Pittsburgh

What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been. I have worked nearly everyday since last June once I found out I was going to Pittsburgh to help launch my boss’s business with Amazon.

My boss, Sal, has tried to get me on with Amazon ever since March. The initial plan was for me to be hired as a driver then transitioned into a dispatcher position. He wanted me to wait until my MVR came back clean. The basis was that you can’t have more than 2 points on your license in order to be hired as a driver. So, I told my boss I had one ticket that would be falling off in the month of May. I told him I would order my certified MVR and make sure I had zero points on it. Once that arrived, I called and confirmed to him that I had zero points on my license. That’s when the craziness began.

He called me on June 1st and told me that I would officially be on board with Amazon. His Pittsburgh branch would open in mid-June. We would be there long enough for the business to stablize before returning back to Georgia in August. He told me he would eventually fly me out to Pittsburgh, and I would be staying with our Operations Manager Eliot.

I had just donated plasma and was about to go to O’Charley’s for lunch. Ironically enough, I was a few hours away from delivering packages for Amazon Flex. After we got off the phone, I immediately called Jocelyn and relayed the news. I told her I wanted to come over that night and make the big announcement to my family.

I was still going to work at FedEx in the interim, but Sal was going to put me on with a local Amazon branch to begin dispatch training. He wanted me to train every weekend until it was time for me to fly out.

I made it over to my sister’s that night and told everyone the news. They were definitely shocked but extremely happy for me. I started telling a close number of friends about what was going on. I never made it FB official UNTIL I actually landed in Pittsburgh (more on that later).

So, the month of June was filled with training a new driver at FedEx during the week, dispatch training on the weekends while trying to find time to sleep lol. I ended up talking to Eliot on numerous occasions about when I would officially fly out to Pittsburgh because the launch date kept changing. We were originally told we would be launching in mid-June then it changed to late-June. At one point, Amazon took away Sal’s contract. He actually had to fly to Seattle in order to get some things straightened out. After that, he confirmed with Eliot that we would officially launch on July 9th. He told me that he would buy my plane ticket “soon”.

I was starting to get frustrated because I wasn’t getting a straight answer as to when I would be leaving. Eliot wanted me to be in Pittsburgh earlier than July because he wanted me to get dedicated training at the Cleveland location. Extenuating circumstances at FedEx made it more difficult to train the new driver. We had guys calling out or having to attend funerals. I ended up having to cover three different routes in a two week period.

Finally, Sal and I were talking on July 1st when he told me he would officially buy my plane ticket. I was waiting like crazy to see if it was going to pop up. He called to confirm if I had received the flight itinerary, and I told him I hadn’t yet. He misspelled my e-mail, so I told him that my e-mail had two Ts in it lol.

There’s my itinerary :-).

I immediately facetimed Jasmine and sent a copy of my itinerary. I told her that this is what we were sacrificing for. We were originally supposed to spend the entire month of June together, but we had to cancel once we found out I was going to Pittsburgh. Even though we cancelled, it was probably for the best only because I was barely home during that month -_-. As soon as Friday rolled around, I had to immediately work Saturday and Sunday leaving me with very little time to do anything.

Once I finally received my flight itinerary, I started mentally getting ready to leave. I called Jocelyn to see if she would want to come and help me deep clean my apartment on the 4th. The rest of the week was a blur to be honest. I just couldn’t wait to get on that plane and begin my new journey. In fact, I already knew I was going to cut my day short on Friday. I stuck around at FedEx long enough before I was ready to leave lol. I came back to my crib, started a load of laundry then made my way to see everyone before I left.

My first stop was to see Rachel and her kids one last time. After that, I went to Great Clips to get my haircut then stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Charro.

I went over to Jocelyn’s house to grab a suitcase and inform her what time I needed to be at the apartment. I then went over to see my dad followed by a visit to my favorite aunt’s house. I told her I would be leaving for Pittsburgh in the morning, and she was adamant on going with us :-).

After that, Trey and I FINALLY got together at his house. It has been ages since we’ve spent time together, so it was nice to hangout with my brother.

It was funny. I haven’t seen my niece in about a year, but she immediately ran into my arms when she saw me. After that, she couldn’t stop being around me.

I finally left his house around 7:30 while it was pouring down raining lol. I made two more pit stops then finally called it a night. I tried to get everything ready for tomorrow, but there’s always that feeling you’re going to leave something behind right? LOL.

I got up the next morning around a quarter to 4 and started finishing up my packing. Jocelyn, my aunt and my mom showed up around 6 to help put the finishing touches on my apartment. Once everything was finished, we piled into the car to head to the airport. We made one quick pit stop at the gas station.

I’m not a very emotional person, but I couldn’t help but tear up once I was officially getting on to the airport exit. We parked curbside at the North Terminal, and I couldn’t hold back the tears (of joy). I didn’t cry again until I was in my mom’s arms. It was like tears of vindication. For years, people would question why I went to college, graduated in film but working for Aarons and FedEx. I was about to do something extraordinary, and to have Jocelyn, my aunt and my mom to be there to drop me off? That was priceless.

Here are some pics of my Day 1 arrival in Pittsburgh.

On the plane with my Amazon shirt:

No words needed:

This pic was taken VERY late Saturday night. Eliot had to run up to Cleveland to stuff out a few “fires” up at that terminal lol. We didn’t even get home until like 10:30.

I will write more when I get a little more time to write. I’m enjoying my day off lol.