CenturyVallen

CenturyVallen was my 'workplace' for the last 4 months and tomorrow is my last day. I'm sad but at the same time very happy about finishing work.

As most people know, from grade 9 or 1999 (I'm dating myself here) I worked at Pioneer Meadows Golf Course until the summer of 2004. I spent 3 years in the proshop and 3 on the driving range. The management and co-workers along with the free golf were just awesome and I really enjoyed working there. However, after 6 years I decided that I needed a fresh new start.

So I began looking for other jobs. I applied to be an office assistant, I applied with Capital Health, Ikea and a few other places. None of them yielded any results. I was about to become dismayed when Jackie's cousin phoned her house and asked if her brother wanted any work for the summer. I enquired as to what this job would entail. The company was called CenturyVallen. I asked what the work was about and well I didn't find much. I decided to apply anyway.

To make this shorter I'll cut to the part where I got the job. So CenturyVallen is a distributor specializing in safety equipment. The company caters to large companies who want to purchase most of their items from one place so that they don't have to have accounts with many different companies. In other words it simplifies it for them. With over 90 000 different items, it makes it easy to supply many different companies with all of their needs.

For the four months I had the glorious and glamorous job of being a shipper and a picker working all over the warehouse. Picking involved finding the product in the warehouse and bringing it to shipping and shipping well there you shipped stuff (meaning putting it into boxes or plastic totes). It was a physical and demanding job but also very satisfying. They recorded how many lines (items) you picked and I tried to make a game out of how many lines I could pick per day to make it more fun.

The company treats its workers very well. You get allowances for steel toed shoes, free supplies, water and coffee (for those who with to drink something that vile) and a commitment to safety. As well, I liked the guaranteed and constant hours of 8:30-5 everyday.

I must say that it took me awhile to feel comfortable there I think mostly because the job was so different than what I used to do. I thought that getting away from cranky customers from the golf course was going to be enjoyable but I neglected to realize that in this job you had to talk to yourself because it could get lonely at times. Because I was a summer student and a quick learner it meant that I was always being bounced around to take the place of somebody else. That is good to a point but when you've hardly done a job it added to my uncomfortability (if that's a word), though towards the end I enjoyed moving around.

The job after awhile becomes quite routine. There are always deadlines to meet and such but once you know what you are doing it really isn't a big deal. I've learned how to pack things incredibly well, quickly 'draw' my tape gun, cut box tops efficiently and more of those really important skills you've always wanted to master.

What worries me the most are the people who go there after taking a year off. I fear they may wake up one day and realize that they have spent over a year there and haven't done anything about going back to school. I didn't mind the work but I sure wouldn't want to be doing it for my career. I at least saw an end to work seeing that I am soon starting school again.

Regardless I will be sad to leave there since I got to know a lot of people. As well, it's always nice to get paid.

Oh well.
School calls