SO! For those of you that know, I finished school for Millwright/Machinist on July 20th of this year; as of such, I have the knowledge and whatnot else behind me to which end I could challenge the Canadian General Machinist Level 1 test if I wished or was sponsored to do so via an employer. Well, aside from that, I more or less needed a job because I have a loan that is coming due and all that jazz.

So basically what's happened was that I got hired in the last week of August to a place called Tool Room Solutions Inc. I went for a factory tour and thought the place was quite interesting, the guy that owned it was rather honest albeit a bit strange in the way he worded things; and the workers that were there were more than happy to answer my many millions of questions when it came to CNC programming, or other such things. So...there I am for a week or so, my feets are killing me, my knees are about done, but I'm fighting through it okay. Sure I'm complaining to my parents but they just tell me to suck it up...so I do. But anyways.

They gave me my tax information so I could be paid and all that jazz, no big deal. They asked for emergency contact information and whatnot else, not that I minded. My mom gave her name, and then gave a card to keep on file with my records as that has her cellphone and all that stuff on it as well as her home phone number in case something happened. Well...this is where things get interesting.

I started on Tuesday again after the long weekend, same old same old, drilling and boring large steel pucks until the cows came home. So anyways, when I was hired on I was thinking about the money and all that; but when I started to wander around the factory a bit more and began to start watching some of the other guys working on their machines that there were...things amiss.

There are things that come when you have a mother that is an Environmental Health and Safety manager for Canada...So when you have that constantly going on in your home life, you start to notice things in your workplace. For example, there should be guards on machines and whatnot else that keep moving parts that could get clothing or anything else like that caught in rather easily. Well...the machine that I was working on has a chip conveyor that brings chips that are cut from whatever I'm working on, in this case, Steel 'pucks' ; and deposit them into a bin for disposal later. It is driven by a sprocket chain drive system and according to the other guy that was training me, had been having problems with the chains breaking and flinging all over the place. So they just welded two new sprockets in there and had the chain completely exposed while the machine is running with no guard in sight.

Then there were the lifting straps used for the overhead cranes which regularily transport -very- large pieces that could weigh in excess of 5 tons, so...lifting straps are more or less put into a category where they cannot be frayed, cut, knicked, or any kind of damage at all to their outter or inner casings. Well...some of the lifting straps that I've seen at this place, they were -all- kinds of illegal. Those were more or less just small things to start. But that is another story.


So there I am this morning, working and doing new pucks. I had to write a new program for a specific puck and metal that I was supposed to drill and bore, which had me quite stoked! Now the maximum time that was allowed for the pucks to be completed was 20 minutes each, I unfortunately, due to the chuck jaws that I was forced to use, I had to push the time to 30 minutes. That wasn't bad, so no biggie, worked through until about 2:30 this afternoon and then I get informed that its payday! Good day right? Right!

So there I am, working through my charges and then the next thing that happens, everyone kinda is walking around, nowhere near me, etc...and they are all cleaning and the shop got really quiet except for Freddy running around on the fork truck delivering stuff where it needed to be. So...Scott, the plant manager comes over towards me with an envelope in hand! I was like "Woohoo! payday!" Anyways...he says "This is last weeks pay, this is this weeks pay plus a bit extra for the holiday. We paid you through to three thirty today but...Unfortunately, I have to let you go." And I was like *Blinkblink*"What?"

So yeah...basically the reason I got hired on was because I was promised an apprenticeship, benefits, all the full nine yards. It was awesome. I was happy! I mean don't get me wrong, the commute sucked ass, but yeah...apart from that it was fine. So...anyways...I finished my part, went around to the guys and wished them well, thanked them for their time and helping me out through the transition into the new job. So I just left with all my things and now? I'm unemployed once again....huzzah. >_<

Turns out the reason that they laid me off was because they just didn't have anymore work for any of their actual 'employees' with tenure, to do. So...I, being the lowest man on the totem pole got the short end of the stick, no pun intended. So yep...sucks ass. Gonna try and find something else...hopefully before my loan comes due. Cause ugh...I need something....badly D: