Tiger Team Ep#1
Summary
The Tiger Team Show is a new podcast all about warehousing and fulfillment centers. The hosts, Ben and Jordan, share stories about common stereotypes in the industry, such as the "injury risk" employee, the "kiss up" to management, and the employee who always wears shorts no matter how cold it is. They also discuss encounters with the "conspiracy guy" and the "HR nightmare" employee. They share a specific story about an employee who complained about being trained on a: The Tiger team show is a podcast that focuses on working in warehouses and fulfillment centers. In episode one, hosts Ben and Jordan share their stories about working in fulfillment centers, including funny and crazy experiences they had with employees. They also discuss some signs that a new manager in a fulfillment center may not be cut out for the job, such as not being familiar with the work or skipping work to go shopping. The hosts encourage listeners to reach out with any topics they'd like them to cover in
Transcription
Speaker 1
[00.00.13]
All right, everyone, welcome to the warehouse underground. This is Ben, and this is a brand new show that we're launching out. The. We're at the warehouse underground called the Tiger Team. Now, the Tiger team show is all about warehousing bullshit and banter. So I have the professional podcast series that you have seen online, but I wanted to do something a little bit different. I wanted to do something that had an edge that was funny, sarcastic, and really poke holes at a lot of the things that are going on out there in the industry that people can relate to. But it's not just me. So I have a co-host for the show. She's been in this industry more than a minute. Uh, she's a little bit salty like me. And so that's going to work out very well. And I'll introduce her now. Her her name's Jordan. I'm. I can't reveal her last name because I don't want to, like, ruin her career or anything if we say something bad. But, Jordan, welcome to the Tiger team at the Warehouse Underground. Congrats on being a co-host of the show. How are you?
Speaker 2
[00.01.17]
Oh, doing fantastic. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1
[00.01.21]
As the Tiger team goes, where in your list of all the things in your life that you're most proud about, like top 1015, where's the Tiger team ball and that? Bar.
Speaker 2
[00.01.40]
Maybe top 300.
Speaker 1
[00.01.46]
That's why you're on the show. Jordan. Yeah. I mean, anybody else I would bring on here to be, like, top ten? You know, top 15. Top 20. Trying to kiss up. But you're real, right? You're raw. And, uh, you're not afraid to tell me the truth, so that's okay. So maybe when we end the show, like, years from now, I can move up into the into the top, top 100 or something about that. Something of that area.
Speaker 2
[00.02.12]
Well we'll see.
Speaker 1
[00.02.14]
All right. Jordan. So we we worked. We've worked in the warehouse and fulfillment center industry FC six, whatever, whatever you want to call it. And I mean, I know you've worked up along the East Coast and that's kind of where you spent your career there. I, I've worked in places all over the country. And, you know, I'm, I'm connected with people on LinkedIn a lot everywhere. And one of the things that I've seen in the warehousing world in my travels is that no matter where you go. There is always the same type of stereotype of an employee that you see that everyone can identify with. So have you ever seen any of these? Okay, here we go. Constant injury risk person, no matter what they do.
Speaker 2
[00.03.05]
Definitely.
Speaker 1
[00.03.07]
Okay. Uh, they kiss up to management.
Speaker 2
[00.03.12]
Oh, man. The numbers.
Speaker 1
[00.03.15]
Uh, okay. How about, um, any time that they're off the floor for any type of, uh, computer training? They completely abuse that and have to be brought out. Brought back out?
Speaker 2
[00.03.29]
Oh, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1
[00.03.33]
Okay, what about, uh, never gets off their lift? Do you know any guys out there that will never get off their lift for. For anything?
Speaker 2
[00.03.40]
Literally for nothing.
Speaker 1
[00.03.44]
Did I miss any. Is there any on this list that I missed?
Speaker 2
[00.03.48]
Oh, gosh. What about the person you don't know showed up for work that day until you start coding time? I take it you have. You have seen that?
Speaker 1
[00.04.03]
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Or.
Speaker 2
[00.04.05]
Or what about what? About the person who says that they have an accommodation, right? When they don't want to work in a certain path?
Speaker 1
[00.04.13]
There's all there. There. They're out there. I'll tell you a specific one that I always think of. So I've spent some time in some facilities in the, in the, the north where it's called and, and sometimes in Georgia where, where I work now it gets cold too. And it doesn't matter where you go, there's always like one, at least one employee out there, or sometimes a manager that only wears, like 1999 Russell athletic shorts. You know what I'm talking about. Like, no matter what the no matter what the temperature is. And if you if you're like, out there and you are walking around the facility with somebody from HR or the office, like, will you walk past it and you don't even you're so numb to it, you don't even see it anymore. But for them, they come from that setting and they're always like, oh my gosh, are you, are you are you cold? Like, how are you? How are you wearing the shorts for you? It's just it's just like it's just not
Speaker 2
[00.05.16]
actually I'm not going to lie, I do I do make it a point to ask those individuals if they're cold or not, because I still think it's a ridiculous sight to see in the middle of winter.
Speaker 1
[00.05.27]
I think they're all. I think they're onto something, though, you know? I mean, I think they I think they're moving. I think it allows them to move much faster. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, they're not
Speaker 2
[00.05.39]
flexible.
Speaker 1
[00.05.40]
Yeah. Flexible. Like like wind resistance. They're not going to get they don't get chafed. They don't get chafed as much.
Speaker 2
[00.05.47]
That's true. That's true. They don't have to worry about the sweat. They can just go.
Speaker 1
[00.05.54]
Yeah. Yeah. You know about this one. Go ahead. No, sorry. Go ahead. Well, I
Speaker 2
[00.05.58]
was going to say, you know, we can't forget about our creative types either. Uh, at one of my last sites, we had a box making machine and had to make a specific box size to serve as a makeshift bin for storage. So after about ten attempts, we realized the dimensions were not correct and had a bunch of extra boxes in the box making area. So I happened to be walking past when I saw the boxes stacked, and one that looked like a shield right at the entrance of what I now endearingly call Box Castle. So it turns out the associates got bored and built a castle. And I know that's not the first time in a warehouse that associates have created a playground for themselves.
Speaker 1
[00.06.48]
I like that. I like that the castle did have a moat around it. Or were they not at that at that level yet?
Speaker 2
[00.06.55]
They weren't at that level. But now that you say it, I really wish it did have moat.
Speaker 1
[00.07.00]
Yeah. What about, um. Have you ever ran into this employee, uh, conspiracy guy? Oh,
Speaker 2
[00.07.09]
everyone's out to get them. Absolutely.
Speaker 1
[00.07.11]
Yeah. I got conspiracies outside the four walls. I've had some people tell me about all those, but then inside the company, too, I had a guy one time, and he comes up to me and he goes, uh, at this time, I should say, I was not at a big publicly traded company. I was at a more a privately held company. So it was a little bit different. But he comes up to me and he goes, um, hey, the company is stealing money from me. And I think. I highly doubt that that is the case, but due to the severity of your accusation, I will look into this and follow back up with you. Yeah, please do that. I'm tired of losing money. Okay, so I go into finance and I'm. I'm assuming, like, I think that maybe we misquoted his hours or he. He came in on a Saturday. A missed punch or OT got calculated incorrect or something like that. That's where I think I'm going to find. But I don't find any of that. And everything is on the up and up. So I bring him. I come back two days later and I sit him down in the, in the, in the conference room, and I'm like, Ronnie. Ronnie was his name. I'm like, hey, um, I want you to know, I looked into your accusation and we can't find anything. Everything looks good. And he goes. There he goes. I'll never forget this. So he. He had recently, for the first time in his career, signed up for the company for one program. Oh.
Speaker 2
[00.08.59]
Oh, no.
Speaker 1
[00.09.02]
So he he had been putting money into that for a couple of weeks. And then just like, constantly checking his, uh, his, his the value of his 401. Okay. So I was like, oh no, no no no no, that's not that's not what that means. And so I had explained to him, you know, how 401 works and, and, and the, the market goes up and down and. Yeah, it's not it's not our company that's stealing from you. It's just the, uh, it's the underperforming, um, employees or companies that make up your, your 401.
Speaker 2
[00.09.37]
Oh. Poor guy.
Speaker 1
[00.09.40]
Yeah. I don't mean I don't mean to laugh, you know, but I, I then then I of course, I tell my wife I'm like, hey, you know, somebody stealing money from our 401k our our investments. Uh, every time the market turns bad. But
Speaker 2
[00.09.55]
I should use that one as well.
Speaker 1
[00.09.57]
Yeah, well, I'll tell you, though, I, I think out there in the industry, there's one caliber of employee. I think if I had to, to pick only one that everyone can identify with and everyone has an example of, and it is it is the employees that are an HR nightmare any time that they open their mouth.
Speaker 2
[00.10.24]
Yes.
Speaker 1
[00.10.26]
Have you ever. Have you ran into any of them?
Speaker 2
[00.10.29]
Oh, a thousand times, but one in particular. We were onboarding new associates, and I got called to learning to speak with one of them. So I always dreaded those moments because I knew if there were problems on day one of training, there would definitely be problems down the road. So I get the learning part right. So I get to learning, and there's an associate who is upset about being trained on the order paper, and they feel like it's not fair because at their previous site they could pick without driving the machinery. So there's a second red flag there because they have a previous site and we we don't know why they're at this current site. So I try to explain to the associate the differences in departments, the differences in sites. And uh, while we're having this conversation, they're, they're flexing about the fact that they, they know how to report ethics violations. Uh, so, yeah. So they're talking about how, oh, I've gotten managers in trouble in the past. Yeah. Oh, my previous site. Uh, just a lot of a lot of concerning rhetoric.
Speaker 1
[00.11.52]
They're just they're they're they're just sprinkling it in there for you to hear offhanded. Right.
Speaker 2
[00.11.58]
In the specific language to once they learn those buzzwords, they hold on to them. And so we end up working it out to where they can work on the forum path and not on the machinery. But this individual stays on our radar because they wear a new way and matching outfit every day. I remember I well, there was one day in particular this associate was walking by and they were wearing a pink wig and a fur pink jacket, matching shoes, matching pants, and I had to do a double take because I was thinking, who is this associate? Did you
Speaker 1
[00.12.40]
lie there? Uh, like, in disguise and stuff? I mean, that's like, uh.
Speaker 2
[00.12.46]
Well, it's definitely it definitely felt that way because they also did not play nice with others. So we constantly got we constantly got escalations from other associates about concerning interactions they had with this one associate in particular. So, uh, fast forward to the associates last day because believe me, there was a last day, uh, they were taking pictures and videos of boxes on the conveyor belt to make a case for them being overworked, and it culminated into a screaming match with an assistant manager where they threaten them, claiming they were being overworked and not treated fairly. So we saw all the red flags, but that's that's how it ended.
Speaker 1
[00.13.34]
Yeah. There. I think, uh, with change in their look and the wigs and the whole getup, I think they're in the wrong industry. I think they they miss. They miss their opportunity there. They should be doing something else.
Speaker 2
[00.13.45]
Something in Hollywood. Something with acting. Absolutely not. Not warehouse.
Speaker 1
[00.13.52]
I had, uh, I had an employee one time. Jordan. So let me let me set the stage here. Okay. Usually facilities have a wide range in the age of employees, and this one came from days of yore. I'm talking like there she's in her in her 50s and kind of came up in warehousing back when it was rough and tough type thing that that that that employee, you know what I mean? Like that caliber of employee, uh, with, you know, they just they these things differently. So she is incredible, incredible worker. I mean, just. Crazy fast. Big motor. She's working on the inbound side. She's unloading parcel trucks day in and day out. And it's hot. I mean, it's hot in those trucks. And she is just like a machine. Norma is her name, and those are terrible. Call her. I will call her anyway. So I'm a I'm a young manager and I think, you know, I want to highlight Norma for other people in the building to see because she spends all of her time kind of tucked away back in these trucks, and nobody gets a chance to see her. So I go up to her and I'm like, Norma, I want you to, uh. You're doing an incredible job. I appreciate you so much and value. I want to bring you out of here and put you in front of the leadership and the building at the next gemba. And so the gemba, like what most people know about their at this site, was a big thing. The general manager would walk around the senior ops, HR, accounting like, like a whole big thing and they would go around, stop, stop, stop, and you would present. So Norma is going to present and uh, so she goes and gets ready for it. And immediately I can feel as the as the Gemba group is getting closer and closer to to our station, I can feel her anxiety and her adrenaline starting to. Like flow. Get out of control. Yeah, because it's one thing to be tucked away in a truck, but I just didn't realize that. And when you get up in front of people on a stage that that gives people a lot of things. So anyway, she's there, but she's she's gonna do it. So, so the group comes in and we go through the whole whole gemba and it's good. And she presents her stuff and everybody talks and everything. But then at the very end, the the general manager made an offhand comment to her that I don't think that he meant a whole lot in, but he just goes to her, hey, are we gonna get these trucks unloaded today or what?
Speaker 2
[00.16.46]
Yeah. Not the norm.
Speaker 1
[00.16.50]
I think he was, like, halfway joking. But to her and who she is and her identity, that just hit right to the core. And I mean, she just lost it in front of everybody. So she says, you know, well, if we would be able to if these other slack asses in here would start working and the whole thing and so like, you just like it's like a car crash scene where you're trying to get to it and you're like, no, you just
Speaker 2
[00.17.22]
can't look away.
Speaker 1
[00.17.24]
Yeah, you're moving in slow mo, so you can't get there fast enough to stop it. And then and then she keeps going and then she's like, oh. And and then them over there, they're an interracial marriage and I don't. And I'm like, oh my
Speaker 2
[00.17.36]
God, not them
Speaker 1
[00.17.37]
or the police. So I after the after the gemba, the GM, he pulls me aside. He's like, hey, hey, listen come here. He's like, if if we ever have a gemba and there is anybody higher ranking than me that is in here, Norma is not allowed. But. I'm surprised. I'm surprised there was going to be a next time anyway. So. And then and but there was no more. There was no more gambits for Nora after that. But bless her heart, you know, just incredible employee. But they're just not they're not trained, right? They're not trained. They're not used to just talking and navigating that and in that world and everything. And she just she just let it real. Wow.
Speaker 2
[00.18.28]
Props to Norma. Yeah, what a performance.
Speaker 1
[00.18.33]
But anyway, let me ask you this, Jordan. So I, I've been out of the FCS for a little bit. Um, is there a constant flow of new in like new area managers that are coming in from, from colleges like like intern that is is that is that a thing? Oh my
Speaker 2
[00.18.55]
gosh, that is such a huge thing. There's just so many different people coming from all across the country, both at an hourly level and at a college graduate level. So trying to balance between between those two is quite, quite a lot for a site.
Speaker 1
[00.19.16]
Do they all make it?
Speaker 2
[00.19.19]
Definitely not actually. Actually, we should go through the top ten signs. Your new start is not going to make it. What do you think about that?
Speaker 1
[00.19.30]
I think we should go through that.
Speaker 2
[00.19.33]
So I'll go.
Speaker 1
[00.19.34]
Okay. I'll start it off and say they wear nice Dockers khaki. Yeah. It's usually a sign like dress shoes. And, uh, and, uh, khaki pants is a red flag. Just
Speaker 2
[00.19.49]
just looking. Right. Nice to be in a warehouse. All right, uh. Let's see. They are trained in pure management, and the first week, they take their associates off the floor for 30 minutes to do trust falls. Oh my God. In what world? How about they leave the floor after ten hours saying this is all they're paying me for?
Speaker 1
[00.20.22]
Yeah. They're gonna. They're gonna. All right. How about this one? Okay. They go to the break room to hang out with the hourly associates on breaks outside, but they emphatically tell them, hey, you guys, like, smoking is very bad for you. Oh,
Speaker 2
[00.20.42]
do they not also have a vape? How about they were asked in a job interview if they had ever worked in a warehouse or fulfillment center, and they replied, I've watched the office and it didn't look too bad.
Speaker 1
[00.21.01]
I love the office man. I wish I could work in that warehouse down there. I would love
Speaker 2
[00.21.05]
that warehouse.
Speaker 1
[00.21.07]
Yeah. All right, how about this one? Uh, they come in for their job interview, and they're asked if they're comfortable standing and walking, and their reply is, duh. No one ever sat down at my college football games.
Speaker 2
[00.21.27]
Oh, these are too good to be true. How about they say they're going to take lunch, but are gone for hours, and you find out that they were shopping instead?
Speaker 1
[00.21.40]
Or. Or they just. Or they ask all the other managers in the beginning. Hey, where are you? Where's a good place to go for lunch? Here. Where did all you guys go? Oh,
Speaker 2
[00.21.49]
wait, you leave for lunch? How about they live so close to the site? They answer their radio from home when they're supposed to be on site for ship.
Speaker 1
[00.22.05]
So that's one that I wouldn't I I'm jealous of that because I never, I never thought to to do that, you know, like that that, that that one is that bold. I mean that one, that one is, is bold. But if you can pull that off the radio, the CFO is like, hey, why? Why are we spending like $1,000 on these two two mile range, two mile range race?
Speaker 2
[00.22.31]
I wish I wish I had the gall to do that, but. That's somebody that is somebody's story.
Speaker 1
[00.22.40]
All right. Uh. All right, so I think this this this is the last one. So there. Uh, resume, uh, or their LinkedIn page has a quote. And this is for if they're working in like, big high, high, fast FCC. You know, the ones I'm talking about. Yep. They have a quote that's all bold at the top of the resume that that says something to the effect of leaders don't care about numbers and they sacrifice the numbers to save the employees.
Speaker 2
[00.23.08]
Well, okay. Well,
Speaker 1
[00.23.11]
now in a perfect world, that would be good, right? But I think you and I both work in the FCS long enough to know not how powerful the pull of numbers is.
Speaker 2
[00.23.21]
Yes, well, it is cost season, so I, I definitely do understand that.
Speaker 1
[00.23.28]
All right guys. Well that concludes episode one of the Tiger team show at the Warehouse Underground. Jordan, thanks for co-hosting. Uh, how are you feeling,
Speaker 2
[00.23.38]
Ben? I'm feeling good. Uh, I think I think you moved up to, uh, 299. So we're off to a good start for episode one.
Speaker 1
[00.23.47]
Good. All right. Well, you know, I mean, there's there's. You just got to keep keep moving the ball forward. And I think we'll be all right. All right guys out there, if you if you work in warehouses or FCS or DCS and you like the vibe of of the Tiger team show, let me know. You can direct message me on LinkedIn. Uh, you can or you can email me Ben at the warehouse underground comm, then at the warehouse underground.com. Uh, email me anytime. I check it every day. And, uh, with that, we'll see you next time for episode two. Oh. Let us know. Let us know if there's anything that you want us to talk about on the show. Uh, that way, Jordan and I don't just have to come up with all our stuff. All all the time. Although we're perfectly ready.
Speaker 2
[00.24.33]
Yeah.
Speaker 1
[00.24.34]
Thanks, guys. We appreciate it. And we'll see you next time. Thank you. Bye bye.
