|
  |
|
|
My Worst Job Ever
“Eco-friendly company seeks new members for our energetic team. Outdoor work. Day shift. Weekly incentive bonus. Carpentry skills a plus. No experience necessary. Will train. Apply in person.” The help wanted ad looked pretty good to me, especially since I was out of work at the time. I liked the “incentive bonus”, and “no experience necessary” sounded just right for my limited job skills. Plus, they were located not terribly far from my home. The one thing I didn’t care for was the part about “outdoor work” (Michigan can be pretty chilly in February). But I decided to go ahead and apply anyway. The application process was easy. This was long before drug testing became routine for just about every job. All I had to do was fill out a form and show them my driver’s license. “When can you start?” The interviewer seemed anxious. “Uh, tomorrow, I guess...” I was not quite so enthusiastic. “Great. See you here at 7. Dress warmly.” Wow. I got the job. That was easy. Next morning my alarm went off at 6. I fixed some eggs and bacon for breakfast, and packed a lunch for my first day at the new job. Then I checked the temperature outside. Minus 5 degrees. ‘Dress warmly’ indeed. I pulled on two pairs of long johns, denim work jeans, a long-sleeve t-shirt, flannel shirt, sweatshirt, and a heavy wool coat. On my feet I wore two pairs of socks - one cotton, one wool - and a pair of snowmobile boots with heavy felt liners. Cotton gloves inside a pair of ski mittens covered my hands. And I topped off my outfit with a heavy wool cap that came way down over my ears. Thinking back to my childhood, I remembered my mom bundling me up in a snowsuit so bulky I could hardly move. Shuffling out to my car, I scraped the frost off of my windshield and drove the few miles to work. Man it was cold. The eco-friendly part of my new employer’s business had to do with the fact that they were, in a manner of speaking, recyclers. More specifically, they repaired wooden pallets and sold them to various factories around the greater Detroit area, mostly auto companies and their suppliers. They got paid to pick up used pallets and haul them away. Then, after repairing the pallets, they turned around and sold them, often back to the same companies that had paid to get rid of them in the first place. The “outdoor work” part of the job had to do with the fact that the pallets were stored in a large fenced yard, where we would repair, sort, and band them into stacks of ten. Our work areas within the yard each had a small roofed shelter, with one side open to the elements. Within the shelter, there was a bench where we could sit to eat lunch. That was it - a roof and a bench. A compressor shed nearby provided air for the nail guns we used to install replacement boards on the broken pallets. The work area was completed by a 250-gallon oil drum that had been converted into a wood-burning stove. One end was cut almost completely open, and a stack had been welded onto the top of the other end. Fueled by the wood scraps and broken boards that were too short to be nailed onto other pallets, those stoves often glowed cherry red, thawing the frozen ground within a ten foot radius. By mid-morning, the ground around the stove had turned into a muddy mess that threatened to pull off even the most tightly laced boot. It didn’t take long for me to see why they offered an “incentive bonus”. The 10% bonus was paid to any employee who worked a full 40-hour week. And judging by the number of new faces I saw each day, they didn’t have to pay out that bonus very often. |
|
 |
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "My Worst Job Ever" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
