The Summer of the tour

29 November 2008

 The summer of 2006 I was working pat time at UPS loading big brown trucks in the morning.  The real inspiration for getting the job was for the health benefits, its Teamsters so the benefit package is bar none.  This turned out to be my favorite job ever; you would stand in front of a 4’ wide conveyer belt, grab packages and load 3 trucks from 4am to 9am.

 There is more of a science to the process, but this is the basic premise.  The routes I loaded were considered the worst; the turnover rate prior to me was multiple people a week.  There were a ton of packages, and they were heavy and awkward.  To give a quick example one truck delivered to a mall so everything that you find in Pier 1 is mailed UPS, all the pants for the Gap, came UPS… so you would get 50 huge boxes weighing 70 lbs, and have to figure out how will all this fit, while keeping everything organized to make the drivers job easier.  This is all happening as packages keep coming at 2 mph.

 

I loved the job simply because no one gave you crap (except the drivers from time to time, especially at Xmas when they come into a FULL truck) you loaded your trucks, listened to the IPod, and went home.  Since, all my managers loved me I got free shirts, hats, water bottles a cycling jersey which though basically free to the company gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. 

 When July rolled around, this began a great month.  Everyday I would rush home, and watch the tour, and go for bike rides with Skippy (he was in town for a couple of months this summer).  Floyd Landis taught me the power of drinking Jack Daniels the night before a race, though my results varied.  It was by far one of the best summers I can remember, no worries just riding my bike, watching bike racing, and hanging out with the new girlfriend at night.

  I eventually got a job working in a cabinet shop which destroyed the remainder of the summer since after working the 5 hours I would drive to Blue Hills in Milton, get on my bike ride through Boston to near tufts, and work at a shop I HATED.  I would then do the return ride cutting through Dorchester, and back to the car, and drive home.