Joshua Bustamante

Working at DHL it was a different experience than most of my other warehouse jobs, the mail would be brought to us via pallets and at my first department “encoding” we would break down pallets and place mail on the conveyor belt where a scanner on top of the belt would read the label first before reaching the apex of the warehouse system where another scanner would read the label and send the mail throughout the warehouse to drop it on the designated location. If the mail is placed too close to each other, the machine would turn itself off until the reset button was pressed. I was also sent to work at another department called “beuhmer” because that was the name of the machine they used in that department. Our goal was to allow the pallets in separate sections to be filled up with mail, once finished we would press a red button that closed the hatch on top to not allow the mail to be dropped, then replace the space with a new empty one. After doing so the next objective was to place color coded labels according to the location around all four walls, sign my initials on a white label facing two sides so they can know who last processed the order in case of a missort, double check my work and line up the pallet according to if the labels match with the same pallets or not. To keep up with the flow of replacing pallets I would have the duty to make pallets on the go by grabbing company cardboard material along with plastic pallets and stock 8 or more of them in front within arms reach for easy access. Towards the end of our shift, any nearby lead would report me and a group of others to a area nearby where our forklift drivers would drop off filled pallets already labeled on them and our duty was to use our pallet jacks to line up the pallets that match so they can stack them on top of each other where we would then use saram wrap to ensure the pallets can stay on top and be secure during the shipping process.

• The first job as a sorter is to open up the trailer doors once confirmed by the lead, then use a metal pole to pull down the platform on the edge where the trailer and the floor of the warehouse connects. Once that is done we move onto pulling in the roller inside the trailer using a handle which requires the help of two people. After that we then push down any received boxes/bags down the roller, break the jam if needed by moving the packages stuck on top or held up with the guard and allowing all the boxes/bags to fall down all at once. Then, i would stack and load all the packages inside in a nice neat fashion while making sure every package fits tight to ensure a safe traveling process also while making sure the labels went inside the correct trailer if not then they would be considered a “missort” and must be placed into the right trailer. I would also volunteer being a picker, the way it works was the packages/bags would come down a rolling belt connected from blue belt to primary pickoff and it was my duty to make sure every box was double checked and placed into the correct trailer out of the 4 which starts with BUR,SJC,VAN/BND, and VIS.

• In the position as a Sanitation Worker, I was taught the rules of GMP, taking notice of different types of allergen, non allergen foods and good sanitation practices. I was provided with the right PPE gear that would protect my skin from touching any of the cleaning chemicals we used. My daily tasks was to go into the changing room to put on my PPE gear, walk into the sanitation department, wait for the food production assembly to finish with their dishes, they would pass them along to us at the sanitation department where we would wash dishes,utilities, and roll always like for example, strollers to hold the trays, trays, bins, ice cream scoopers, spatulas, white boards,blenders, mixers, and carts. We were given two different assignments, either sanitize the carts, trays, and mixers with a water hose to rinse, use our pink cleaning solution for washing and rinse for sanitation. Or we would stack up all the received dishes on our working area and start with the biggest dish to be scrubbed by one person with a sponge, pass it to another person next who would dump it inside a rolling bin filled with a clear cleaning solution to sanitize the dish, stack up the dishes on the other side of the room for a supervisor to test and analyze the dishes for proof of sanitation.

• I was reported to Downtown LA Stiiizy where i was a part of the flower department working 1st shift focusing on fulfilling production for their infused preroll joints. My first station i was working at was called “The Knock Box Team” where i was using a machine that had two trays but the first had small tubes to place 100 empty cones inside, then i would also use another separate tray that had 100 holes but had a sliding metal sheet to cover the bottom and allowed us to drop the material (shake) inside the cones by sliding out the metal sheet from the bottom to drop all the material (shake) into the cones and as im doing that i am also turning on the machine to shake the cones and ensure quality. Afterwards i would weigh out a few of them to the correct amount from 0.72-0.80. Once completed I would keep count on a piece of paper for how many trays I completed each hour of the day, place the tray holding the stuffed cones into a cart that had sides to hold the trays. Another task i was given was to assist the tables where they played a crucial part of the process. They would receive the stuffed prerolls me and the knock box team were completing, twist them halfway through the cone,cut the twisted edge, crown the top, pass it on to another person who would use rolling glue and a paintbrush to brush it on the paper only and would allow the kief to stick on the paper.

• As a team member at jamba juice, It was my duty to greet customers coming in at the door and take their order in the register. I was taught how to remember the measurements on our blenders based on the size of the drink,following the ingredients menu explaining to us how the smoothie is made, blending the smoothies correctly, preparing the bases for bowls, operating the freshly squeezed juice machine, placing our food items in the oven to cook, wash out the blenders correctly by following the wash, rinse, and sanitize technique for not only blenders but also for our caps and jam baskets where the fruits and bases for the bowls were contained in.

• I was placed under different groups doing different projects and tasks like for example, watching a conveyer belt with frozen noodles rolling in to make sure any unnecessary broken pieces would be thrown in the trash, allowing the frozen noodles that were shaped correctly in the conveyer to fall into a box,weigh out the correct amount from 27-30 pounds each box, wrap a blue plastic bag inside of it, bring in a hand pallet jack to stack up all the boxes and walk the hand pallet jack into the freezer which roughly around 30-40 degrees, carefully stack the boxes from bottom to top in multiple pallets, leave two labels on each box and one extra label at the very top of the pallet inside the plastic wrapping, wrap around the boxes with plastic wrapping in a nice neat fashion with 4 plastic sticking upwards on each corner. Then, the next project in chronological order i would have multiple containers filled up with dried up noodles stacked up on top of each other, place all of them inside a plastic bag, weigh the correct amount from 7.0-9.0 pounds, seal the bag and pass it on to the next person who would align the red cap on top and the surface of a smaller conveyer belt machine that would keep spinning like a treadmill to seal the bags. I was also a great help to my supervisor because I understood how to setup the printer with the correct amount of ink, changing the date everyday before we start, and fixing troubleshooting to the actual printing for the plastic bags.

• The warehouse worked in wholesale and it was under the company 4 seasons, who offered random products like makeup, toys, mirrors, carpets, brooms, mops, etc. I was given the responsibility to operate a electric pallet jack, it was my duty to locate a list of items based on an invoice paper handed to me by my supervisor. I had many challenging tasks to deal with, One of them being able to locate the items quickly as possible, my supervisor made it clear that we were being judged based on the time it would take for us to complete each invoice which was challenging because considering how wide the warehouse was and how many items were on the paper, sometimes the orders would be two or three pages long and if i had to, i would have to drop off the first completed pallet, grab another one and continue until the order was completed. Once the order was finished, i would place the pallet down at the shipping department, grab some plastic wrapping and wrap around the pallet to keep it sealed and ensure that none of the products would be damaged during the shipping process.

• This warehouse worked in wholesale and it consisted products of cigarettes,cigars,rolling papers, lighters,rolling trays,torches,deodorant, incense sticks, juul products etc. One of my tasks were to restock merchandise, memorize all the products, interact with customers who were mainly owners of smoke shops or liquor stores, answer the phone to receive pickup or delivery orders. I would take their order on a piece of paper, write down what products they wanted and it was my duty to grab every single item on their list around the warehouse which had two floors and 3 different sections where we held extra products. Once the order was finished i would go to a computer and type out what items were on the order and print it out right after. Then, i would hand the paper to our cashier who deals with the payment process. Another one of my tasks were to stock merchandise on top of shelves, pull merchandise with pallet, or carry inside.