Day One on the Job
First Day On the Job
As a 22-year old, one year out of college, I took the clerk/carrier exam because the salary and future prospects were better than the job I had in the private sector at the time.
After receiving the news that I had scored well enough on the exam, I was hired to be a Manual Distribution Clerk at the Rockville, MD Post Office.
My first day of work was an orientation at the Southern Maryland General Mail Facility. I remember hearing all about benefits of working for the Postal Service, as well as the rules and regulations that had to be followed.
I remember touring the facility there and being told repeatedly to never take anything that fell out of the mail and that the Postal Inspectors were always watching from their hidden positions up in the rooms that were above the workroom floor. When I worked in the mail plants, I never forgot that someone was always watching, even if they weren't.
I also recall the Facility Manager talking about how fortunate we were to be working for the Postal Service and that even though it may not be a glamorous job, it had provided him with a great living and allowed him to send all of his children to college and pay for the big car he pointed to in the parking lot.
I remember the noise of the postal facility and the controlled chaos that was the mail processing operation. It was interesting to see exactly how all that mail got processed on a daily basis and how neat it was to get that behind-the-scenes look at things.
AUTHOR NAME: John Seiler
AUTHOR CITY, STATE: Gaithersburg, MD
