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Bonus: Inside Amazon Warehouse 2 · Spending time with Dr. Christina

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  Hello everyone and welcome back to my podcast
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  spending time with dr. Christina We are now on
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  episode 2 of my bonus series of the Amazon experience
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  And as promised I want to talk about some weird
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  stuff at Amazon some quirky things that happen
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  So to begin when I also came to Amazon, you know,
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  some of my friends were like, oh this is so Easy,
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  you know, and it's like stress -free, you know
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  compared to say other Professional careers and
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  things like that and what I was doing. This should
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  be a piece of cake No, not exactly what I found
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  was Yeah, a lot of brow -beating over numbers
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  and how to do things very small things But I
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  guess it meant a lot To the folks in that environment.
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  So for example the way you're picking Which is
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  taking this product off of it's not a robot.
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  It's basically a motorized cart, but they want
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  to call them like robots and The way that you
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  bend and do it how many you do at an hour how
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  many do per session? The way that you're handling
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  things, I mean it really was quite it was it
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  was quite a moment but there are people that
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  just considered themselves artists and I think
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  up into that point I was like yeah this is fine
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  I'm just chilling but I would say what I got
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  out of this experience is that one no it wasn't
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  it wasn't less stressful than say my normal career
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  because This is what I found was like pretty
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  petty. It was really petty but for some of these
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  folks there this is everything and And that's
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  what I got out of it. There were well, you know,
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  and I can also, you know kind of deflect a little
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  Hey policy says this and this and this but for
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  some of these people This is everything. This
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  has become their world where they have learned
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  to Prove themselves to others By being successful
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  say picking or sorting or counting for a lot
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  of people those types of alkylates they're everything
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  and And that's what I got. I remember there was
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  one guy who would tell me He was very proud and
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  he was just like yeah They just think I'm the
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  best at this and I'm the best at that and I'm
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  like really Is that what they tell you and he
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  just kind of stopped for a moment? this gentleman
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  but for a lot of people they need that just like
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  in any job they need to be appreciated they need
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  to know that they're doing well and hey we're
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  not just talking about these high schoolers and
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  these young adults that are coming in there because
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  I have seen them as early as 18 and shoot half
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  of them that I saw that were said they were 18
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  they looked 14 years old but for the most part
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  the adults they they are looking to be appreciated
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  just like in any environment whether this is
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  a corporate warehouse a factory or whatever it
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  is They're looking to get those accolades and
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  many of them take a lot of great joy in Being
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  the best at some stuff matter of fact. I've had
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  so many people When I worked at Amazon fulfillment
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  Center tell me that they were the best they were
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  the best picker there This is really you're the
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  best and this person's the best and this person
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  everybody is pretty much saying that they're
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  the best and So on and so forth But I get back
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  to my point in the previous bonus episode if
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  you are and they're giving you these accolades
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  and they are using you Right. This is your job,
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  but they're using you to be the best and Rile
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  up the rest of the troops and all of this then
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  what is the reward at the end of the day? When
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  do those promises come to fruition of management?
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  rewarding you and bringing you into a managerial
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  position. You know again when I came to Amazon
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  I was over some things initially and you want
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  to do this you want to do that and just wanted
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  to go and just chill and just kind of coast through
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  and figure out things What I wanted to do with
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  my career and you know I was there like I mentioned
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  like with my friends. I'm there for the holiday
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  money I'm there because my nephew also says there's
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  a disconnect for me so for the most part though,
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  I would say When the dust settled and I saw what
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  was going on I Don't think I could have sat back
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  any longer and not say anything There was a lot
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  that was unnecessary That was happening in the
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  workplace again. We know no workplace is perfect
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  but there was a lot that Certain people maybe
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  even certain groups of people were definitely
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  experiencing unfairness and browbeating and As
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  I referenced in the other podcast talk to like
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  a child by other children for that matter and
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  It's sad it is sad and it's in an abundance.
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  So it's like something you can't ignore And what
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  I also notice is that no, they don't like you
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  speaking up. They don't like you standing up.
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  I remember one day when a PA said to me, I was
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  taking work from other people. I says, really?
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  How was that? And but her position was because,
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  hey, if I'm educated, what am I doing there from
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  doing this? Hey, I'm here like everybody else.
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  I'm passing through. However, I'm here like everybody
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  else to make the money, but that was also a dig
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  with a lot of racism behind it for the most part
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  what I have seen is that a Lot of people do so
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  much to take care of their families They do a
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  lot and this is not to say that you need to yell
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  at your manager and you need to do all no You
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  don't need to do that. You know, it's the power
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  of the pen you document you write you submit
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  you get help you don't have to lash out and For
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  the most part again, this is why unions Because
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  for a lot of people they don't know how to navigate
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  the bad employer the bad environment when someone
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  is being abusive yes abusive managers for whatever
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  reason they think it's okay and I've seen a lot
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  this last year and a half and I will tell you
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  it is absolutely shocking but then we look at
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  where the United States is today so a lot of
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  that is seeping into the workplace nevertheless
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  Getting back to some of these quirky stories.
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  Okay, here's another story. I remember this one
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  manager that I had and if I asked him a question,
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  right? Maybe it's policy related, protocol related,
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  process related. Just couldn't answer it. And
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  I would ask him, you know, for the most part
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  via the email system. and what he would do is
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  put it into AI so all of a sudden I have this
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  whole page to read that I know he did not write
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  and I'm like really are you that like either
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  you don't know are you that intimidated by me
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  but what is this right but that was weird other
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  weird stuff That was going on. I mean, it's just
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  it's too numerous to count. I may save that like
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  again for the for the second part I do agree.
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  But one thing I will mention I was warned about
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  the kids working a night shift eventually went
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  from day to night shift Oh, and I didn't mention
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  this. I actually did some traveling for this
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  job Initially when I started working at the delivery
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  station and again, this is all good and fun.
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  It probably was less than Four to five miles
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  from my house Then I took the other position
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  which was again still seasonal full -time all
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  this kind of stuff I was traveling 75 miles a
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  day and I drive an electric car and my electric
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  car Doesn't really the ones that I have don't
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  really have the mileage for that I mean they
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  do 150 and one of them has like a mini hybrid
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  so that worked out but if I took pure electric
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  to this job they even though they have electric
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  vans they don't have any charging stations and
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  most of the time if I went to the charging station
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  either going or coming because say I'm getting
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  a hundred and fifty miles electric and I'm using
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  my heat I need to charge well when I get to these
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  charging stations say on my way home Amazon would
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  be there with their blue van just So again, it
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  was quite an adventure, which don't necessarily
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  miss. That was like 150 miles a day, four days
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  a week. Yeah. And that was quite a journey, but
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  it was something to do at that time. And again,
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  just quirky stories that I wanted to share. Now
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  I understand they are working on getting a charging
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  station at that facility, which would really
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  help a lot of people because then you can like
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  charge while you're at work if you need to, all
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  that kind of good stuff. But when I was there,
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  they had no charging stations despite having
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  electric fans. So again, another interesting
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  piece right there. So I will close with that
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  last story, but again, I have so many more and
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  I think I will save that for the part two Which
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  I think some of you are really gonna find engaging
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  Not sure when I will get to that but that will
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  be in the very near future in the meanwhile I
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  thank you all for joining me. I thank you all
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  for listening and again, I now have voicemail
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  set up with the Podcast so you can leave feedback
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  or message if you care to I? Also have a website
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  that I'm working on now that should be done soon
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  And you can see some of the projects that I've
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  been engaging in since leaving Amazon So you
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  may find that interesting you may want to get
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  involved however I'll put this to a close now,
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  and I thank you again for listening, and I wish
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  you all a great week