Seekers' Lounge
exit43-6

Fulfillment Center

Aired Apr 20, 2023 267 lines Auto-transcribed

A few employees work at a fulfillment center.

Unknown Speaker #1

Times have changed, haven't they? Hell, when my old man or my great -grandpappy wanted a burrito or a alarm clock that slowly wakes you up with a light as if it is the light of the rising sun, they'd have to drive or take their steam to the A &P to get one. Now, with one simple click, we're 24 hours away from a bidet showing up at our door. Just like the one I'm using right now.

Unknown Speaker #2

All right, guys. Great job. This past week, numbers have been super high. Our efficiency rate has doubled in the past two weeks. I think that's due to our new hires. You guys have been doing a great job. We've really filled the team out. And so just going into our shifts this week, let's keep up the good work. You know what I mean? Thank

Unknown Speaker #3

you. Let's keep it up, you know? I appreciate the shout -out, Keith. Oh, of course. You know, I just want to make sure everybody knows. You know, I do the hires, so I want everybody to know that the hires are credit to me. I do all the interviews. I knew

Unknown Speaker #4

that you guys were incredible. I want to say thank you to the new hires. I do feel like our lack of success before you got here was a little bit my fault. I was a little slower than I initially expected, but thank you

Unknown Speaker #2

for being patient with me. Clarence, you've been with us for 34 years. You are 72 years old,

Unknown Speaker #3

you're doing the best that you can. Thank you. And so we just appreciate every day that you wake up and you make it here as a gift.

Unknown Speaker #4

and

And I apologize for kind of editorializing. When anybody orders Chapstick, I just throw in Vaseline and castor oil and products that I am familiar with. Oatmeal. Anytime anyone orders food. I apologize for that.

Unknown Speaker #5

Okay. Yeah, I had a question about that because I had seen that, and I think I have my answer. But, yeah, I saw Clarence kind of seeing what people ordered and being like, you don't need full toothpaste. You can do the same thing with baking soda and water.

Unknown Speaker #4

Yeah, I'm kind of... It's all right, Clarence. It's all right. That was Rodney, our fastest delivery driver.

Unknown Speaker #3

Rodney's quick. He's really,

Unknown Speaker #4

really good. Some people, and this is a rumor,

Unknown Speaker #3

some people say he's actually the real Santa Claus. He drives so fast. That's a rumor?

Unknown Speaker #5

That's a rumor. I took it as truth. I took it as truth. Well, I'll tell you this much. Santa's been working out. Santa

Unknown Speaker #4

is jacked. Woo!

Unknown Speaker #5

Santa's hot. I'll say it. I'll say it. Anyway, thank you, thank you. And I won't suggest money -saving tips to

Unknown Speaker #2

orderers. No, I mean, as long as we don't charge them for the full price, which I do know that we have been doing when we replace their items with...

it's okay

Unknown Speaker #4

if I replace the items with something that I think is okay as long as I charge them correctly. Yes. Really? That's okay.

So

Unknown Speaker #5

That seems pretty bad, too. But I'm

with it. I was wondering, just because I got the memo about... And again, I appreciate the recognition that things have kind of picked up since we've been here. But I said to the memo that you were getting a raise for hiring two hardworking boys. Yeah. And it just feels like we... I was wondering if we were ever going to see some sort of benefit for helping the

Unknown Speaker #4

okay

Unknown Speaker #2

company. Well, obviously you will. But, you know, raises for warehouse fulfillment workers are done on a yearly basis. And I don't think it's unusual for me to get a raise when I hire good guys because, like, you guys are good guys. And I picked you. And it feels like there's no real, like, a rubric for giving a raise to middle management.

Unknown Speaker #3

I had another sort of question, like, on this line of questioning, I

Unknown Speaker #2

guess. As I was being trained, every single thing that was taught to me was wrong. Like, each step was incorrect and I had to fix it and then also go into the training manual and fix that. Uh

Unknown Speaker #3

-huh. Which was no problem. I still upped the productivity and everything. But I don't know. Shouldn't I get some credit for that? And I know I'm new, but...

Unknown Speaker #2

Wow. So you just kind of let the training happen with me. And now you're giving me this note that I did it wrong?

Unknown Speaker #3

No, I kept telling you during the training, this isn't working. The machine keeps jamming. I think your finger's stuck in there.

Unknown Speaker #2

I thought you were on your cell phone or something.

Unknown Speaker #3

I don't know. I was looking you in the eyes.

Unknown Speaker #2

Well, that doesn't stop me from having that happen with my wife. So it's just... I didn't realize you were talking to me. Getting your finger stuck in there?

Unknown Speaker #3

What are you talking about?

Unknown Speaker #2

It doesn't matter. If somebody's looking you in the eyes, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're talking to you.

Unknown Speaker #3

But if you make a mistake, it doesn't necessarily mean that someone else is on their cell phone. That's not always the cause of the

Unknown Speaker #2

mistake. That's what it is with my wife. Okay? That's what it is. All right? Okay. Okay. Well, hey.

Unknown Speaker #3

Thank you guys so much for having us. No, it's good. We're good. We're happy. We're really happy.

Unknown Speaker #2

Oh. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #4

There's all those letters in the break room about how it's

Unknown Speaker #3

not going great. And you

Unknown Speaker #4

said... Letters. Inspiration. Hey,

Unknown Speaker #2

you need to read these letters your wife is writing you about your relationship. The notes she puts in my lunch?

Unknown Speaker #4

Yes.

Unknown Speaker #2

The letters. Nobody reads the notes

Unknown Speaker #4

that their wife puts in their lunch. They're not notes. The

Unknown Speaker #2

notarized letters she puts in your lunch. What do you mean? It

Unknown Speaker #3

seems... You mean the big manila envelopes? Yes. She's written a series of 50 letters that all build on each other, and they've been notarized for some reason. I don't know if at the end there's going to be a big bomb dropped or something,

Unknown Speaker #2

but... Hey, don't say bomb in a fulfillment center like that. Right. Right. The alarms will go off. They should be. Who installed the alarms? Me!

Unknown Speaker #4

And instead of having alarms, I've trained a series of crows to be on the lookout to do cause if they see somebody.

Unknown Speaker #5

That's what those were. Yep. Wait, you've

Unknown Speaker #4

been hearing them call?

Unknown Speaker #5

I mean, yeah, they caught my turkey sandwich out of my hand yesterday. Oh, yeah. I keep them

Unknown Speaker #3

hungry so they work good. I've been noticing that every time I go to the little coffee shop that's in the corner... Mm -hmm. Commissary. Yeah, the commissary. The crows come down and swoop all the change out of my hand

Unknown Speaker #2

before... Show any objects.

Unknown Speaker #3

Yeah, well, the crows can't just steal our money, right?

Unknown Speaker #4

Well, I attempted to... I was trying to train them that once people's coins have been stolen to attack the person with the coin so we can retrieve them. But they're... People steal a lot of coins around here? I mean, I use coins. Nobody uses coins

Unknown Speaker #2

anymore. Everybody's like dollars, tens, twenties, debit and credit.

Unknown Speaker #4

Give me back my nickels and pennies and quarter stocks and

Unknown Speaker #3

nickels. I think you should be talking to the crows. They got a huge stack of them in the corner.

Unknown Speaker #4

Listen, the crows have created almost a pirate ship -esque thing

Unknown Speaker #5

with tons of overflowing treasure trove chests. I will say, when I saw that guy with a peg leg on top of a crow's shoulder...

Unknown Speaker #3

outside

Unknown Speaker #4

It's opposite pirates outside. And they're making... Yeah, they're making me walk the plank

Unknown Speaker #2

all the time. But these are the crows that you brought into the warehouse. Yes. This is the security system. Let's remember. This is our current security system. This is like Altima. When they hired the Hells Angels to do security, we're hiring crows to do security here. And they'll do their jobs. And if anybody causes any trouble, they'll be effective, I'm assuming.

Unknown Speaker #4

Yes. I mean, you hit it on the head. They're all in denim

Unknown Speaker #2

vests. And they're

Unknown Speaker #4

walking around.

Unknown Speaker #2

So they're Hells Angels and pirates? Yes.

Unknown Speaker #4

They're both. They're everything.

Unknown Speaker #5

Anything else we want them to be, they will

Unknown Speaker #2

be.

Unknown Speaker #5

Well, I just... You know, to be totally honest, I'm just going to put my head down and get through this two months

Unknown Speaker #4

because I'm just trying to make some money so I can pay for... A ring?

Unknown Speaker #5

What's that?

Unknown Speaker #4

A ring?

Wow, you get married? One person gets divorced and another gets married.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah.

Wait, divorce?

Unknown Speaker #3

What are you talking

Unknown Speaker #4

Divorce?

about? And I'm

Unknown Speaker #3

honestly learning a lot about how to... Read the letters. Read the letters. We're pretty far in. We're at

Unknown Speaker #4

like 46. Read the letters, dude. They're awesome. We're at like 46 and 50. It's a saga. They're notarized. You're fucked. What are you saving up for?

Unknown Speaker #5

Maybe it was a ring. No, it was a ring. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #4

A boxing ring? You're going to get down on one knee and give your wife a boxing ring? Oh, my God.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah, but hopefully Michelle will kick my ass

Unknown Speaker #3

ring for the

Unknown Speaker #4

in the

rest

Unknown Speaker #3

of my life. That is so romantic.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #3

Oh, my God. She's just always been in my corner.

Unknown Speaker #5

That doesn't make me want to barf at all. This

Unknown Speaker #4

just felt like

Unknown Speaker #5

the exact

Unknown Speaker #4

representation. I'm not sick to my stomach.

Unknown Speaker #5

That is beautiful. It is beautiful. Thank you. She loves Rocky. She loves the Rocky

Unknown Speaker #3

movies. Who doesn't? Great. Great film. And yeah, so I'm just saving up for a couple of months. Well, the first one. The other four are horrible. Wow. They're

Unknown Speaker #4

absolutely terrible. Are you going to wax each other's faces as vows?

Unknown Speaker #3

Yeah. Put a little wax on a Q -tip and hold it up to a cut.

Unknown Speaker #5

Well, it's actually really beautiful.

Unknown Speaker #3

I knew it would be. Wait.

Unknown Speaker #5

Well, unfortunately, her father is on death's D, but he's going to come in and wax her face at the ceremony in

Unknown Speaker #4

front of everybody. Wow. His final

Unknown Speaker #5

waxing. Yeah. That's beautiful. He's going to wax her, and then he's going to wax me. And then if it all works out, she'll knock him out. All the way out. His request all the way

Unknown Speaker #4

out. Wow. And do you have anybody walking their rounds across? We're still looking. We're just kind of doing a vendor day, I think, pretty soon.

Unknown Speaker #3

Oh, cool. And so, yeah, we're going to see it. They're just all going to walk in front of us, and we'll see them. This is so beautiful.

Unknown Speaker #5

I really want to help you hit your quota. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker #3

Yeah. So whatever I can do to get there, and I really appreciate that. And, again, if anybody knows Don King, it would really make her day my day.

Unknown Speaker #2

I don't know him, but I do know his hair. That's the other thing that's

Unknown Speaker #3

lot on the break. It doesn't look like you just know him. It looks like you

posted

Unknown Speaker #5

a

modeled yourself

Unknown Speaker #4

after his

Unknown Speaker #5

hair. I mean, read the letters. It's all in there. It's one of the biggest issues. The tone of it is like, you modeled yourself after his hair. Not him. Your whole body is modeled after his

Unknown Speaker #4

hair. At

Unknown Speaker #2

least make the money is the issue.

Unknown Speaker #3

I'm trying.

Unknown Speaker #2

Well, hey, I can tell that you're having a tough time here, and that it's a new hire who actually plans to be here for quite a while.

Unknown Speaker #3

I would love to help the system get a little tighter. I would love to see things run a little better around here.

I mean, look. What would you do about the parking situation? Because I feel like I'm walking really far. It's not that many people working here. I don't know if you have any solutions for that. Gosh, I don't know. I mean, I would maybe start allowing cars into the parking lot. You know? I don't

Unknown Speaker #5

Oh,

understand why we have this huge parking lot.

Unknown Speaker #4

And then you say street parking

Unknown Speaker #2

only. We got to have room for all the

Unknown Speaker #3

crows. Yeah, I was going to say, we're

Unknown Speaker #4

running out of space out there.

Unknown Speaker #3

Guys, I don't know that that's that important. Can't we move the crows and their

Unknown Speaker #2

ship off site? Has there been a robbery incident on campus or in the factory in the last few months?

Unknown Speaker #3

I don't know. All those files have been redacted from the computer.

Unknown Speaker #4

Yeah, I mean, we're quacted, actually, by a couple of the ducks

Unknown Speaker #3

that are friends with the crows. They can do anything.

Unknown Speaker #4

They're unbelievable. These crows are amazing. And they're duck friends. There's all kind of birds. We can have all of them.

Unknown Speaker #3

Right, right.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah, I think that you've given the crows too much power and respect, if that could be my suggestion.

Unknown Speaker #4

Right. I would even be willing to, I know this is stark, but start killing some of the crows. Oh,

Unknown Speaker #5

good luck. Yes. But be careful, because their leader, Jack Sparrow, the bird, will

Unknown Speaker #4

be very upset

Unknown Speaker #5

with you. To me, he looks more like Jack Sparrow.

Unknown Speaker #3

That is a big

Unknown Speaker #4

Yeah.

sparrow.

Unknown Speaker #3

I think he works out with the delivery driver. I can tell. Who is Santa? Santa? I know it.

Unknown Speaker #4

That's the rumor. That's the

Unknown Speaker #3

rumor. And I've only been here a while, but I guess he never

Unknown Speaker #4

works

Unknown Speaker #5

Christmas. I could have swore

Unknown Speaker #4

I heard him ho,

Unknown Speaker #5

ho, ho the

Unknown Speaker #4

Now, you said you want to stay a while. And I looked you up on the internet. I look everybody up when we start working. Right. Facebook or whatever.

Unknown Speaker #3

other day.

Unknown Speaker #2

You went to Harvard. Yeah. You studied engineering there. How did you end up

Unknown Speaker #5

at a fulfillment warehouse

Unknown Speaker #3

out here? Well, let me start by saying this beard is real. The hunch in my back is real. And I'm not an undercover boss.

Unknown Speaker #4

Okay? I'm not at all an undercover boss. You look like the classic owner of this fulfillment center, the hunched over old man that lives in the clock tower.

Unknown Speaker #3

No, that's real. The beard is real. The hunch is real. Jesus. And,

Unknown Speaker #4

you know,

Unknown Speaker #3

I would just love to see things improve here. And I guess what do you need from me?

Unknown Speaker #5

Speaking of the boss. Yes. Have you guys seen those short films he emails everybody? They're so humiliating. He's so stupid.

Unknown Speaker #3

Devastating. They're not. I mean, they're sort of well shot at the very least, I would say.

Unknown Speaker #5

I get that the humor might be a little bit

Unknown Speaker #3

niche.

Unknown Speaker #4

Maybe well shot. But I think they're well shot. Well shot comedies?

Unknown Speaker #3

I took them that way. They

Unknown Speaker #4

don't read as funny or well shot.

Unknown Speaker #3

Right. They don't really read or edited well. Right. Right. Yeah. He's an idiot. He's not reading as any artsy thing. No, I know. He's an idiot. And that's what I want to talk about is how do we get this place so much better that even his art gets better? That's what I want to talk about. And what would you say needs to change about the short films that I think some people are liking? He is getting, from what I heard, some email responses.

Unknown Speaker #5

Oh, that's nice.

Unknown Speaker #2

I think, I don't know. Do the emails have like long strings and numbers at the end and like hot mails? Yeah. Those are bots for sure. Really? Yeah. They're all bots. If it's a

Unknown Speaker #3

bunch of numbers. Well, he figured those might have been coming from the crows.

Unknown Speaker #4

Do they

Unknown Speaker #3

have anything to do with the films? Are they subject about the films? Are they? They're saying this didn't get delivered.

Unknown Speaker #4

Mail or demon, whatever that is. Oh, okay.

Unknown Speaker #3

Well, yeah. Well. That's positive

Unknown Speaker #4

reviews. They're bouncing back. I mean, are you trying to send them to somebody that maybe has changed their email because you emailed them too many times?

Unknown Speaker #3

It's not me. It's this boss

Unknown Speaker #4

who we hate. And I agree about. I mean the boss.

Unknown Speaker #3

Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #4

Right. I don't know. Are you trying to reach out to somebody? Because I know it seems like the short films, most of them are trying to clear his name of allegations. Right.

Unknown Speaker #3

Through art.

Through art. I've noticed that trend. Through art.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I guess to me, they actually look more upsetting. Like, did you ever by the end of your chance that I have a feeling you did see those Kevin Spacey videos that he put out when

Unknown Speaker #3

he was trying to fight the charges? You feel like they're sort of like accidental admissions of what his

Unknown Speaker #5

psyche is actually like? Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker #3

And we know our

Unknown Speaker #2

Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #4

boss did something very different than

Unknown Speaker #2

Kevin

was way

Unknown Speaker #3

Spacey. It

Unknown Speaker #4

less intense.

Unknown Speaker #2

Right. But it's still embarrassing. Right. Of course. Yeah. Like, clearing out a produce stand is not that big of a deal.

Unknown Speaker #4

Totally. Like, stealing all the fruit. Stealing. Right. He's a wealthy man. Why

Unknown Speaker #3

would

Unknown Speaker #2

he even need to steal

Unknown Speaker #3

all this fruit? I know. I know. It's like

Unknown Speaker #5

it almost makes sense. And then it doesn't quite. And this guy, what the hell is he doing?

Unknown Speaker #3

He's out of touch is the issue.

Unknown Speaker #5

Also, did you see him? He volunteered to do the Pledge of Allegiance at the school recently.

Unknown Speaker #3

Yes. No.

Unknown Speaker #5

Yeah.

Unknown Speaker #3

And he did the wrong one, right?

Unknown Speaker #5

He did the wrong one. And he doubled

Unknown Speaker #4

down.

Unknown Speaker #3

Well, he did Pledge of Allegiance, technically.

Unknown Speaker #4

But not to the United States for which it

Unknown Speaker #3

stands. What did he do? I thought most people did well with it. I don't know. You tell us. You do the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm just a new employee.

Unknown Speaker #4

This is real.

Unknown Speaker #3

If you're really a real employee, you can do the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of Iraq. See?

Unknown Speaker #4

That's what he said.

Unknown Speaker #3

What? And he pledged allegiance to Iraq. I know. Which is not even like. I know what he said. I was kidding. I

Unknown Speaker #4

was joking. We don't care if anybody has allegiance to Iraq.

Unknown Speaker #5

I know. I pledge allegiance when you're supposed to do the American Pledge. It just felt like.

Unknown Speaker #4

I know. I know.

Unknown Speaker #5

We're really sensitive about the Iraq thing.

Unknown Speaker #4

We don't want to make it seem like that's bad. If you don't pledge allegiance for which it stands for the United States of America, we don't want you here. If you don't

Unknown Speaker #3

put your

Unknown Speaker #5

right hand over your heart,

Unknown Speaker #4

I pledge allegiance to the flag for Miss America. Okay. That's good. Of which it stands. One nation under God. Pledge of Liberty with United States in a hand. Amen.

Unknown Speaker #3

I

Unknown Speaker #4

like

better when it's a little bit your own.

Unknown Speaker #3

it

Unknown Speaker #5

Yes.

Unknown Speaker #3

I like that. I like that. Make it your own. I pledge allegiance to Miss America. Yes.

Unknown Speaker #4

Okay.

Unknown Speaker #5

We definitely all did this year. Did you see Miss Hawaii?

Unknown Speaker #4

Va

Unknown Speaker #3

-va -voom.

Unknown Speaker #4

Va -va -voom Miss Hawaii. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I thought it was so bold for her talent to be driving. Because

Unknown Speaker #5

she drove around that stage and like it was she parallel parked perfectly.

Unknown Speaker #3

She got zero to stay. She did a couple of times.

Unknown Speaker #4

It was fine. She did a couple of times. She drove around really good. The parallel parking was hard. Parallel parking

It was

Unknown Speaker #5

fine.

Unknown Speaker #2

was really

really,

Unknown Speaker #3

bad. It was

Unknown Speaker #2

missed

Unknown Speaker #3

really bad. She

car fell off the stage.

Unknown Speaker #4

the deal. The

Unknown Speaker #2

I think we know whose card is in the bottom

Unknown Speaker #4

of the ravine. And it landed on our favorite judge. Oh, my God. Judy.

Unknown Speaker #5

Judy was there about to give her the X. Yes.

Unknown Speaker #4

And Judge Judy got flattened by

Unknown Speaker #3

the Taurus. Well, by the what?

Unknown Speaker #4

The Taurus.

Unknown Speaker #3

Yes. Poor Taurus. And I will say Miss Hawaii, of course, was beautiful.

Unknown Speaker #4

She wasn't after the accident. No.

Unknown Speaker #5

Almost everything got ripped

Unknown Speaker #3

That's on the doctor. Yeah. That's

Unknown Speaker #4

off.

on the doctor. That's artistic choices that were bad. The doctor took some liberties on the reconstruction. Right? I will say.

Unknown Speaker #5

It made me go to the DMV and uncheck liberties on

Unknown Speaker #4

my driver's license. Are

Unknown Speaker #3

you still an

Unknown Speaker #5

organ donor? You've got to be a donor, but you cannot check liberties.

Unknown Speaker #3

Because they really go wild.

Unknown Speaker #4

I don't know if you can tell, but I had liberties checked for about the first half of my life.

Unknown Speaker #3

We can tell. No, they took liberties down your life. Yeah, look. After every accident I've had. Wow.

Unknown Speaker #4

I didn't want to look like Don Kingsayer. Right. But now I do too. It's not a bad look. It's not a good

Unknown Speaker #3

look. It's not a good look. But it's liberties. It's liberties. And they were taken on me.

Unknown Speaker #4

All right. Well, Jesus. Well, hey, this is a great meeting. This is a great meeting. Oh, we got a delivery. What's it for? What's it for? What's it for? Read it out.

Unknown Speaker #5

This is a combo printer fax machine.

Unknown Speaker #4

Oh, no. Send him some pins. Send him a some pins