Chapter 2: Who's Idea Was This Anyway?

I spent my first day on the job looking for some space where I could move product to sort and identify it before I logged it into the computer. Dad had provided me with a HP 14” ProBook laptop, not new but certainly adequate for the job. It took me about ten minutes to figure out that I needed a shop vacuum as well. Everything was coated in dust and I didn’t think he’d want his product shipped out in that condition. It wouldn’t do the computer any good, either. I could see that it was going to be a big job. At least I wouldn’t be toting full bags from one place to another. That was all handled by forklift.

“Mr. Heider, I need some space where I can sort out and clean bags and restock them in some kind of order. Can you help me?”

“Sure, kid. I’ll make some room for you. Glad to see someone’s finally tackling that mess. I think you and probably your Dad, are going to be surprised at how much out of date junk there is in that pile of stuff. Make sure he gets you a shop vac too. My guys spend too much time trying to clean up the packaging before it’s shipped.”

“It wouldn’t hurt if the stocks were all labelled where they were stored,” I suggested. “It looks like there’s enough space in the racks if it’s done properly.”

“Well, if you can do it, you’ll get some free beer from the boys,” Lonnie grinned. “They hate that part of the job ... fishing around trying to figure out which bag goes where.”

“Yeah ... I bet. I hear it gets hot here during the day, so maybe that beer will be worth the effort,” I chuckled. “Can I use your phone to call my Dad? I’ll ask him about a shop vacuum.”

He pointed to his phone with a nod. I looked at the phone list on the wall and saw Dad’s local at the top of the page and punched in his number.

“Hi, Dad. Sorry to bother you, but I need a shop vacuum to clean up these bags before I start restocking them. Can you order one for us here in shipping?” I asked with grin and a wink at Lonnie.

“Okay,” he agreed immediately. “Take my car at lunch and pick one up at the Lowe’s in Redmond. How’s the work going?”

“Okay, I guess. I’ve got some ideas about how I want to do this and Mr. Heider is helping making sure I’ve got some room to do the cleaning and sorting as well as racking space for the finished product. It’s a big job but I can see it’s going to help him and the guys in the bagging room.”

“Good for you, Joel. Keep at it. See you tonight,” he said and hung up.

“I’ll take you over to Lowe’s,” Lonnie volunteered. “I’m going that way anyway for lunch. You might as well join me. You can tell me what you’ve got in mind for organizing the bags. Might as well make sure it’s going to work for us.”

“Sure. Thanks, Mr. Heider.”

“You might as well call me Lonnie, Joel. Everyone does.”

We were back from our lunch and Lowe’s just after one that afternoon and after Lonnie found me a fifty-foot extension cord, I was ready to start a dusty, nasty job. It was slow going at first, trying to sort the various product names, contents, and sizes. By five that afternoon, I was sweaty, dusty, and frustrated. I definitely needed a dust mask, and I wanted an elevated stool for the laptop so that I wasn’t forever bending over to enter data. I definitely needed a shower when I got home and I thought I’d better bring something to cover Dad’s seat in the car or it would be as dirty as I was.

“Lonnie tells me you worked hard at getting that job started, Joel,” Dad mentioned as we headed home.

“Oh ... well ... I didn’t want to disappoint you ... or him,” I said, mopping my brow once more.

“If you know your way, take the truck tomorrow and maybe a change of clothes,” Dad suggested. “Lonnie can show you where the employee showers are.”

“Oh ... okay. That’s sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Dad.”

I didn’t have any problem getting to sleep that night. It wasn’t really strenuous work, but it was tiring as I moved items for cleaning and identification, then wondered where to rack them. I would wait until I had a better idea of the higher volume items before I decided. I was sure Lonnie could help me with that.

The little Mazda pickup was in good condition and easy to drive. I had my gym bag with a change of clothes and my lunch sitting on the passenger seat as I retraced Dad’s route to his plant. I was a bit early, but I wanted to get going and make some progress today ... and for the rest of the week.

I ran into a couple of problems later that morning. I found two different bags with the same label and contents. One was paper and the other was plastic. By the look of them, I was guessing the plastic was more current. I was certain Lonnie could confirm that.

“Yeah, you’re right, kid,” he nodded. “The paper bag is obsolete, so make a count and set them aside. The office will want to know about it and you don’t add it into inventory. They won’t get used again.”

“What will you do with them?” I wondered.

“There’s a company that will buy them from us for recycling. We don’t get much for them, but at least it saves us paying for them being taken to the dump. You’re probably going to find more than a few of these kinds of duplications, so we’ll set them aside to make the pickup by the recycler worth his while.”

“Sure, no problem,” I said.

I was glad Lonnie had suggested we buy some extra bags for the vacuum, since the dust was thick on some of the obsolete inventory. The plant was a dusty environment to begin with, so it was no wonder that dormant items had a lot of dust covering them. I decided then and there that I would vacuum the racks before I put any reconditioned stock back in them.

“I’m getting a lot of positive comments from Lonnie and the warehouse crew about you, Joel,” Dad said as we sat down for dinner a couple of weeks later. “They sure like what you’re doing with the old and current stock. I’m really pleased to hear that,” he smiled.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re making us proud of you, Joel,” my mother said. “Just because you’re the boss’s son you didn’t expect a soft job. It’s a very good attitude to have.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, keeping my eyes down on my food. I wondered if they thought maybe I wouldn’t do a good job and I’m surprising them. I hoped not.

Lonnie wasn’t kidding when he told me the warehouse got pretty hot during the summer. I probably spent most of my time in shorts and the mandatory safety boots. I didn’t need a shirt and the showers got me cleaned up before I went home.

I’d developed a routine for my work, sorting out bag designs by label first, then sizes. I was logging everything, even the obsolete items since they had value one way or another. I learned there was no recycling for plastic bags available, so we had to dispose of them elsewhere. A small cement block manufacturer agreed to take them off our hands for use in his operation. We learned later that since they were all polyethylene based he could use them as fuel in his kiln.

Despite the fact that it wasn’t all heavy lifting, I did get a good workout hauling bags from the stacks and sorting them before vacuuming. Then the process had to be repeated when I decided where they should be stored. Naturally, I got some guidance from Lonnie, but I did the work. I had some pretty sore muscles in the first two weeks, but afterwards, it seemed to get easier.

Now and then, some of the girls from the front office would wander out to Lonnie’s office with some papers ... probably shipping documents. A couple of them were pretty hot and I made sure to nod or say hello when they passed by. I assume they knew who I was, but I had no idea who they were until Lonnie clued me in.

“The blonde with the big headlights is Babe; real name Barbara Chesniki. Married to some long haul trucker I’m told but doesn’t always act like it ... if you know what I mean. The red head ... I call her Giggles. Her name is Gisele and she’s single but a few years older than you. The dark-haired one is Brenda Franzen, and she’s married to a teacher at the high school. Those girls have been here for a while. For them it’s a good steady job and helps with the mortgage and other things around the house.”

“Sounds like they are all off limits,” I said, mildly disappointed.

“That’s a good way to look at it,” Lonnie agreed.

“I’ve got one more year of high school before I go to college,” I sighed. “I’m hoping the pickin’s are halfway decent there.”

“Did you have a girlfriend back in Iowa?”

“Naw ... not really. I dated plenty, but I wasn’t an athlete. The best I could do was a mixed softball league, but that was fun and I got more than a couple of dates out of it.”

“Around here, the big deal is football, track, and skiing. The ski team spends a lot of time on Mount Bachelor. You might want to try it when you get some free time in the winter.”

“Yeah ... I would like to try. It looks like fun from what I see on TV.”

“My daughter and son-in-law like to cross-country ski in Crater Lake Park. It’s a little easier on my grandchildren. They’re just five and seven. One of these days the kids will get the downhill bug and that will change everything,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I guess. I was looking at some maps and saw a lot of interesting places to go around here. When I get my own car, I’ll be able to explore a bit. Right now, I’ve got to earn some money toward that. I’m using Dad’s pickup for the summer, but when school’s in, I’ll be on the bus. That kind of limits my social activities at school.”

“What kind of transport are you looking for?” Lonnie asked.

“I don’t know. I kind of like the little pickup but I don’t know how good it would be in the winter. I was wondering about a Jeep or maybe something with four-wheel-drive.”

“Well, we don’t get a hell of a lot of snow around here, but that would be good if you were going anywhere in the mountains in the winter. There sure are a lot of them for sale. Let me know when you decided what you want. I’ve got some connections and maybe I can save you some money.”

“That would be great, Lonnie. Thanks ... thanks a lot. I’ll keep that in mind,” I assured him.

The summer seemed to pass very quickly as I worked at the plant and explored the town and surroundings on the weekends. I had nine weeks of steady work before I would be back in school and I was saving every nickel I could toward buying some kind of vehicle. I’d done everything I’d been tasked to do and then some, when I wrapped up the project. I sat down with Brenda Franzen and explained what I had done to help with the inventory. I found the accounting system was compatible with the program I used for the inventory when I first started the job.

With her permission, I’d set up a link to accounting that automatically deducted packaging from any order that was accepted and that would be overwritten when the order was actually filled and shipped. There would usually be variances and the program would account for that factor. I kept all my programs simple so that I could easily teach the ladies how to use them and get useful information.

On my own, I set up a usage database that actually noted the frequency of items being ordered, the timing, and the volume. That helped make sure they didn’t under or over-order product. Almost all the items the plant produced were seasonal, so I made sure that information was included on the database. I made friends with Mrs. Clauson in accounting and she promised to monitor my programs to make sure they were operating properly. I volunteered to come in evenings or weekends to fix things if there were problems. That seemed to be a big deal for her. She was an older lady and computer systems were not something she was brought up on. However, she did appreciate the useful information that she was getting.

When Friday, September 2 arrived, I was pleased to be invited to big party in the office. Luckily they waited until I’d showered and changed before I contaminated the place. I wasn’t quite prepared for the surprise I was in store for. Mr. Voight, the head accountant, got up in front of everyone and made a big deal of the work I did this summer.

“Joel, you have no idea how much work and money you have saved us this summer. Your efforts to clean up that ugly mess in packaging and put together the information on our computers was very valuable. We know now where we have been wasting money and where we can save money as well. Not only that, we can service our customers more efficiently. I want to thank you on behalf of our staff for the yeoman effort you put in in the past two months and I’m pleased to offer this bonus for your efforts. Thank you, Joel.” I got a round of applause to cap off the total surprise.

I accepted the envelope without opening it. I was a little stunned that everyone seemed to think I’d done something special. To me it was a straight-forward project that I could do without much supervision. Now, I was expected to say something.