So in this take, I'll discuss my experiences from 2015 up to right now.
When I was in high school, I did well in all of my classes except in math classes. It was hard for me to pay attention in math. I would always fall asleep in math no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. That would cost me half of my senior year of high school, since those failed math classes caused me to go to a different high school during my senior year. I was surprised and angry.
It really angered me because the school administration decided to wait all summer until a few days before school started to give me a phone call telling me to go to the continuation school away from my friends. I already took my school photo, bought my planner and my yearbook only to find out that was pointless. The thing that irritated the most was that my picture wouldn't be in the yearbook.
My year at that continuation school went by smoothly but since the goal was to get enough credits to be able to attend my original high school again, I became determined to get all my credits, got all my points and by half way through the school year, I was able to attend my original high school again. I was so happy.
I actually could have graduated early if I wanted to but I chose to return to my original high school to see my friends and to show the school administrators that I'm not a oaf. I actually enjoyed my last few months of high school, because I took fun classes like weight training and graphic design. I continued to discover that I have a lot of charisma as a result of taking public speaking, since everyone liked my speeches.
I managed to graduate high school and get a high school diploma, I have to admit that I miss high school but I realized that there are many more exiting things to come. Thankfully I still talk to my friends as a result of social media. I even stopped visiting my psychiatrist because I felt better.
I was nervous after I graduated high school because I officially started my adulthood. Immediately after graduating high school I realized I should have planned ahead. While all my classmates were attending college. I was still deciding if I should go to college or simply start working.
My parents gave me permission to enjoy my summer vacation. After my summer vacation, I decided that I should start working and not go to college(bad idea). The only reason why my parents allowed me to have a summer vacation after high school was because my dad wanted me to work were he works(United Parcel Service) but since I had no work experience my mom wanted me to work at a fast food restaurant first. Well, my dad still went to help me get a job in UPS.
It took a couple months just to get me a job interview for UPS. The places where UPS employees do their work are called Hubs. Basically they are warehouse environments. There are various jobs that are available in UPS; from Package handling, Supervising, management and truck driving. Everyone who works for UPS has to be a package handler before they get higher positions With better pay.
My father is a truck driver for UPS, he's been working for UPS since he was 22 years old, now he's 63. He started as a package handler and eventually he became a truck driver for the company. Things didn't go exactly as planned since instead of working at the same hub were my dad works, due to there being no job openings there, I had to try another UPS hub.
Unfortunately for me things got bad, I started to have some unneccesary worries as a result of anxiety and OCD. I couldn't do certain activities since they caused me to worry. I had to stop exercising, I couldn't even lift weights or use my hand grippers because of the amount of anxiety I was facing. Little did I know that these unneccesary worries would be a liability a month later. I did manage to get a job interview at the different UPS hub and the interview went good, I got the package handling job.
The first week of my job was training. Basically I went to a room in the hub with four other recently hired employees, a instructor walks into the room and explains the basics(safety, how to properly lift boxes, rules, policies, procedures). He also showed videos on how to properly do the job, these training sessions went on for a week. We were still being payed for the training.
I was working part time earning 10 dollars an hour but it didn't feel like part time because you'd occasionally work longer than 4 hours. Technically the job is a work out. The name that Package handlers are called is "industrial athletes". You wouldn't want to be dressed in your fancy clothes for this job because you are going to get dirty and sweaty. Appropriate clothes for this job are Workout clothes.
Basically I had to load packages into trailers, 450 packages per hour is the required speed. Speed and endurance is required for this job. Most of the more experienced workers weren't built like bodybuilders, they were slim and looked like track runners. The longer you do this job, the more weight you lose because it's cardio nonstop for hours. The packages can weigh from 1 pound to 70lbs. The heavier packages had to be placed on the ground. It wasn't as simple as throwing packages into a trailer, I had to build rows of walls within the trailer and I had to make sure the walls were sturdy. If not, they'd collapse and take up too much room.
I started my job with the "Loader" position, it is said to be more difficult that the unloader position. If you want to see what loaders do, just look at the 3 minute mark of the video to the 4:30 mark of the video.
Here is what one of the UPS package trainers told the new employees.
People who think this is a easy job, would quit this job because they can't handle the intensity. Many former military personnel quit this job because they couldn't handle it.-Package handler trainer
The day I started working, all of us new employees met the lead manager. He had a high pitched voice(not that it is a bad thing), he was not in good physical shape and he seemed pretty arrogant. A lot of the experienced employees didn't like this manager for his smug attitude. I thought he was okay at first.
My shift started at 9:00PM and it usually ended around 3:00 AM. So I usually drove home when the streets were nearly empty. Some workers claim to have worked up to 10:00AM.
As I started to load packages, I realized that my anxiety and OCD was impairing my ability to do a good job. Not only was I having difficulty focusing as a result of my unnecessary worries; not exercising caused me to gain a few extra pounds which slowed me down. I could move and carry the packages with no problem though. Other issues I had was that the scanners used to scan the boxes were constantly malfunctioning and were poorly designed. My main problem was that I couldn't figure out how to properly stack the packages in order to make a decent sturdy wall.
after a couple of weeks, I realize that I'm wasn't hitting the 450 package per hour requirement. I only could get 250 packages per hour, rarely I got 350 packages per hour. I surely thought that was it with the job but no, I kept working like nothing was wrong.
1 week later I realized that so many things were wrong with the hub; such as poor management. They put emphasis on both quality and quantity but it seemed that they wanted quantity over quality. Most of the other workers are not careful with the packages, instead of handling the packages with care, they handle the packages like trash. Which explains why there are so many complaints against that hub and why the hub has a 2/5 star rating. Also as a result of working too fast, a lot of the workers had injuries or had suffered injuries from carrying heavy packages. One worker told me that he hurt his back. I was starting to think that perhaps the management doesn't really care about it's workers. I even heard that the other UPS hubs are better since they actually care about quality over quantity.
Towards the end of my first month working at UPS, I talked to some of the other workers. They told me that it's okay if you don't load 450 packages per hour. As long as you put in effort, the managers won't tell you anything. It seemed to be true because one of the workers in a higher position could only load 250 packages. In fact, most of the workers only loaded 250-360 packages per hour.
That was too good to be true because at the end of the month, I was fired for not being able to load 450 packages per hour and because my walls weren't sturdy. I knew the reasons why I got fired were; lack of work experience, stopped exercising completely, anxiety problems, and I didn't know how to make sturdy walls. So I left the hub and drove home.
I'm kind of glad I don't work there anymore, because of the hazardous environment(heavy boxes could fall, breathing in dust, lifting heavy boxes improperly could injure a person since the package put pressure on a person's back). I also didn't like the manager, he was biased since he was only polite to some people. The manager wanted quantity over quality and didn't even care about the safety of his workers. He was not in good physical shape so I doubt he could do the job any better. The supervisors were nice though.
So, I had won 1k dollars. After I got home, I told my parents that I can no longer work for UPS. I told them about my anxiety problems, my parents understood. So I enrolled in my local community college. Thankfully the classes didn't start till a few months later. So I had a few months to get my emotions together.
In order to ease my anxiety, I decided to try some herbal teas(Passion flower and chamomile). They only had a small effect on easing my anxiety.
So long story short, I relaxed for those few months before my first college semester, I mostly stayed in my house. In January of 2016, I started my first college class of math. At first, it was simple. I thought "not bad" but anxiety and OCD would soon overwhelm me. The anxiety would not allow me to focus in class and sure enough I failed my first college class.
I realized that I needed to ease my anxiety and OCD as soon as possible. Eventually I heard about a pharmacy that sells natural medicine. I went there and bought some more medicinal teas and supplements. Little did I know that I had found something to decrease my anxiety and OCD. That something is "St. John's Wort".
One of the supplements I purchased was "St. John's Wort" which is a herb used to ease anxiety. It came in tablets that also had other benefits like zinc.
This product had 900mg of St. John's worth, and the recommended use is 3 tablets a day which would make it 2,700 MG of St John's Wort a day.
So I found out that the combination of St John's Wort and herbal teas, actually helped ease my anxiety and OCD. I resumed my hobby of exercising(hand grippers, lifting weights, cardio) to get in good shape. The next college class I took I got a good grade in it. During the Summer, I retook the math class I failed and also got a good grade in it.
I continued to get good grades and haven't failed anymore classes in college. College is actually fun now, because I've met new friends.
I'm currently getting good grades in college and haven't been having severe anxiety or OCD. My OCD and Anxiety are minor now. I'm not sure what my major is going to be but I think it will either be a history, business administration or biology major. I'm still new to college so if I want to change my major, it's not too late to change my major. My advice is make sure you plan ahead when it comes to your career and education, don't start working at a decent job if that's your first job. Get some work experience by working at a minor job like a fast food restaurant or at a mall. To those that are still in middle school or high school, try to get good grades that way you can go to a university after high school. If you can't go to a university because of your grades; then go to a community college. If you have any emotional problems, get them treated so you can work and or go to college without any difficulties.
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