[Coco] off-topic: National Geographic episode

[Roger Taylor]

At 09:47 PM 6/14/2008, you wrote:
>Roger,
>I got the whole episode, and it says in the beginning,
>that it is the Louiville world hub.  If I can find a
>way to dump it to dvd, I'll let yuou know asap. Right
>now, I don't know hoiw to do that, so I might even
>have to read directions,lol. Of the4 quick tour I took
>of the Dalas UPS at night, on the show was a lot
>worse. It said they hAve four wings with multiple
>planes.


Karl, Roy Justus sent me a VHS tape of the show but I'm still 
interested in a digital copy if you can.

Roy, thanks!!  It came today and I just finished watching it.

Although they showed little of what happens the most at UPS, the 
Ground package system, they did show that the lower 3 floors of that 
super hub were dedicated to those types of packages.  That's where 
the hardest work is and why the cameras only showed a few seconds of 
manual labor there.  Some of the most fit people around (who were 
crazy enough to fall for UPS) are on those floors.  One guy said it 
all... "I don't need to go to the gym every night, I get plenty of 
excercise here"  haha.  So true.  And it can be trying for not so fit 
people.  Today we had a black guy layed out on the floor in our 
bathroom (which has A/C) having breathing problems.  They may have 
taken him to the E.R., but who would know... we were too busy to even 
inquire more about it.  Poor fella.  This summer heat and the 
pressure they force on you is enough to cause vomiting and health 
issues, and is why they offer the best insurance around, free and 
almost always 100% coverage on whatever it takes to get you back in 
the game (sad, isn't it?).  A new cover driver in our center all of a 
sudden yesterday had internal pain and was told to go to the E.R. by 
his doctor, where they did immediate surgery and removed his (I 
think) appendix (sp?).  All along UPS has a secret slogal "I bleed 
brown" and sayings similar to that where it seems like they expect 
you to give your life to grow the company.  But in the end, you can 
live off the pension til you croak over.

Then at the end it finally showed a brief look at the drivers, 
something I do as well, but again, they only showed slow moments, no 
sweating, easy-going appearance, etc. which is just not the case 99% 
of the time.  In the summer it feels like an OVEN in the back of the 
trucks.  Sweat will boil from your arms and body if you stay back 
there long enough.  So, you get out quick.  Oh, and did I mention no 
power steering?   Only the newest of trucks have it but they 
literally keep bringing the old trucks back from the dead by repair 
so the majority use muscle steering.

Then finally, the mind-boggling statement... "you'll almost never see 
a UPS driver making a left turn -- right turns only".  Most of this 
is preset in the order of the stops for the day, but a great deal of 
that strategy comes with experience and area knowledge.  For 
instance, if a train suddenly shows up and parks right on the track 
that goes all the way through town, and there's only a few bridges 
that go under or over the train, you're expected to magically devise 
a formula in your head within seconds or minutes to either stay on 
track while going around the train, or restructure the order of stops 
while the train is sitting there causing delays.  Or what if you're 
dispatched with a truck full of stops but no route plan.  You've got 
to invent a formula in your head?  Sure.  Tell them you can't figure 
it out or do it and you'll be punished and probably never drive 
again.  That's about 1 of 50 things off the top of my head that can 
challenge a delivery person's fun-filled day.  :)

Anyway, thanks for the video.  I learned a lot what I didn't already 
know about our system.

We now return you to our regular scheduled CoCo programming.  :)
Sorry for the off-topic, guys.