John Wetmore spent four years on the night shift at a warehouse, watching older coworkers break down physically. Most workers just wanted to move to day shift. He realized that wasn't enough and started looking for something different.
Chapters
I worked in a warehouse, third shift, like overnight for 4 years. And halfway through, I remember watching these old dudes, which are my age now, to be clear. They were in their mid-40s, right? And 50s. And I'm like— and they were whipping around this warehouse. And I was 21, 22, working in a warehouse with dudes our age, right? And they're making the same money as me. And they're like knee braces, backs are hurting, right? And we're working overnight shifts. So we went in at 6:00 PM and you got off when you were done. Somewhere between 3 and 6 AM. And I'm there 2 years and I'm like, after a while you start to realize all the people that worked on the night shift, their entire dream in life was to get on day shift. That was it. They just wanted day shift so they could work 7 to 3 in the same warehouse doing the same shitty job when the sun was up instead of when the sun was down. And I was like, yo, that's it? Like, that's my future? You know, right? And then I had my surroundings, which were like, it wasn't good either. I'm like, yo, I can't do this.