It’s been a very long time since I’ve written a blog post. I’m glad I feel like I can write one now 🙂 A big reason why I haven’t posted these past couple of months is because I have been busy working at an Amazon Warehouse. I work full-time there. I work Wednesdays -Saturdays, 10 hours each day. Sometimes I’m required to do mandatory overtime on Sundays. I get pretty exhausted after a day of work. However, I think Amazon is a good place to work for the life chapter I’m in right now. I know I won’t be there forever. I’m leaning on God to give me direction for the career I want to ultimately do ( being a TV show creator). He’s already given me some resources, including a Hollywood connection. I’ve been employed at Amazon since the beginning of July of this year.

As you all know, I am diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Some of you might be wondering ‘How is it for a person on the spectrum to work at a warehouse? Is the work difficult for her? Is interacting with coworkers too hard?’ I know lots of people on the spectrum struggle a lot with finding employment. I understand. I used to be one of them. Typical work expectations can be difficult to meet with an Autistic brain. Working at Amazon is definitely a fast paced job and that can be very hard for most ASD folks. Following instructions and avoiding misunderstandings between coworkers isn’t exactly our forte. I still find myself struggling to meet Amazon standards every time. Although there are days where I reach my target, there are also a lot of days where I’m not packing as many items as Amazon wants me to. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just that my Autistic brain can slow me down.

In this blog post, I would like to tell you what it’s like for me personally to work as an Amazon warehouse associate. Don’t worry, my personal experience isn’t an Amazon horror story like the news keeps on highlighting. My experiences at Amazon does include a few not-so-great ones, but when I keep my mind positive, I feel so blessed to work there and see so many good things about my job.

I want to start off with how transportation works out. Like many other people on the spectrum, I don’t have a driver’s license. However, I am blessed to live in an ideal spot for transportation using my town’s transit system. I take the bus to work. There’s a bus stop that’s super close by my apartment. It’s honestly perfect! There’s also a bus specifically for people who need a ride to Amazon. It’s called the “Amazon Express.” XD It comes twice a day. Once in the morning for day shift people and once in the afternoon for night shift people. I take the morning bus because I work day shift. I start work at 7:30am, and the Amazon Express leaves the transfer center at 5:30am. Therefore, I have to get up at 4 in the morning and make sure I catch the bus at 5am so it can take me to the transfer center. Otherwise, I resort to using Uber. At first I was worried that I’d be horrible at getting into the habit of waking up so early every day. Now that I’m used to it, I actually enjoy my bus routine. It’s my “me time.” I always have books with me to read in the morning. There are times where I miss the bus, but luckily those are rare occasions for me.

Now for the work expectations. I work in the multi-packing department for Outbound. There are three positions I’m trained in in my department. The first position I got trained in is packing. A packer’s has a goal that they must reach when they pack. The goal is to pack at a rate of at least 250 item units per hour. I have reached this rate a few times, but not as much as I should. Honestly, I’m not the best at reaching the target rate consistently when it comes to packing. More times than normal, I am under 250 item units. Sometimes I don’t even make it to 200. I’ve worked at Amazon for nearly 5 months, and this is still the case for me. I often beat myself up for it.

Whenever I reach my goal, I get so excited. I feel competent. However, there are days where I feel like I’m working just as fast as I did before, and then it turns out that I’m below target 😦 That can really bring me down. In those cases, I remind myself that I’ve reached the goal before, so that means I’m capable of reaching it again. I still feel like I’m learning when it comes to packing.

There’s a position I’ve been recently doing called inducting. I don’t think I’ve done enough inducting to really have an opinion on it. I’ve done it maybe about ten times, more or less. It can be tough unless I have a floater helping me.

The other position I’m trained in is called rebinning. The job is to put items in a wall one at a time. The packers are on the other side. The items are put into chutes that correlate with customer orders. When all of the items from an order are all in one chute, it is pushed from the rebinner side of the wall to the packer side of the wall. That also makes room for a new order to be put in the chute. I hope that job description makes sense ^^”

At first, rebinning was SO HARD! I’m not kidding, there were days that I honestly cried because I would be so below target. For rebinning, the target rate is 600 items units per hour. I was in the 200-400 range for what felt like forever. I would have moments of intense work anxiety and be distressed by little movies in my head of getting fired for my lack of speed. I was so embarrassed and got discouraged.

I began praying to God as I worked. I asked Him to help me become faster. Soon after doing this, I started reaching the 500s zone consistently. Eventually, I began reaching at least 600 item units per hour EVERY TIME. Sometimes I even reach 700. I once earned a break card for most improved rebinner. It felt awesome, let me tell ya! I honestly give credit to God for helping me with my speed. Now I feel no worries whenever I’m assigned to rebin.

I honestly just realized as I wrote that previous paragraph that I don’t really ask God for help with my speed when it comes to packing ^^” Note to self: pray for speed when packing and trust that He’ll help you.

I like the managers at my department. They aren’t mean to me and are gentle with me when I make mistakes. They know I have a disorder, though they may not know it’s ASD specifically. Most of them are energetic, enthusiastic, and even funny. Sure, there are times they are stressed and it shows. However, I just give benefit of the doubt in those moments and try to make their load easier by doing my best.

One time I cried very hard in the middle of packing. I got so stressed and so anxious that my rate was terrible. I got scared I was gonna get fired. Now that I have bills to pay, the thought of that was even more scary. This happened after about a month of working at Amazon. I was all settled in my apartment at this point. The managers took me into HR and my supervisor talked with me. She reassured me that I was doing okay. I’m so thankful for how gracious she was with me. I feel like I can honest with her when I’m having a problem 🙂 I can’t speak for every manager for the other departments, but the managers in my department are pretty good ones in my opinion ❤ I can’t really recall any negative experiences with them.

My coworkers are pretty chill for the most part 🙂 I have some acquaintances that I feel pretty comfortable talking to during a shift. I’m not really close with any of my coworkers, but I know a few people that I can talk to sometimes. One coworker even referred to me as her “Home Girl.” XD

I did have two pretty bad experiences with two coworkers. They got so bad, I was tempted to retaliate. Sometimes I struggle with standing up for myself. Either I’d be completely silent and let the other person win, or I’d lose my temper and get in trouble for it. I lost my temper with a bad coworker at my first job and that’s how I got fired from there. When I worked at KFC, I didn’t know how to handle a certain bully. I frequently held back my tongue while she’d bully me. It was horrible. I wish I knew how to stand up for myself. I even wondered if I had it in me to stand up for myself.

I’ll tell you about one of the negative coworker experience I had. At Amazon, my coworker Gabriel encouraged me to stand up for myself after I was being bullied by a bossy coworker (she wasn’t even in charge). That coworker was talking to me like I was dumb. She dumbed down her speech and gave me unwanted advice on how to do my job. It got to the point where she was acting ridiculous. She even scolded me for something I didn’t do. Luckily, without losing my temper, I was able to tell her she needed to shut up. Guess what? She DID! 😀 Lemme tell ya, she did not expect me to say that. She looked completely off guard. I was able to stop her from bullying me without doing or saying anything that’d get me in trouble 🙂 That is not something that’s easy for people with ASD.

The environment at Amazon is pretty okay. Lots of associates complain about the job. Sometimes it actually gets on my nerves. I see so many positive aspects of my job that it can be hard to take the whiners seriously. I realize that everyone’s different. What works for one person may not work for another. Amazon works out nicely for me in this season of my life, but for someone else they may struggle. My wish is for those people is for them to lean on God and be able to experience many blessings from Him. It works wonders, honestly! I know from experience ❤ The managers’ enthusiasm at standup also makes the work atmosphere feel nicer 🙂

Lemme tell ya, there are times when work is BOOOOORINGGG! I have days where I feel like I LIVE at work. Sometimes it’s easy to lose focus. There are five main things that keep me sane: prayer, my books, my sketchbook, my Ideas Journal, and my phone. Through prayer, I feel like I’m coming closer to God even as I work. I have all sorts of books to give me spiritual knowledge and encouragement. I also have books that help me as a writer. I have my sketchbook to make drawings or comics. Then there’s my Ideas Journal, where I write down all my story ideas. I can’t use my phone during my shift, but I can use it on the way to work and at lunchtime. I use those opportunities to browse social media, read Bible verses, or text somebody if they’re up early in the morning like I do. I have a cute little Pikachu backpack to help me carry those things (except the phone goes into the locker before work). They remind me that I have a life and purpose outside of Amazon.

Those are all the things I have to say about my experience at Amazon. It’s pretty good so far. I hope you found this blog post interesting. If you’re on the spectrum and still searching for employment, there’s hope for you ❤ God is always there to offer wisdom. He will give you wisdom, without faultfinding, if you ask without a doubt that He’ll answer. If Jesus is in your heart, He’ll strengthen you so you can do anything. Leaning on God is what helped me get my job. I’m so thankful for His blessings. I definitely couldn’t work at Amazon in my own strength.