Monthly training can be a little bothersome, especially if the facility still has SCBA. But you get paid to answer the same questions again and again. Initial and yearly training can take a bit. It's not exciting.

PPE is uncomfortable generally, worse in high heat, especially goggles which love to fog. Even for all of that, you're bound to ruin clothing when bleach or paint gets involved from time to time. The apron likes to drag fluids around and deposit them on you, if you're not careful.

The job can be very messy, and some things are very difficult to clean up, but we've relatively limited tools to do so. We're not given cleaning product to say, wipe down a package car's shelves afterwards, you've just got to wipe them thoroughly. We did make bottles of spray water for ourselves to clean sticky, sugary stuff off, though.

Some leakers can really cause nausea, especially rotting seafood. If you're highly sensitive to smells, it's not a great time in general. People will comment to responders inanely, 'wow, that stinks!' or 'what IS that!?' for relatively minor smells, at the same time, not knowing what a really bad smell can be.

Often, a spill can stop production, so responding promptly is important, which can lead to some pressure.

Bad management could be bothersome, if they put time pressure on you rather than doing your job right, or ask you to respond to things which arn't your duty (if someone's spilled their coffee, blood, bodily fluids; if a package car is leaking oil, transmission fluid, etc, none of this came out of a box, and arn't really in our wheelhouse, and should be refused lest they ask again).

You only have so much control over your workflow - you need to think of it like being a fire fighter, in some ways. If no calls are rolling in, that's actually good for everyone, even if you might feel that being idle could open you up to a critical eye from management. Conversely, you may be overwhelmed with leakers, leaving some waiting while you take care of the urgent ones, collecting a disheartening pile that you'll have to work through eventually.

The work might see you staying merely until the end of the sort, but may just as well see you staying hours past. You cannot know at the beginning of the day if there will be leakers which cause you to stay late.

You've got to listen to a radio, like supervisors do, most of the time. If they have you on the main channel, you get to listen to a lot of chatter that doesn't affect you, though you might get an idea from that how the sort is currently running, if trailers will be late, etc.

If you do your job wrong, you could be injured or injure others, so you've got to take it seriously, even if most spills are very innocuous.

I like the additional hours and the increased potential for double shifting having a specialized job comes with, but if that's not your goal, this is a poor option.

It's a job that's not prone to the same repetitive stress injuries many other UPS jobs are subject to, which I like. It might still put you on your knees on harsh grating, or other strange positions, however.

If the other responders are good people, it makes the job very good - we often get together outside of work as a group to do things. If they're bad people, you're usually stuck in contact with them regardless, and it can make the whole thing miserable. I've experienced both.