On Wed, 4 Oct 2017 16:23:22 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

Keyser Soze wrote:


Loading the big trailers properly was an art form. The loads were not
strapped in place, so you had to learn how to stack the big cardboard
crates properly. If the trailers weren't loaded up properly, the load
would shift and tumble and the drivers would really get ****ed. Some of
the products were loaded on the trailers on pallets. I got to drive the
towmotor from the factory floor onto the loading dock and into the
trailer. Pretty heady for an 18-year-old. What were you doing at 18?
Counting your pubic hairs?

The beer trucks were easier to load.

Almost forgot...the fringe benefits...we got a 20-minute shave break
daily at the razor blade factory...so we were asked to show up unshaven.
Cool. At the brewery, somehow a keg of cold beer and paper cups would
appear during the shift. I'm sure that no longer happens.


At 12 years old I drove a forklift. No big whoops. When I worked in a
pallet mill when 16-17 we all,drove forklifts. Did not require a forklift
license then.

I have never even heard of a "fork lift" license. Is that a California
thing? Driving unregistered vehicles on private property has not been
regulated anywhere I have been. Anyone with a credit card can rent
just about any kind of equipment here.
I also did not understand that loading the truck was where the skill
was required. When I delivered meat and chickens (at 17) the trucks
were loaded by barely above minimum wage "helpers" or "warehousemen"
in Teamster's lingo. Since this was dropped in small lots, the trucks
were not palletized but the load for the truck came to the dock on a
pallet at Swift. At the chicken company they were hand loaded the
whole way with the owner supervising the load on every truck. This was
checking items off of a clipboard. The driver got a copy of that
manifest and had to sign for it.