More matters on Green Hell. Work started as it normally did. Midnight to about 3, we unloaded the delivery truck, which we found out to be in excess of 3000 pieces of merchandise. We did it all moderately quickly.

Just before lunch at 4am, the store manager gathered all the employees including myself for a little meeting, a state of the store, addressing some issues.

The gist of it was that we need to speed up productivity. Compared to other stores we are lagging behind. Of course the only other store to really compare to is the only one that does better sales than us in the state of California.

I certainly didn’t mind the update in information. However, I was a bit appalled to how the store manager proceeded to motivate us into working more productively.

To be blunt, he tried to apply scare tactics.

He basically threatened us with phrases like:

“We get some 300 individual applications each month. That obviously means the economy is still bad. Look around you now, some of you may not be here at the end of month. If that happens, do you know where you’ll be?”

I can go on, but basically the store manager told us all that we are easily expendable.

At that moment and during lunch after that meeting I had made up my mind. I’m leaving Green Hell effective at the end of the month, if it not sooner by their say.

I already hate that job. It has been a physical nightmare. The graveyard shift has taken a big toll on my health. My sleeping patterns fluctuate to the point that I’m always tired, and as a result I haven’t been to the gym in weeks. Furthermore, my hands….. my hands are now always in pain. I need them. And finally I smoke cigarettes more than I have in years. And I was quit not long before that job. I will quit again when I leave.

Of course I can easily comment on how little we get paid. Minimum wage at part time-That alone should tell the manager why we aren’t happy or jovial workers.

I understand that Green Hell is the place to go and shop for people of all status to get the very basics for survival-Canned goods, toilet paper, cleaning supplies-Often not the greatest quality of items, but good enough to get by. All of it at a dollar a piece.

This store  is literally the best bang for the buck in this economy. Unfortunately for my fellow co-workers and myself, the corporate branch of Green Hell sees their employees the same way. After spending these past few months with them, I can assure you all we are not cheap labor, and we are capable of so much more.

At the end of the day, the manager requested if I can work unloading a truck at another local store.  I said I was going out of town, up to Chico (Paradise, CA), to look for housing and establish a job there. Yes, I lied, but it wasn’t too far from the truth-Perhaps just a few months away. I just do not wish to work more than what is required. I may not make much money, truth is I already do not, but to me the extra two hours of hard labor netting me a measly ten to twelve dollars is not worth my sanity.

I know I can do better than this. I have done better than this, and I will again.