More Warehouse Confessions

We had to load a boxcar with mixed bags of domestic flour one day out on the rear export loading dock. This was on the concrete platform with an elevated conveyor belt that ran the length of the warehouse. There were wooden chutes that ran from the second floor of the warehouse down to the conveyor belt at the back of the building there a metal cutoff placed at an angle that would direct the flour bag in the direction in the conveyor belt was traveling, and another cut off would send the bag down the wooden chute and into the doorway of the boxcar being loaded. Their was three of us in the car, me, a new young kid, who had just hired on, and Jerry a draft dodger who had a great sense of humor. There were three warehouseman upstairs with two wheeled carts that were bringing in the flour over and sending it down the chute. We started out with 20 pound bags which were loaded criss cross on the wheeler about eight high these came at a steady pace until we had 500 loaded in each end of the car and then they stopped. The kid asked Jerry why did they stop, to which Jerry replied oh they have just gone to get the 50-pound bags. Well sure enough the next bags were 50-pound bags of donut and cake mixes we loaded about 400 bags of these product's than they stopped. The kid again asked Jerry why did they stop, to which Jerry required that they had gone for the 100-pound bags of flour. And once again Jerry was right, and 100-pound bags of flour started coming down the chute we were working pretty hard now and after we had loaded about 200 had been loaded in the car they stopped once again. The kid said to Jerry, what is happening now, to which Jerry replied with a straight face, that they have gone to get the 200-pound bags. The kid walked out of the car and was never seen again.

One day we had a boxcar of domestic flour to load everything we needed was on the first floor of the warehouse. The boxcar we were supposed to use was on the back loading dock, so we put in the dock plate (a steel plate that bridged the loading dock and the doorway of the boxcar swept the floor lined the walls and the floor with cardboard and with our two wheeled carts loaded the car with bags of flour, that were on the shipping order. We were finished and covered the load with paper and were ready to close the door, when Pete the Shipper showed up to take a look at the load. He looked at the roof of the older boxcar and noticed two small boards had broken away and were hanging down he said the car was not fit for shipping, and said we would have to take all of flour out and reload it in a boxcar on the front loading dock.