Strategic sorting

Jordan became my buddy now. We've been pairing up quite regularly in the recent City Harvest sessions.

Chaos inside the Fridge

Shanthi, who is a regular volunteer, was sorting the vegetables and fruits into separate crates. Mizan, the warehouse manager, asked me to help her. Jordan was sorting the ready meals and meats.

Shanthi put all sorts of fruits in the crates and was stacking them up. But City Harvest has a specific way of organising the fruits and vegetables.

• Bananas
• Berries
• Cut fruits
• All other fruits
• Root vegetables
• Cut vegetables
• All other vegetables
• Avocadoes go with vegetables though it's a fruit & a berry
• Tomatoes go with vegetables though it's a berry

So we had to redo most of the crates which was done. While we were sorting the fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, and ready meals were being sorted by 3 more volunteers. The breads were just put in big crates.

Once done, we labelled them and moved them inside the freezer ready to be shipped tomorrow. After that, I gave a clean sweep of the area with a big brush sitting in the corner.

Sorting Algorithm

As we still have 30 more minutes, Mizan asked us to sort the breads that were put in big crates earlier. Jordan asked me how am I planning to sort them. I suggested the following three categories.

• Best before n-x
• Best before n
• Best before n+x

Where n=tomorrow and x>=1

We started sorting the bread and putting them into the normal crates that we usually use. Halfway through, Jason, another warehouse manager, said that the breads needs to be put in bigger crates. We then juggled the packs of bread from smaller crates to bigger crates.

For the final task, we had to put the snacks into bigger crates. We had 3/4 boxes of Hula Hoops, which needed unwrapping and crating. Once done we still had 10 minutes left in our shift. But Mizan said that would be enough for the day and we started leaving.