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ComradeCarter
Junior Chimp
Posts: 5,496
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« on: August 18, 2013, 02:50:45 AM » |
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My work history is decidedly blue collar, manual labour jobs. This was somewhat by choice, but also by necessity. On several occasions I've taken awful jobs that were only available because most people wouldn't do them.
1. Freight company labourer ($11/hour, night shift). My first job, and I juggled it while taking college courses during the day. It was outdoors, loading semi trailers and cargo planes with freight in the dead of Ohio's winter at night. I lasted there six months before basically just not showing up anymore because I was a naive idiot who thought that sort of crap would fly in the workplace.
2. Steel plant labourer ($9/hour, afternoon shift). I remember going into the temp agency and being interviewed as a part of a group. They said they had a job opening at a steel treatment place where steel gets put through furnaces to make it stronger, and it was about 140 degrees inside constantly. I was the only person who put my hand up. This place gave me my work ethic, and it also made me drop about 50 pounds. I lasted six months before being fired because I didn't come in to work ONCE (and I had called to let them know beforehand). They were going to hire me in, as well, to the tune of a whopping $12/hour.
3. Cookware factory labourer ($9/hour, afternoon shift). This was one of my favourite workplaces, I was there for two years while I saved up money to go to Australia. You had to be fast and organized to meet the quotas. I don't know why this sort of factory work is so frowned upon by Americans these days, it keeps you fit and the thoughtlessness of your tasks can actually be mentally therapeutic. They also wanted to hire me in for about $12/hour, but I declined as I was leaving for Australia.
4. Catering company dishwasher ($22/hour, mornings). First job I had in Australia (look at the wage difference!). It was for a Jewish caterer. I did it for two entire days before being more or less fired for breaking a giant glass platter shaped like a fish that had been in the family for decades, oh the horror! It stank, the conditions were dirty, the boss was an asshole. Worst job I've had.
5. Demolition/excavation labourer ($22-$35/hour, various shifts). There is a subtle art that no one appreciates to disassembling and breaking entire rooms and structures. I more or less was there to shovel crap out of the way and dump things into bins, though I did get to do some jackhammering and play with large machinery. Over the Christmas/New Years period we did some work where I got my highest hourly wage, $35/hour, just to push wheelbarrows full of concrete mix. The other fun part was visiting places we'd demolished to see what they'd turned into. Gives you a little bit of satisfaction. I did this off and on for a few months when work was available.
6. Abbatoir picking/packing ($16-$19/hour, mornings). Get up at 4 in the morning, drive to the factory, and stare at hunks of flesh and body parts chug along conveyors for ten hours a day in nearly freezing conditions. Use metal instruments to rip the spinal cords out of meat. Accidentally pop cysts and spray pus on your face. Come home everyday smelling like a butcher. Yeah, this place screwed with my head for a while before I got used to it. After a while you don't care anymore, and when this massive eastern European screams "NECK" and tosses a disgusting wad of flesh and bone at you, you don't think twice. I worked here for six months before being unceremoniously left out of work because of the high Australian dollar, low American dollar, and low demand overseas.
7. Dairy industry machine operator ($17-$22/hour, mornings). My current job, running machinery for a multinational dairy product producer. I have been there for nigh on four years. The work is relatively easy, the people are diverse and interesting, and I've been promoted enough that my collar is turning a lighter shade of blue for the first time in my life. The only real downside is the annoying amount of overtime expected of me. Overall, though, a place tolerable enough to spend many more years if I so choose.
So now you know an uncomfortable amount about my work history. Congratulations, you are now free to belittle me for my history of low-skill entry level manual labour positions and what that says about my class! Well, at least I never worked in fast food..
Anyone else willing to share?
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