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6 years ago
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That job from 3 journals ago, the one with the tiny pins? Yeah I quit that XD
Little bit o' rant since I need to get this off my mind
Going... ok? Got to choose my words lightly ^^;
The world is home to many different workplace environments, different cultures and different languages.
Having only worked in an western Anglo-Saxon work environment, this shop of 80-90% Eastern originating teammates has proven quite a bit of culture shock and unexpected hurdles.
A language & accent barrier prevents me from communicating with most of my coworkers while others I cant help but feel some are choosing to ignore me. Already there have been several mistakes with my name on them due to poor communication of intent or interpretations. Not hostile or anything HR worthy, but as one coworker whom has been there 2 years put it "they like to keep it in the family and not teach people like us". Another quoteworthy gem being "If you don't understand the first time and ask for clarification then they assume you weren't listening".
Also alot of unwritten rules that I'm mine fielding my way through. Some sort of territory thing between mill and lathe operators, apparently it's disrespectful to go into the others area of the shop? I was assigned to polish collets today and saw a grease handprint on a machines outer shell (visible to anyone touring the shop) so I cleaned it up. Remember what I said about keeping things in the family? Well someone like me touching his machine was very disrespectful and through a translator was nicely told "piss of and keep your hands to yourself". Naturally I apologized and explained my reasoning for doing so, I then asked the translator if he could convey my apology... nope. Didn't say a word to the machinist and told me to go back to polishing and then walked away, then everyone went back to work. His unwillingness to translate "he is very sorry and will not do it again" really pissed me off.
Another similar incident being the shift manager "in the family" telling me to sweep. Cool no problem. So I start sweeping... then someone tells me I'm not sweeping the right areas and points elsewhere... then someone else says I'm not using the right broom (apparently certain people 'own' certain brooms) and I'm pointed to a supply closet... then the janitor wants to know why I'm using his nice broom to sweep greasy metal chips (he wasn't in the family and was cool about once I explained, he too shared my frustrations) so he gives me the true 'right' broom. THEN the shift manager finds me and is slightly irked that I'm sweeping an area that the cleaning staff do every night (and thus wasting time in his words) so he sends me back to polishing rusty collets that look abandoned.
One final major f**k up last friday though. Let just call them vice jaws since more people know what those are. I'm taken to a large arm width, head height rack filled with custom vice jaws for holding many different parts for machining. Shift lead instructions were "ok you sort and pair by size and material ok buddy?" and then he left. Ok no problem, just like sorting legos. So after nearly a full day I have almost all of them paired with their sibling and taped together. Call boss over to look over. He looks over and asks "where special jaws?". Uh... special jaws sir? "Yes special jaws right here *points to corner of shelf* special jaws stay right here used so often, no move special jaws, where are special jaws?" I didn't know there were special jaws, there was no labeling on them so I treated them like I did all the others. etc etc etc So some machines couldn't be run while the jaws were searched for and I got a calm but firm lecturing about the importance of how money is lost when the machines aren't running. While not intentionally done, I can't help but feel this could have been avoided if key information like this had been shared. I feel the task was doomed to fail regardless of how good a job I did.
But on the plus side the starting pay is about 40% above min wage and 100% covered medical, dental and eye. I'm due to be transferred to 2nd shift soon and hoping it'll be a better atmosphere. That'll be when I decide if I keeping job searching while riding this one out in the meantime.
So.... yeah... it'll work short term, but I'm hesitant about long term. Workplace atmosphere is quite a bit 'us vs them' and communication troubles. Is this what prison is like? XD I'm noticing different cliques and how I'm being put into a game I want no part in....
Little bit o' rant since I need to get this off my mind
Going... ok? Got to choose my words lightly ^^;
The world is home to many different workplace environments, different cultures and different languages.
Having only worked in an western Anglo-Saxon work environment, this shop of 80-90% Eastern originating teammates has proven quite a bit of culture shock and unexpected hurdles.
A language & accent barrier prevents me from communicating with most of my coworkers while others I cant help but feel some are choosing to ignore me. Already there have been several mistakes with my name on them due to poor communication of intent or interpretations. Not hostile or anything HR worthy, but as one coworker whom has been there 2 years put it "they like to keep it in the family and not teach people like us". Another quoteworthy gem being "If you don't understand the first time and ask for clarification then they assume you weren't listening".
Also alot of unwritten rules that I'm mine fielding my way through. Some sort of territory thing between mill and lathe operators, apparently it's disrespectful to go into the others area of the shop? I was assigned to polish collets today and saw a grease handprint on a machines outer shell (visible to anyone touring the shop) so I cleaned it up. Remember what I said about keeping things in the family? Well someone like me touching his machine was very disrespectful and through a translator was nicely told "piss of and keep your hands to yourself". Naturally I apologized and explained my reasoning for doing so, I then asked the translator if he could convey my apology... nope. Didn't say a word to the machinist and told me to go back to polishing and then walked away, then everyone went back to work. His unwillingness to translate "he is very sorry and will not do it again" really pissed me off.
Another similar incident being the shift manager "in the family" telling me to sweep. Cool no problem. So I start sweeping... then someone tells me I'm not sweeping the right areas and points elsewhere... then someone else says I'm not using the right broom (apparently certain people 'own' certain brooms) and I'm pointed to a supply closet... then the janitor wants to know why I'm using his nice broom to sweep greasy metal chips (he wasn't in the family and was cool about once I explained, he too shared my frustrations) so he gives me the true 'right' broom. THEN the shift manager finds me and is slightly irked that I'm sweeping an area that the cleaning staff do every night (and thus wasting time in his words) so he sends me back to polishing rusty collets that look abandoned.
One final major f**k up last friday though. Let just call them vice jaws since more people know what those are. I'm taken to a large arm width, head height rack filled with custom vice jaws for holding many different parts for machining. Shift lead instructions were "ok you sort and pair by size and material ok buddy?" and then he left. Ok no problem, just like sorting legos. So after nearly a full day I have almost all of them paired with their sibling and taped together. Call boss over to look over. He looks over and asks "where special jaws?". Uh... special jaws sir? "Yes special jaws right here *points to corner of shelf* special jaws stay right here used so often, no move special jaws, where are special jaws?" I didn't know there were special jaws, there was no labeling on them so I treated them like I did all the others. etc etc etc So some machines couldn't be run while the jaws were searched for and I got a calm but firm lecturing about the importance of how money is lost when the machines aren't running. While not intentionally done, I can't help but feel this could have been avoided if key information like this had been shared. I feel the task was doomed to fail regardless of how good a job I did.
But on the plus side the starting pay is about 40% above min wage and 100% covered medical, dental and eye. I'm due to be transferred to 2nd shift soon and hoping it'll be a better atmosphere. That'll be when I decide if I keeping job searching while riding this one out in the meantime.
So.... yeah... it'll work short term, but I'm hesitant about long term. Workplace atmosphere is quite a bit 'us vs them' and communication troubles. Is this what prison is like? XD I'm noticing different cliques and how I'm being put into a game I want no part in....
I recommend researching a bit to see if you can pick up on small tricks to show you are able and such.
Not trying to psych you out. Just trying to help and keep misunderstanding from progressing. Best of luck though.
At least the janitor was more understanding than those shit-pot dictators.
Short-term work or long-term work, that place has too many chiefs and too few
Native Americans.
Get a better job close to home where, if that's possible (and that's a big IF),
and give those fuckers the shiv.