Wednesday, October 19, 2011

RV Travel Dot Calm

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
My wife wants to work this fall for Amazon.com in a work camper program she has heard about at their Kentucky distribution plant. We are living full-time in our travel trailer and usually are much further south during the months of November and December. We don’t need the money, but she thinks it would be fun to try it. I’ve already put my 30 years in and have no desire to “have fun” working in a semi-cold section of the country for several weeks. I am trying to be open minded about the whole thing, but I’m picturing myself fishing for pompano in November and my wife is picturing herself fishing for Christmas orders in Kentucky. Please help me make it to the Gulf.
--Trying to be Dot Calm in Indiana

Dear Dot:
The definition of retired is not a narrow definition. It can be whatever you make it. Work Camping jobs are springing up everywhere. “The Boomers are coming.” It used to be campground hosting was the only work camp job. That is all changing. There are a lot of companies with their eyes on the Amazon experiment. You can expect to see more companies offering the same temp jobs to this same demographic in the future. Hopefully at that time one of those companies is within the warm vicinity of pampano fishing. That way you can drop your wife off at work on the way to the surf. As for now you two need to work this out. Working for Amazon is not all fun and games. Your wife will find it to be a very demanding schedule. You should encourage her to google a few recent articles about Amazon plant working conditions so that she has a better understanding of what she is signing on for. If after careful consideration you both agree to let her give it a shot you will find that Amazon will offer you several free camping options and a carrot and stick bonus option to entice your wife to stay the full season. So you could leave Kentucky after Christmas with some extra cash. If your wife finds this adventure is not all it’s cracked up to be, you could be pompano fishing before you know it and she has checked distribution center off her bucket list. My last Amazon order of motor home wheel covers arrived looking like chrome cowboy hats. Have your wife check their stacking procedure for me will ya?
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink 

1 comment:

pennierich said...

I retired at 58. My wife worked a couple of years beyond that and suffered a broken back. She was able to become amblitory, but we were both "retired." She then earned a Doctorate, started writing books and then she found eBay. Now the Airstream has been sold, if we "travel" she tours speaking and I stay home and pack eBay sales for shipping. She is also working on a second Doctorate and I have the tow vehicle up for sale. Give up and go with the flow.