Back to Work at Amazon

We arrived in the lobby at Amazon right on schedule at 9:30 AM yesterday. There was one more couple there - Doug and Patty - who were returning workampers and were here from Dollywood Park in Tennessee, They left there for the same reason we left Grey's Point Camp in Virginia - not enough hours. We were given our old badges back from last year and we clocked in for the safety training. That was a repeat of what we had last year but it was a good refresher. There have been some minor changes since we were here last here, but for the most part, it was like we hadn't left at all.

It was close to 11:30 by the time the safety class wrapped up so we took a 1 1/2 hour break before we had to meet in HR for our orientation. One of the advantages to staying in the campground across the street is that we are able to come home in situations like this rather than sitting in a break room for long periods.

Part of the orientation was receiving our shift assignments, and we discussed day shift possibilities with the HR representative. She talked to a couple folks and they were able to switch us to the day shift - Sun thru Wed, 6 AM to 4:30 PM. We were happy about that. Unfortunately, that decision was overturned later in the day when we received an email stating that no workampers had been assigned day shift yet by the senior operations people, and they switched us back to nights. So, instead of going in to work this morning at 6 AM, we will go in at 5 PM, work tonight, and then have off until Sunday night. We were not happy about that, but we can make it work as long as they put us on the day shift for the regular season beginning sometime in September. It shouldn't be too bad with the almost empty campground. One of the biggest problems with working nights last year was the noise outside during the day when we had to sleep. That should not be a problem from now until September.

Since we have to work tonight, we will stay close to home today and probably try to get in a nap before we leave for work. It will take some adjusting to get used to the new schedule, but we've done it before. Tonight we find out about on-the-job changes that were made since we left in December. We're hoping for a smooth beginning...