Job Update

Almost done with my first week on the new job. I think I'm gonna like this. I'm already ecstatic that I don't have to do anything dealing with a truck.
As a result, I'm not nearly as tired when I come home.
It's also nice not having to worry about back-door receiving times.
As it turns out, the District Manager likes to keep guys as close to home as possible, so I'll be taking over the route that I am training on right now. Even better, except for one cluster of stores in the Union, NJ area, it's essentially the same route I had with Kraft. Today, the first 5 stores we did were all within 15 minutes of my house. It was so nice to be able to service them without having to drive 48 miles to Perth Amboy first to pick up a truck.
I like the schedule too. You order on two days, pack out/merchandise on two days, and the fifth day is a "market day", which is the day that you either get ahead for another day, or do resets, or whatever. It's basically a free day...sort of like what study hall was in high school. I've been told that for most guys, this is a 3rd day off more often than not. :-) This past Tuesday, I was home by 11:30 AM. Sweet! ;-)
So Monday is a pack out day, Tuesday is my market day, Wed & Thurs are order days, and Friday is a pack out day.
Oh, and since the route is the same area that I already had, that means I know whether or not some stores have yet been serviced this week by the guy who took over my Kraft route, which means that I was able to "tailor" the shelf space to my benefit with the other guy being none the wiser. :-)
The thing that is the hardest to get used to is the incredible diversity of products compared to Kraft. With Kraft, I just had to worry about pizza (DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, and South Beach Diet). With this job, I'm responsible for Freschetta, Red Baron, Tony's, Red Baron Breakfast pizza, Tony's Pouches, Red Baron Stuffed Slices, Pagoda Asian Sensations snacks (egg rolls and such), and Larry's Stuffed Potatoes.

But it seems a lot more fun so far. I think I made a good decision. Time will tell.

2006 is shaping up pretty good so far. :-)

Eight months, four weeks, one day, 11 hours smober
10939 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,735.38
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