devastated my whole family was (and still is) by this terrible thing. The waves of grief do not knock me down as fiercely as they once did, thankfully, but I still think of him all the time, trying now to focus on happy memories, even as the tears still flow freely. His presence is always missed, especially at family gatherings and holidays. I miss his random phone calls, telling me his latest escapades

It is about time I finished up this post! We have finished our time at Amazon and are now in sunny, warm Florida! I’ll give you a brief recap of our final week and then do a summary post after we receive our last pay and bonus.

As I️ mentioned earlier, it was announced that our last day was to be Thursday, December 21, which is our MET (mandatory extra time aka overtime) day. I️ had been hoping for a shorter week, but made peace with it and scheduled our PTO for Tuesday afternoon. We choose that day for 2 reasons, one was we were having photo’s taken for an article we were interviewed for (more on that in a different post), and also it was supposed to be the warmest day of the week, so best for packing up outside.

Tracy & Lee took their 5 hours PTO on Tuesday also, so they were home by 5:15pm. We decide to head out to Garcia’s and enjoy one last meal together before our departures in different directions.

It was a crazy week. Everyday I️ was moved around all over the place. Some people get really upset when that happens to them, I️ didn’t really care, as it makes the day go quicker and ever so slightly more interesting. One day I actually wrote it all down, as to remember all the places I️ worked in one day. Here goes: started in the Loft at pack station 111, which is next to the problem solve desk, and processes all the pslips (orders that have been redone due to an error of some sort); next quarter was moved to rebin – awesome! Third quarter got real crazy – started packing mulit’s in the Loft, then got moved to the manual slam, but the lines were down quite awhile, so joined a caravan of blue tubs full of packages going to the Studio for manual slam there (had to bring them down in one elevator- walk through the whole C building and most of the B building – then put them on a different elevator to go up to the Studio). I️ was asked to take my break late to catch up, so myself and 2 others took our breaks half an hour late. Fourth quarter I was back in the Loft – started out packing multi’s, was asked to rebin, then moved back to multi’s after inbound help went home at 4:30. Another day, I️ spent half of it packing multi’s in the Loft, moved downstairs, to the Downs, to work manual slam in gift wrap, then moved to the Studio for manual slam there. Actually, the whole week was like that. Crazy!

Bill and I️ talked about when we would pull out of C’ville. He thought Friday morning, well rested, would be good. I️ kept saying if we got out early enough, we should try to get a couple hours in on Thursday. We decided to wait and see.

Then, Thursday FINALLY arrived. I️ was packing singles on line 5 in the Loft, and at 7:10am Jessie’s voice came over the loudspeaker “ATTENTION CAMPERFORCE” the whole Loft started yelling out – “YAY!” Jessie continued “Please log out of your station, gather your belongings and report to break room A for your exit meeting!” WHOOT! The excitement in the air was palpable! I️ finished my box, signed out and started across toward the stairs, saying goodbye and getting hugs from everyone along the way. My fellow Camperforce coworkers were doing the same, and I️ saw a few tears.

I️ was fine – no tears for me – until I️ saw Bryan (my manager) on the way across Building B. He leaned down (he’s every bit of 6’4″ tall!) to hug me and wish me well, and I choked up a bit. He was such an awesome manager – always happy, smiling and willing to go the extra mile to help out.

I️ found Bill, and we found seats for the meeting. The building managers all said a little something, a lot of thank-you’s, happy we were there, we all did a great job kind of stuff. They all truly do love us there, it is obvious. The best thing they said was we would be getting paid for the whole day!

We were on our way home by 8am! In the car, we talked about how far we could get leaving today instead of waiting until tomorrow. We stopped to see Tracy & Lee to tell them we were DONE!

The only person missing from the exit meeting was Kelly Calmes. We were about 15 minutes from leaving when he pulled up in his truck. More hugs and goodbyes! He is truly a great guy – and is THE reason Camperforce is as successful as it is.

So – that’s it for today. As I️ said above, I’ll be posting a summary about our second Amazon Peak.

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