Orientation and Safety Class

We all left in our own vehicles yesterday morning at 7:15 AM to get to Amazon.com, find a parking space and meet in the lunchroom by 8 AM. We all received our badges and were divided into 2 groups - there were probably close to 100 people total. The first group (all of us) would do the orientation in the AM and the safety class in the afternoon. The 2nd group obviously had the reverse schedule.

We went into a conference room and spent the next 4 hours doing the final paperwork, discussing schedules, watching videos of company policies relating to harrasement, etc., and listening to discussions about loss prevention, drug testing, code of business conduct and ethics, performance coaching program and other benefits including assignment of a code that gives all of us a 10% discount on any merchandise purchased from Amazon.com up to $1,000 total.

Our lunch period followed - 30 minutes - and we then did the safety class for the rest of the afternoon. They divided our group into 5 smaller groups and we were assigned a trainer to guide us through the facility pointing out all the safety features of the warehouse, where to go in case of a tornado warning - remember, we are in tornado territory - and generally what to do in case of any emergency. We all were fascinated and impressed by the size and quality of this whole operation. To think this whole thing started in a garage, selling some books in Seattle, in 1995 is unbelievable.

The last hour or so was spent in short demonstrations on how to lift palates and heavy boxes, how to tape containers, and how to recognize the purpose of all the various colors of tape that are all over the warehouse floor.

All in all it was an interesting and very educational day. Of course, there are no cameras allowed in the facility so we couldn't take any pictures. We are scheduled for three 5 hour days - 11:30 to 4:30, Wed-Fri - for the rest of this week and we begin our normal schedule on Sunday of 5 PM to 3:30 AM.

Stay tuned for more updates from our 1st "real" work day today when we do hands-on work for the first time...