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I can't believe I'm going to do this.long rant
asphalt cowboy
Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
But I just need to get it off my chest.
I've always been one to believe a man should stand by what's right and that he should take whatever measures are necessary to preserve his honor, dignity and self respect.
And, with that said,,,
A chronic, ongoing problem at work were becoming untenable and now I'm paying the price for the action I took. Was I foolish? Possibly, probably.
This all started back in May of 2014 when the second shift mixer had a chance at a better job elsewhere. To fill that soon to open position they moved one of the production operators to our department and he was given two weeks training before Adam left.
Now, I'm not so unreasonable to expect perfection from the boy right out the gate. I knew there would be things left undone and or not done correctly. It takes time to get into a pattern and up to speed. What I didn't expect was to come in to work and have to jump through my * for 1-2 hours, nearly every night, catching up work that had been left undone. mind you, this was a chronic problem that continued for just over two years.
OK, since this is pertinent, I'm going to refresh memories here.
If you'll recall I spent a week in the hospital in May of '14 with my knees swollen up nearly as big as volleyballs and then took just one week of convalescent leave prior to returning to work (DR. wanted me to take two additional weeks). It is what it is. I was going stir crazy plus I thought Jeff was pulling 12 hour shifts with this boy. I didn't let the fact that our department manager was badgering me about when I would be back influence my decision, I actually thought I was up to it.
Now this is where I point out another pertinent item. No, belay that, it's probably the most important point to make since it was the driving force behind the entire BLEENED UP MESS. The boy in question just happens to the department manager's son.
When I went in to turn in paperwork at the end of my first night back she had the idea of asking me if I would come in early for the next few weeks to "give Wade the training that Adam Failed to give him". Mind you, he'd already had a week on his own before my hospital stay. I knew what the game was. And yes I'm mindful of stating I didn't expect perfection but when you tell someone they need to clean up slip and fall hazards every night for a week, you get the impression the have a listening problem.
Fast forward to the middle of the second week. I was voicing my complaints to the plant manager (family that owns the place) when he made the comment to me "I couldn't trust him up there" meaning on the productions lines. And then a couple of weeks later "This would start to get tired after a while". These were the kind of responses I got from him, if he said anything, every time I voiced my complaints.
Well, I'm no fool. I started taking my camera to work to document the kind of crappy mess I was walking in to nearly every night.
Carts and mixers were left extremely short on materials. Messes (think slip and fall hazards) weren't being cleaned up. Equipment (material carts, augers and mixers) weren't being cleaned properly if at all. There were even nights I had to haul * back to the warehouse for a happylord of material before an extruder ran out of material. He'd emptied the previous happylord, and didn't bother to bring out another.
Since the boss (plant manager/family member/owner) seemed unwilling to do anything about the problem I came to the conclusion he was blatantly refusing to do anything I decided to continue to document, knuckle down and start looking for work elsewhere. Hindsight 20/20, I should have been included jobs that paid minimum wage in my job search.
At any rate. It was mid summer of 2016 Jeff had made comment to me about how the phrase 'conflict of interest' had been bandied about in the front office among management. Two or three mornings later he came in and saw my camera on the desk and commented on how he had heard I'd been bringing it in "every now and then". "Every now and then my *, I've been bringing it every day to document this poop" was what I told him.
Well, apparently he had been in the front office and was overheard telling the receptionist about my camera. BOOM, it was like someone threw a switch. I was no longer having to jump through my * catching up work that the lazy parenting failure didn't want to do, and we had someone else for department manager (the boss's elder brother/family member/company owners). It wasn't a total improvement because there were other responsibilities he was refusing to help shoulder as well as the dirty equipment issues, but I wasn't being forced to shoulder an additional level amount work I wasn't being compensated for. (this also proved he was capable of doing the job, he just didn't want to do it)
This might be important: the plat shuts down for two weeks for Christmas and NY holidays.
Moving ahead to first of the year startup (2017) I start finding myself, more and more frequently, having to face the kind of crap I had been faced with from May '14 to 1/3-1/2 way into '16. On several occasions I voiced my concerns to the boss that Wade was trying to revert back to crap he had been doing previously and was told once "I'll look into it" and got no reply to other complaints.
He was even lackadaisical about, or unconcerned with, the fact this boy was costing the company fair amounts of money due to lack of properly accounting for raw material usage for which Jeff and I were being wrongly blamed for by the purchasing agent, Wade's mother.
On the 29th of Aug I walked in to find one of the machines with less the fifteen minutes of material in the hopper (there should have been an hours worth per policy), on the 3oth I found two the same way. This was it. I wrote Strike One on the calendar thinking two more and I go to a lawyer. The next night, Th 31st, I came in to find a note taped up to the window in the mixers office. Something to the effect of 'It has been brought to our attention that you are unhappy with conditions in this department' and that was taped to the face of a BUTTHURT REPORT.
Well that did it. Knowing the boss might still be in the parking lot (he has to take his own sons to work because he can't rely on them to get there on time, if at all) I hauled * outside and gave him the waded up note and report and told him to congratulate Wade on catching a long shift and went back in to retrieve my lunchbox and helmet with the boss in hot pursuit. Words were exchanged and he put emphasis on extruder #3 since it had been a short run requiring less than 100 pounds of material. "Well, you mixed material on #3 and then drained it out". I don't know where he got that from because I had mixed TWO batches of roughly 100 pounds each and had only drained 34+- pounds out when the job was done. I actually had intentions on returning to work the next night, but that last was it. If he's so unprincipled and lacking in character as to try to pawn the crap off on me,,, I didn't say poop, just turned with lunchbox and helmet in hand and left.
Well, if you got this far Thanks for bearing with me. I just needed to get this poop out there. Make it known to the world so to speak, but before I go here's a couple other tidbits.
That company has a sour reputation for keeping drunks and drug users on the payroll. The boss himself was even caught smoking dope in the warehouse, was made foreman 90+ days later and I myself overheard him tell someone "I don't know how I came back clean. I was out back last night smoking one up" (the night before they UA'd him).
As to the purchasing agent, the problem child's mother.
She has a bad habit of morning indiscretions at the local doughnut shop publically divulging confidential information concerning who makes what for a salary, takes home how much for a bonus and those who have garnishments against their wages. And yes, my source on this last is beyond reproach. Co-owner of a local thriving business.
All of this may sound as though I'm being bitter, well, I am bitter.
I don't know what that belly crawling sonofabitch told unemployment office, but it was enough to convince them to deny my UI claim and leave me struggling to keep from losing everything I've worked for.
It's been a fun ride here with you folks and I'm going to leave you with this fragment of a quote.
"We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect."
Seems I've expected too much from too many, but with you folks I believe I have been spot on.
Y'all are over the top in your caring and concern for others in this small community.
Thanks for tolerating this insufferable jerk for as long as you have.
Oh, almost forgot. I've got pics to put up if connection don't get turned off right away.
I've always been one to believe a man should stand by what's right and that he should take whatever measures are necessary to preserve his honor, dignity and self respect.
And, with that said,,,
A chronic, ongoing problem at work were becoming untenable and now I'm paying the price for the action I took. Was I foolish? Possibly, probably.
This all started back in May of 2014 when the second shift mixer had a chance at a better job elsewhere. To fill that soon to open position they moved one of the production operators to our department and he was given two weeks training before Adam left.
Now, I'm not so unreasonable to expect perfection from the boy right out the gate. I knew there would be things left undone and or not done correctly. It takes time to get into a pattern and up to speed. What I didn't expect was to come in to work and have to jump through my * for 1-2 hours, nearly every night, catching up work that had been left undone. mind you, this was a chronic problem that continued for just over two years.
OK, since this is pertinent, I'm going to refresh memories here.
If you'll recall I spent a week in the hospital in May of '14 with my knees swollen up nearly as big as volleyballs and then took just one week of convalescent leave prior to returning to work (DR. wanted me to take two additional weeks). It is what it is. I was going stir crazy plus I thought Jeff was pulling 12 hour shifts with this boy. I didn't let the fact that our department manager was badgering me about when I would be back influence my decision, I actually thought I was up to it.
Now this is where I point out another pertinent item. No, belay that, it's probably the most important point to make since it was the driving force behind the entire BLEENED UP MESS. The boy in question just happens to the department manager's son.
When I went in to turn in paperwork at the end of my first night back she had the idea of asking me if I would come in early for the next few weeks to "give Wade the training that Adam Failed to give him". Mind you, he'd already had a week on his own before my hospital stay. I knew what the game was. And yes I'm mindful of stating I didn't expect perfection but when you tell someone they need to clean up slip and fall hazards every night for a week, you get the impression the have a listening problem.
Fast forward to the middle of the second week. I was voicing my complaints to the plant manager (family that owns the place) when he made the comment to me "I couldn't trust him up there" meaning on the productions lines. And then a couple of weeks later "This would start to get tired after a while". These were the kind of responses I got from him, if he said anything, every time I voiced my complaints.
Well, I'm no fool. I started taking my camera to work to document the kind of crappy mess I was walking in to nearly every night.
Carts and mixers were left extremely short on materials. Messes (think slip and fall hazards) weren't being cleaned up. Equipment (material carts, augers and mixers) weren't being cleaned properly if at all. There were even nights I had to haul * back to the warehouse for a happylord of material before an extruder ran out of material. He'd emptied the previous happylord, and didn't bother to bring out another.
Since the boss (plant manager/family member/owner) seemed unwilling to do anything about the problem I came to the conclusion he was blatantly refusing to do anything I decided to continue to document, knuckle down and start looking for work elsewhere. Hindsight 20/20, I should have been included jobs that paid minimum wage in my job search.
At any rate. It was mid summer of 2016 Jeff had made comment to me about how the phrase 'conflict of interest' had been bandied about in the front office among management. Two or three mornings later he came in and saw my camera on the desk and commented on how he had heard I'd been bringing it in "every now and then". "Every now and then my *, I've been bringing it every day to document this poop" was what I told him.
Well, apparently he had been in the front office and was overheard telling the receptionist about my camera. BOOM, it was like someone threw a switch. I was no longer having to jump through my * catching up work that the lazy parenting failure didn't want to do, and we had someone else for department manager (the boss's elder brother/family member/company owners). It wasn't a total improvement because there were other responsibilities he was refusing to help shoulder as well as the dirty equipment issues, but I wasn't being forced to shoulder an additional level amount work I wasn't being compensated for. (this also proved he was capable of doing the job, he just didn't want to do it)
This might be important: the plat shuts down for two weeks for Christmas and NY holidays.
Moving ahead to first of the year startup (2017) I start finding myself, more and more frequently, having to face the kind of crap I had been faced with from May '14 to 1/3-1/2 way into '16. On several occasions I voiced my concerns to the boss that Wade was trying to revert back to crap he had been doing previously and was told once "I'll look into it" and got no reply to other complaints.
He was even lackadaisical about, or unconcerned with, the fact this boy was costing the company fair amounts of money due to lack of properly accounting for raw material usage for which Jeff and I were being wrongly blamed for by the purchasing agent, Wade's mother.
On the 29th of Aug I walked in to find one of the machines with less the fifteen minutes of material in the hopper (there should have been an hours worth per policy), on the 3oth I found two the same way. This was it. I wrote Strike One on the calendar thinking two more and I go to a lawyer. The next night, Th 31st, I came in to find a note taped up to the window in the mixers office. Something to the effect of 'It has been brought to our attention that you are unhappy with conditions in this department' and that was taped to the face of a BUTTHURT REPORT.
Well that did it. Knowing the boss might still be in the parking lot (he has to take his own sons to work because he can't rely on them to get there on time, if at all) I hauled * outside and gave him the waded up note and report and told him to congratulate Wade on catching a long shift and went back in to retrieve my lunchbox and helmet with the boss in hot pursuit. Words were exchanged and he put emphasis on extruder #3 since it had been a short run requiring less than 100 pounds of material. "Well, you mixed material on #3 and then drained it out". I don't know where he got that from because I had mixed TWO batches of roughly 100 pounds each and had only drained 34+- pounds out when the job was done. I actually had intentions on returning to work the next night, but that last was it. If he's so unprincipled and lacking in character as to try to pawn the crap off on me,,, I didn't say poop, just turned with lunchbox and helmet in hand and left.
Well, if you got this far Thanks for bearing with me. I just needed to get this poop out there. Make it known to the world so to speak, but before I go here's a couple other tidbits.
That company has a sour reputation for keeping drunks and drug users on the payroll. The boss himself was even caught smoking dope in the warehouse, was made foreman 90+ days later and I myself overheard him tell someone "I don't know how I came back clean. I was out back last night smoking one up" (the night before they UA'd him).
As to the purchasing agent, the problem child's mother.
She has a bad habit of morning indiscretions at the local doughnut shop publically divulging confidential information concerning who makes what for a salary, takes home how much for a bonus and those who have garnishments against their wages. And yes, my source on this last is beyond reproach. Co-owner of a local thriving business.
All of this may sound as though I'm being bitter, well, I am bitter.
I don't know what that belly crawling sonofabitch told unemployment office, but it was enough to convince them to deny my UI claim and leave me struggling to keep from losing everything I've worked for.
It's been a fun ride here with you folks and I'm going to leave you with this fragment of a quote.
"We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect."
Seems I've expected too much from too many, but with you folks I believe I have been spot on.
Y'all are over the top in your caring and concern for others in this small community.
Thanks for tolerating this insufferable jerk for as long as you have.
Oh, almost forgot. I've got pics to put up if connection don't get turned off right away.
Comments
Found this in the warehouse at five after eleven. My shift started at eleven. Could it have fallen in that brief time frame? Sure, maybe, but given someone else's track record,,,
I had a white job going up on this extruder.
Knowing Wade had been the last to shut it down and clean it I thought it best to check. Just in case.
Wade was asked once why he would use the shovel to scoop material into the cart instead of lifting the happylord and using the shovel to push it out.
"It's 'cause I'm lazy".
There should have been an hour's worth of material in this cart. On some jobs the extruders can gobble up as much as three hundred pounds an hour. I think that one was closer to two hundred.
I slipped in this mess. bleening near fell off into the trash dock.
And speaking of trash dock.
It doesn't matter if something falls off the dumpster, or that someone else has to go out and pick it up.
may be to your advantage to use them to fight the claim to your benefits . always document any conversations and dates / time
best of luck to you
quote:Originally posted by cbxjeff
Wow Scott, what a story. Make sure you keep all the pics and any other docs safe. They may be valuable to either the state labor relations folks or a lawyer. All the best.
Sorry to hear of your troubles, sounds like they will miss you maybe they just don't know it yet.
If you quit, your UI claim will be denied.
Brad Steele
Sorry to hear of your travails, but unless I misunderstood your story, you were not fired.
If you quit, your UI claim will be denied.
True, but in some states quitting for just cause, safety or health concerns, trumps all.
Appeal the UI claim.
Sorry to hear of your troubles, sounds like they will miss you maybe they just don't know it yet.
I wish it were possible.
The initial claim dispute was all handled over the phone.
First they called the employer to get their side.
Then they called me to get my side.
One more call was made to the employer so they could dispute my statement.
Several weeks later I received a letter from UI office denying my claim with no option for appeal.
whatever he told them was enough to convince them I had quit because I was pissed at Wade. Sure, I was pissed at the lazy * parenting failure. The reason I quit was because of the belly crawling unprincipled so called boss not taking suitable action to alleviate the problem in the first place.
Oh, I seriously doubt they are going to miss me.
Firstly, the boy was/is costing them large amounts of money on raw materials going out the door unaccounted for.
One month, and this is just one of the materials 77 durameter flexible vinyl, was short 15,000 pounds at inventory. The next month is was 18,000. Most others were also short, but not by that magnitude. But since "Jeff and Scott aren't doing inventory correctly" it was left to slide.
And second: sometime during the week I was in the hospital Jeff, being Jeff, wrote a nasty note on the dry erase board and the threat of hostile work environment was thrown out by his mother/department manager.
I, for one, think the problem persisted for so long because other such threats were bandied about.
Life turned to living hell. Tried for 6 months to make new boss happy. Realized new boss had never read my job description, and I was NEVER gonna make new boss happy. I quit.
Should have quit before then. Really. Company fired new boss 2 months later. I never looked back. When I retired I was making 9X a year what I had been.
Know when it is time to fold hand, push chair back, leave the table. Some of us are hard headed types that just KNOW that if we work hard enough, long enough, we will succeed. And you will- but it may not be at THAT job at THAT place.
Give it your best, and having done that, walk away. Do not look back, look forward to the next one.
quote:Originally posted by Don McManus
Sorry to hear of your travails, but unless I misunderstood your story, you were not fired.
If you quit, your UI claim will be denied.
True, but in some states quitting for just cause, safety or health concerns, trumps all.
I would imagine that would typically require an appeal and a formal hearing of some sort.
The problem with many closely held companies is this type of special treatment of family. I have a couple of nephews working for me, and they know that their performance is under a microscope day in and day out, and that they are expected to work harder and think harder than anyone else in the shop.
Owners who treat family better than other employees are, in addition to being bad owners, creating a work environment that is poison to every good employee they have.
It is a sad situation as shown in the OP, but happens all to often.
Brad Steele
I do not post much due to problems with my hands.But I will say this, those pictures may be of interest to OSHA.
Back in the 70s, I turned the store I worked at in.
96 hour weeks with ZERO overtime for 8 months.
That's 13 paid hours a day, 7 days a week, not counting cleanup and accounting nightly.
The Federal Wage & Hour Division, the IRS, state licensing & registration, and state tax & revenue found out about this horrific abuse of hourly employees; my 3 other slaves and I wound up with a settlement check each for $226,000 along with written apologies from the owner and his wife, and the assurance that they could never open a business in nM again.
All we had was 4 corroborating hand written statements on back of the time cards that showed the problem.
Tread lightly if you NEED a job; family bidness comes waaay before any trouble you may have.
Documentation is your friend. Take your friend with you Everywhere.
Make clones of your friends. Many clones. Take a lawyer for drinks.
Be specific that it's Employment Law you're interested in.
Hit the law library near you, or go online and research your state's settled judgements so that YOU know what to expect, especially in that county/parish/district.
So bummed that you're getting crap for doing your job, but you should appeal anyway; could be the second or third time's the charm!
There's still that "fired/quit under duress" thang that probably endangered your initial claim; you MUST have a hearing to let them tell you why/why not, unless they're covering for the family...
I do not post much due to problems with my hands.But I will say this, those pictures may be of interest to OSHA.
I could have had OSHA on their * at any given time.
Since the boy can't cut happylords open with a utility knife without cutting himself they allowed him to carry and use a cheap chinee one similar to a Buck.
Since the blade was only 3 3/4" long they saw nothing wrong with it. Personally, I didn't give a flip either, except,,,,
due to his lack of listening ability things had devolved from "Wade this needs done, Wade, you need to,,," down to my going full blown drill sergeant on his lazy *. And this, is where the knife became an issue. Three times I saw his automatic reaction was to put his hand on the knife.
This was when I decided to better to just hang out in the production line area until he clocked out and left. It was that or some day finding myself relieving him of the knife.
Is there something we can do to help you land a new gig?
Your profile says small town Kansas- any chance you?re within striking distance of Wichita? They have a pretty strong aerospace industry there with Cessna and many other players around.
Where I'm located now is Wilsey. Bought this house because it's a small, quiet community. And it's only 12-15 miles to Herington, Council Grove, White City or Dwight. Another 25-30 miles is Junction City.
Companies in this area that pay a good starting wage are all staffed. The ones with minimum wage are looking for people who live right there nearby. That way when one of their low pay millenials calls in they can have someone else there Right Now. At least that's the impression I'm getting. I know I could make it on minimum wage. The parting financial bleen you my ex left me with taught me that.
"Rom 12:14 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." These people are SO in need of deliverance, mercy, grace, and truth. Save them, Lord, in the very name they revile, save them, for Your mercies sake. Amen."
meekly climbing off my high horse now
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain