I am now official!

   Well, they kept their word!

 The place I was a contract worker for, officially hired me on! It's a good feeling, especially when you consider I'll be hitting the ol' Retirement Age within ten years (Really? Yes, really!) But, I plan on hanging on a bit after, if I can. It's the least I can do for them, since they actually want me there. It's a good feeling, let me tell you.To give you an idea of why I'm happy to be here, here's a list of jobs I've had (at least those off the top of my head):

*Custodial

*Retail (comic book shop, toy store (two different ones), Sharper Image-type store, curtain retailer)

*Food service (McDonald's, cook for a small restaurant, steakhouse dishwasher/cleanup (my first job, by the way!))

*Weatherproofing school buildings

*Manufacturing (making de-burring tools for steel, insulating exhaust systems,  making tire-pressure gauges, industrial lifts (current job))

  Yes, that's 13 jobs I've had in my life (at least those I can remember). Some of them are no longer around, and a few were for the summer while I was in school. But now, I (hopefully!) will not have to look anymore. It's a good feeling.

  And here's hoping your situation is a good one, as well.

 

 

New Job!

   Guess who has a new job? Go on, take a guess.
   Yep. Me!
    What am I doing now? Manufacturing lift systems for a local company. I like the work, and the people. At the moment, it's contractual ('temp'), but it's a contract-for-hire, which means they want me there permanently. Nice!

    Now, why am I here? well....
 
    It has to do with three prior jobs (I'll call the companies 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D').
Now, 'A' was one I started in 2010, working on climate controls. I loved the work, and got along with a good deal of the people working there (Hello, if you're reading this!). But, as it was foreign-owned, it got bought out by another company, who moved it out of the country. So, after 'the band broke up' (after about 7 years), it was time to look around again.

    As luck would have it, 'B' was looking for people. It was a company that was insulating exhaust systems, and was next to 'A', and was being used by them as a overflow warehouse. Nice! Plus, I was with a few people from 'A' as well!

   But.....

   'B' was owned also by a foreign company, but its office was in another state. Long and somewhat convoluted story short, mid-August 2023 (with THREE of us working there, not including the supervisor), we were told that one was leaving, and the doors were shutting at the end of the year. But, they 'graciously' offered the two of us left that we could join them their; the other guy said 'Yes', I said 'No'. So, two down (this one, after 5 years)....

   Then.....

   'C' was looking for a few people. By this time, I'm back as a contract person, and was brought into this other place. Which, was in the same building 'A' was in! They made tire pressure gauges mainly for big rig semi trucks and other industrial vehicles. The materials were very similar to what we used at 'A', so I had no problem there. Plus, myself and another contract got along great with our co-workers, who really wanted us to be hired, as a LOT as planning on coming in. What could go wrong?

   Well.....

    After three weeks, on Good Friday, I got a text from the service, saying that my 'Contract had been fulfilled', and not to report to work on Monday.
W
T
F
???
I texted the floor supervisor, and he verified it. All done.
So, Monday early, I went there to turn my keycard in. I told my co-workers what had happened, and they were stunned! They WANTED us there, because it was going to ramp up a LOT. They said they'd contact the supervisor and try to 'get it straightened out' and let me and the other person know.

    No luck. Struck out.
 
    But.....

    A few days later, the service contacted me, and told me of this other place, that makes lifts. Would I be interested?

    Of course! I didn't have anything else going on.

    Well, I went there, met the people, looked it over, and here I am! The best part? Even though I'm still not 'official' yet, they treat me like I am. Should have come here first!

    While I wish that 'A' were still around, and I was working with the people who made it enjoyable, I'm glad I'm at a place I feel good about. Even though I keep in touch, I'd still like to see and talk to them every day. They made the work enjoyable, and I'm glad I met them.

   So, here's to you, my Work Family.  Miss you, and think about you.

    And I hope you do, as well.

Yes, another thing about work.....

 Well well well. Yet another work post. Will they never end? :)
Probably not...

   Recently, we've had yet another person let go. Just your standard No Call No Show. Seems that on a Wednesday, he called to say that his car wouldn't start. Okay, fine. But on Thursday and Friday, nothing. Not a call or text; just silence. Shows up on Monday, with no explanation. Seems that the contract service he belongs to (yes, we contract people for work, with the object to hire them eventually) didn't let him know not to come back, since there was no explanation at all for the absence. Our supervisor contacted them, and told them what was up, and to call him to tell him. They did, and he's gone.
   Now, another contract person - our last one, by the way - has pulled a few attendance 'tricks' as well: last minute call-ins, "Oh, I forgot to tell you", and the latest one: "I'll be there later. No, I don't know when." Followed up by: "I'll be there around 8:30." Then: "Nine o'clock." Then: "Stuck in traffic. When I get there I'll get there." Which he did. At 9:45.
   At the moment, he have someone out for medical issues; they should be back soon. But when people pull stuff like this, it screws us up and pushes other things back that we need to do.It doesn't help that these two still live at home, and don't need too much money it seems. The second person will probably be gone next week (just a thought). Which would not surprise me, but still screws us over. Attendance is IMPORTANT, people! just saying...
   
   Speaking of which...

I've mentioned before about our gift card program(which is currently on hold because of whining); it was just something our shop was doing. Now, though, the company has one in place that awards good attendance. Surprise, huh? The idea is, every quarter the names of people with good attendance are put together, and one is drawn. That person gets a $250 gift card. I've been in it the two times it's been done; missed out on the first, but won the second. It's company-wide, so you would think that with over 100 names, it would be difficult. But you'd be wrong.
   The first time, only 6 were eligible.
   The second time, 4.
   Now, this takes into account approved days off (like say, for a vacation). You'd be eligible for it for that. Call-ins, for being sick or otherwise, no. It's not that hard, people: show up, and you'd get a chance. But even then, people have a hard time at it.


   Some would fall back on the old "No one wants to work anymore!!!" thing, but I think it's more like "I want to earn money, but I want to do it my own way, without rules! You're lucky to have me here at all!" Well, no, we aren't. YOU'RE lucky we decided to give you a chance. Yes, there are rules, but they're there for a reason: to make sure you show up, and do the work you're here to do. You don't like it? Fine. Don
't be here then. Yes, it will inconvenience us, but we'll make it work. Just remember that eventually, you'll have to work *somewhere*. And follow their rules. Yes, it will be a pain, but if you're lucky, you'll benefit from it. Trust me.


   Failing that, good luck winning the lottery someday....

Another one bites the dust...

   Recently, we've had another casualty at my work.
   Someone had their job review, and they weren't too happy with it. Seems that their job performance - while good - was the same as the last time they were reviewed. In other words, no improvement. They would complain about working in a different area, or take a little too much time to do something...you know, 'cruising' through, and not stepping up a bit. Their pay increase reflected it, as well; the minimum.
   The following day, he wasn't there. Supposedly, he had something to do. Slightly suspicious, but nothing we could do.
   The day after, though, when he was still not there, our supervisor said that his WIFE had called him the night before; yelling at him, cursing at him, accusing our work of trying to basically screw him over, etc. She also quit for him, as well. Yes, SHE quit HIS job for him. And, yes, he was a hired-in employee, so that makes it stranger.
    Now, I don't know if he wanted her to do it, or if she just decided to do it herself (She's a very strong-minded individual, just so you know). But either way, it leaves us short. Again.
    We're supposed to receive more machinery later this year, for a couple of new jobs coming in. Like many places, we're trying to build up our workforce, but it's still an uphill battle. Contract people not staying...well, it happens. They find something else, or just decide to not want to work "just yet", or whatever. But someone who's a hired-in person, who *was* a contract, until they got brought on, just makes me shake my head. He's a nice guy, and this just took us by surprise. Needless to say, when I asked if he asked to come back, would we? The answer wasn't comforting.
    It's just so disheartening, you know? Our head office (which is out-of-state, by the way) doesn't really like to give us too much overtime, because of the usual budget worries. So our only recourse is to try and work faster and harder, or change our weekend plans when the overtime is approved. Don't know about you, but getting up at 3AM on a Saturday, when you've got to pick up the slack because of staffing issues, is NOT cool!
     Oh well. Like every other place, we just have to ride it out and hope for the best.
     I just hope that we get lucky people-wise, and actually not have to run ourselves into the ground anymore.
     Fingers crossed!
    

More work drama.....

     Until recently, we've had a type of bonus program in place, where if you hit three goals you'd receive a gift card, based on the goals hit. They were 'Hitting Rate' (producing the parts needed), 'Quality Issues' (no quality problems from the customer), and the biggest one: 'Attendance'. If all three are hit, everyone gets a $50 card. Two of the three, $25. One (or none) then no cards. Quality sometimes pops up; mainly because something didn't hold during transport. Not really our fault, but still...
      Hitting rate is more of an issue, because sometimes our supplier doesn't ship to us. No material, fewer parts shipped. Also not really our fault...
      Know what is? Attendance. People coming in late, deciding to leave early, not showing up, etc. For those of us who *don't* have attendance issues, this annoys us. We're being penalized because of these clowns. Constantly.
     And when they aren't there, we have to pick up the slack, putting other things behind. Idiots...

     Which brings us to why the program is no longer being run. The cards were given out every two weeks; a couple of people got nothing, and couldn't understand why. Mainly, their attendance was terrible - constantly late, not showing up, leaving early. Eventually, it builds up. They were VERY vocal about "How come I didn't get anything?!", to the point where we finally just stopped it. And, to really upset us even more, THEY LEFT. They quit, and complained about how the program was 'unfair', and how management was 'toxic' and 'unreasonable', and such. So much so, that Human Resources (HR) had to call and ask what was going on.
     Now, we're a small place; our main company is out of state, as is our HR. The complainers, were contract people (i.e. not officially hired in). Somehow, they got the number for HR (which they SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD, since they didn't work for us), and lodged complaints. So, now we have to find out how that happened, as well. Plus, we'll probably have to sit down individually with the office to sort this stuff out.
    There aren't too many hired-in people, so we're trying to build up. But for whatever reason, we've had high turn over, and every single time, it's because they will NOT follow the protocols. It's annoying, tiring, and disrespectful. Hopefully, it'll sort itself out soon, because we're tired of the drama.
    And having to deal with this garbage.

  Oh, and by the way....here's a pic of some of the cards I've gotten since we've done this program (it ran about a year and a half or so). It's not a full set, as they can be used in model building (that's a whole separate post), and I've used some for that. They're all used up, by the way.
  The grand total when we stopped? It was over $600.  
  'Unfair'? Only if you don't *want* them......

  

 

 

 

At my work...

   We are having a problem at my work. It's a people-problem.
Specifically, it has to do with getting people to come in, and getting them to not blow off time constantly.
   I work in a manufacturing job; we deal with automotive exhausts. We're looking to expand this year into different jobs, but we need people. In particular, people who aren't afraid to do physical labor. Overall, not too  bad a place.
   Except where people are concerned.
   Before the Pandemic, we had issues in getting people to interview. When we did get them in the door, there were problems. A LOT of problems. For example, we've had people (in the first two weeks of being there) miss time for:
-- Illness in the family
-- Illness for themselves
-- Car troubles
-- 'Family issues' (girlfriend drama, mainly)
-- A trip/vacation they've forgotten about until just *now*!
-- Court issues (various)
-- Oversleeping (yes, a full day is missed because of this!)
-- Having too much on their minds and need to go home to 'get their head straight'
-- The infamous No Call-No Show
...among other things.
   And it continues, even after things are trying to get back to some sense of normal. In fact, we've lost four in the last month, and someone was supposed to start recently, but didn't even show up. And, no, the work's not that hard, just constant.
   Could it be a reflection of the whole "No one wants to work anymore!" trope? Maybe a little. But people have to realize that eventually, they will need to work. Not every job is going to offer up $25-an-hour or so to start, or whatever people think they can demand. But if, one day, the job does, they'd better be prepared to WORK. You're going to have to earn that money. And thinking you can just blow off a day or so "just because I can, what are you going to do about it? You need me!" is going to slap them in the face pretty hard, when they find out that while we might right now, the time will come when no, we don't.

  And good luck with that.

School employee shortages? Oh well.....(Long)

   Once, some time ago, I worked as a substitute custodian for the local school system.  I worked as a sub for about eight years; worked eight hours during the day, then another eight at night. Yes, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning desks, taking out trash, everything. The reason? I wanted to join it full time. Steady work, health benefits, pension plan, the whole nine yards, as they say. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. The person in charge of hiring was, let's say, a trip. Didn't like my family(for various reasons), and so while he had to let me interview, he skipped over me for a full time position. In the end, he thought that (A) someone who hung out with the teachers instead of doing the job, (B) someone who didn't think he'd 'actually HAVE to work!' and who quit after a week, and (C) a stone alcoholic who told me when I showed up to work one night that he was having trouble with the job, and had to leave it. And, no, I still wasn't considered for any of them. Soon after, I left the sub program; I was working CONSTANTLY, which wasn't bad, if it wasn't for the fact that I was working sixteen hours a day, and that some of the other people I worked with, didn't really work at all.
   So, when I see reports of schools having trouble hiring for bus drivers and custodians and such, I just shrug and think, "Sucks to be you, huh?" When they wouldn't hire someone who WANTED to work for them, to hire people who really couldn't (or didn't want to) work, then I really don't have too much sympathy. You had your chance.
   'But,' you might think, 'Why don't you apply NOW? You could probably name your position in just about any school you want!' Because places are hiring mainly contract workers, and not full hires. Soon after I left, they pretty much cycled out the regular hired people, and instead decided to hire from a service; sounds good, except it seemed that they'd cycle THEM out, before they could be considered for full-time hired on status. Now, it's bit a lot of places in the ass. Sorry, gang. Like I said, you had your chance.

   By the way, the clown that wouldn't hire me? Turns out that he got HIS job, because he knew people in the administration; as such, he had an attitude of, "You people are all beneath me! I can do what I want!"
   He got fired after it was revealed that he was watching 'adult content' at work. In his office. On school property.
    Sucks to be him, huh?