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Pay is not as good as I would like, and I'm not impressed with the working conditions, but I have a job. Yay!!
I am a maintenance tech with an automotive parts manufacturer. I am a temp for 90 days, but if I prove out I will become full time. I've pretty much decided after I become a full employee I will start another job search, but like the old saying says it is easier to find a job when you have a job.
The first day pretty much showed me what this job would be like. They had a enormous parts cleaner (the parts are small, but there are many of them). The cleaner is around 30 feet long, 15 feet tall, and 15 feet wide. The machine dumped several barrels of cleaner inside while we were looking though the pipes (most are over a foot in diameter) for a lost part. The part was not important, the fact it was floating inside the machine was. There wasn't much room inside, it is a good thing I lost a lot of weight. There is not room to wear a ventilator mask and crawl and climb around inside, and I do not think breathing these fumes are good at all. I drove home with an unpleasant buzz that was still there the next morning. So much for safety.
I just hope I can cut it though. It is odd working in a maintenance environment as a girl. It is like going full time all over again, the guys do treat me a lot different. Shoot, I act a lot different, I used to swear like a sailor, not any more. I found out the hard way the cleaner will dissolve fingernail polish when my nitrile glove tore. Opps.
They are promising 7 days a week (with OT rates). I think this is supposed to make up for the low pay. I will be a little more scarce in my normal haunts, but it is for a good cause.
Comments
Work
is always better than being jobless.
Hugs
Grover
Work?
I dunno, retirement is almost as nice as work :)
Although, I find that I'm busier now than when I worked (for certain values of work). Some of that, of course, might be down to all the hospital appointments...
Penny
Jobless
is different from retirement. In theory, you're living off the proceeds of those years of labor. Jobless is like running off the road or broke down on the side. Retirement again, in theory, is coasting down the other side of the hill.
Hugs
Grover
This might sound a little
This might sound a little paranoid, but...
If you really think you might be working in unsafe conditions (exposure to hazardous chemicals, inadequate safety gear, etc), start keeping a record. What, where, when, who. Try to identify the chemicals (MSDS, material safety data sheets, should be available).
Lawyers call it building a case.
Of course if it's really dangerous, report it and quit if necessary for your health. But in any case, records could be important.
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
Records document what/when. Verbal/Memories count for nothing
Agree whole heartedly with Kris.
Start your record NOW! You should not have a buzz if working safely....
Carla
"May you live in Interesting Times" is a promise, not a threat!
Documenting is Paramount!
Documenting hazardous working conditions are paramount to retaining your health or of obtaining competent treatment should it become necessary. Document everything because buzzes aren't normal.
DJ
Congrats
Take it from a jobless wonder, you very fortunate. I hope it works out well for you.
best wishes and hugs.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
Mark Twain.
Leigh Veritas
Glad you have a job
Not sure about the health and safety on this one.
Angharad
Trichlorethelene
I worked 20 years in a plant that manufactured chain saw chain and bars. They used a huge vat of Trichlorethelene which which when heated became vapor but was supposedly confined in the tank by cooling coils that ran around the vat.
It is now proven to cause lung cancer, and other terminal illnesses. :)
Wiki has an excellent article.
Nasty
We used barrels of the stuff on the equipment where I worked, for cleaning and degreasing equipment. We just pumped the stuff into whatever container was handy. Then one day the barrel was locked away and we were told not to use. But they never explained why.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
Duplicate
Please remove
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
I'm feeling pretty insecure nowadays,
Though I can't deny I'm blessed. I have a home I've almost paid off, I'm relatively healthy, now I have a job again. I used a substantial portion of my life savings while I was off for 9 months, the Texas Work Commission zinged me pretty hard for 3 of those months. I suspect discrimination, but it is always hard to prove.
So, for now, I just lay low and don't make waves. When/if I get a chance I move on to something better. I should have done that with my previous job, but I was so focused on the insurance and getting my SRS from it. Hindsight is always 20/20.
I don't think I'm strong enough to handle being homeless. Call it a phobia and a nightmare. It is something I am very afraid of.
It helps being part of a larger community, both here and a large trans population in Dallas. I have people whom I've met and others whom I haven't that I consider friends.
Bills
Great that you are employed again now it is time to play catch up on bills , never ending game of life (sigh)
Happy for you HUGS Richie :-)
Get through this unscathed.
Sounds dangerous.
Then again, many things were dangerous and we just didn't know better.
"Mercury Cure" used to be a thing! And many of us grew up with schools filled with asbestos - for fire safety,
At least you're aware of your dangerous surroundings,
May you serve your new employers well. So well that you quickly get glowing references that can get you the hell out of there and into someplace safer!
Congratulations on the new job.
And best wished for the better, safer one soon to come!