Work Sucks!!

Ok.

A little backround is required. I work in a metal fabrication factoy in Bonnybridge, Scotland. The factory is an total disaster, the laser cutters always break down, the press brakes are knackered, all the tools have been worn into the ground, there is dust everywhere, and i mean everywhere. Literally in the factory nothing works, the managers are useless, really useless!

On top of that i need to get up at 4:45 AM to get the bus in for early shift . all for just £7.56 an hour! I need to get out of there!!

Anyone else feel there in the wrong job?

Well mate, you can clean up stool, dodge explosive vometous, take people to bathroom, do about 10 thousand wheel chair transfers (see how your back likes that), pick up gangrenous fingers sloughed on the floor in a 21 year dialysis career and get back to me on that. It paid good till it tore the soul and physical abilities out of my body. Your just a pup, go with a small business. Buy a van. Do delivery and grocery pickups for old timers. Always, many options.

HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! Now I don't feel so bad. I work in a clone of your shop here in the US, but (crossing my fingers) nothing serious has broke down in several months.

Last year, my plasma machine was down for three weeks. Three weeks of walking around getting people their steel plate for jobs, sweeping floors, reading the paper in the bathroom - I hated it.

The best thing is I work 2nd shift which means I can sleep in until noon and get off at 11pm. Not that bad.

But seriously, I feel for you. I know how bad it is to work in a lousy shop.

i HATE those early starts too.

usually we start 7.30 but they decided to start 6am during summer, even when its not hot

i absolutely hate getting up at 4.30am so i have time for brekky, make lunch and wake up a bit before i drive to work (i dont like driving sleepy)

hell, the stars + moon are still shining away in total darkness and i get real cranky in the morning when ive only got 5 hours sleep
i go to bed at 9, still cant sleep till about 10.30 - 11pm anyway


i get the joy of making concrete blocks + pavers for a living.
oh lifting a 5kg steel pan which has 20kg of hard concrete paver in it at 6am is so annoying

today some pig left a floater in the dunny.. and he didnt even have any bog paper with it - how the hell did he wipe his arse after? oh man i dont wanna know, really i dont .



other pigs do "reverse kanga's" in the office dunny to piss off the office workers. imagine sitting on the dunny backwards so your turd makes a lovely smudge down the front of the bowl when it drops.


someone put a sign on the office door which we access to the lunch room and it said "are you deaf, blind or just stupid?? close the F___ng door".

so i got a pen and under "are you deaf blind or stupid" i drew a box, put a tick in it and wrote next to it "all of the above, thats why i work for (insert company here)

im not a graffitti vandal, but being a paper note and with that wording i thought it was appropriate. they could have just left a note there saying "Close the Door!!" and it would have been suffice.
i noticed it removed an hour later anyway


aah, just love inhaling cement dust, mould release agents, anti rusting agents, getting every one of my work clothes layered in grease from the steel pans + machinery we use.
sometimes its a funny place to work, but it is filthy and very hard work and i hate production but need the bucks.

its a love hate relationship. i love the laughs we have with the boss and some workers (boss man truely is a top bloke) but i hate the hard dirty work for minumum wage.



[edit on 23/1/08 by Obliv_au]

[edit on 23/1/08 by Obliv_au]

I delivered papers and picked up dog poop at eight. I always knew my father had an uncanny love of money. He never gave me an allowance. Bloody hell, one less kick in the mental ass would have been my allowance. I remember working for a dry cleaner. Once a month I'd use steam cleaner to power wash equipment. My clothes were so oily and filthy walking home at 15/16 I remember well the look in peoples eyes walking home. A look I never wanted repeated.

You know this rant can become something great. I suggest to the OP that he make a thread for all the "blue collar" working class folks to post about their jobs.

As you know, many ATS members are office types - work in an office, live under the fluorescent tubes. Some actually work outdoors doing stuff, but those of us who work in manufacturing in factories and shops are a special breed that only we understand.

I think it would be great if you made a post just for us to talk shop.

reply to post by ben91069


That sounds like it could be a good idea, but a general board just to rant on about any work would cover everything and save TheAboveNetwork a little more server space


Hey if you wanna talk shop, then talk shop! I'm gonna take photo's of the state of the factory today and post them sometime tonight after i finish my shift!

Originally posted by Smugallo
Hey if you wanna talk shop, then talk shop! I'm gonna take photo's of the state of the factory today and post them sometime tonight after i finish my shift!

Here's mine:

My biggest gripe is our reviews and also raises are overdue. I mention it to the management everyday so they squeaky gear will get the grease.

Last week a guy broke a set of chains trying to lift too much weight. He was lucky he was out from under the load, or he would be dead or in the hospital.

We finally got our larger lifting magnet back from repair (it has been only 6 months) - we'll see how long it lasts this time.

Our maintenance is incredibly slow, and our maintenance man will leave the area a mess for everyone to clean up after he is done.

work don't suck when ya need money.

reply to post by LordInfamous


I think work sucks more when you really need the money. I mean, you hate the job already but you know you can't quit because you really need the money.

It's like a man who can't stand his wife anymore but can't leave her because he can't afford the child support.

Especially if you work at a job that requires a lot of mandatory overtime. What good is all the money if you never have time to spend a little of the extra money?

Why would any company require availablility to all three shifts? All data show you put someone in an early grave by not allowing continuity. Be on third. Be on on first or second. But for God's sake leave them be so they can form a routine and sleep.

Damn, i forgot my phone today, it has a very good camera on it. Is that the Plasma Cutter in the top picture? Here is a link to the companies website. Don't be fooled by it's tidyness in the pictures, i'm sure it's been tampered with, because it's never that clean.

We have two Bystronic Laser cutter, both old buckets of crap! Everyweek the break down and the engineer has to come out! I work on the Press Brake and have done for the past 5 years, i actually enjoy the job, just not the company i work for...It can also be hard going (tonight i was bending 20mm think plates, and now my arms feel a few feet longer)

The owner is a tight fisted, smug, monopolizing cowboy, who probably stays awake at night thinking of ways to bump you out of money. A wage rise for the whole factory is WELL overdue, but the guy doesn't put out. He spends no money maintaining the machines, which makes our job harder in the long run., and pockets all the profits (he has a home in the Isle of Man, Florida, and France)

Ohhh i would just love to slap him.

About the manditory overtime snowflake_obsidian, we can't get any overtime because most of the Polish guys are working it all the time hehe!

Very well understood smug. Just had hour interview with entrapaneur who uses border collies to flush canadien geese from businesses, golf courses etc. Geese are protected little varmints. He has a nice niche. Unfortunately I can not survive on 8 bucks an hour while my furry border collie friends put fear of eatenism into flocks. Unless....I open my own franchise.

That is a very very strange idea for a business isn't it? I have never heard of anything like that before, i mean, the idea just sounds crazy!

But the guy seems to be making a few bucks from it.

I think we need to put our crazy hats on and brainstorm business ideas hehe

I work in a sheet metal shop. Making rain gutters and flashings and things like that. I don't really mind the work part of it the only part of it I mind is being up at 5:00AM every morning....It gets old after a while.

While at work I look forward to things i can do when I get home. Read, draw, music, TV...Usually keeps me motivated and helps me get through the day.

I don't especially like my job but i realize there are things i could be doing that are way less appealing.

reply to post by Roland Deschain



Ah another metal worker!

Yeah as i mentioned before the early starts really get to me, it's very windy and cold in Scotland just now! Best part about it is looking forward to coming home and relaxing for a good few hours!

reply to post by snowflake_obsidian


yeah i see what ur saying.

reply to post by Smugallo


Wow i can't imagine being up anytime before the sun in scotland.. you must freeze your balls off man.

Luckily for me i'm in SoCal and the coldest it gets around here is like mid 30's....and the wind is rarely a factor

reply to post by Smugallo


First off i`d like to give a shout out to all the metal workers be they sheeties boilermakers etc I did both for many years as a tradesman leading hand and foreman.

Excuse what may come across as arrogance when I give my opinion of how I personally dealt with being underpaid etc....

It grew in me over time from having been in the industry for many years,I have struggled to see anything in this world that has been made out of metal that I haven`t made or repaired at some stage or added something to it by either my design or an engineers drawing,be it boats/ships planes cars trains housing/stud framing,roofing to heavy construction all the way down to the bits and bobs that anyone may want.

I consider myself to be the business me and my tools and I`m not owned,if I`m not paid what I`m worth bye bye,if an employer is struggling for money its usually in the places that I`ve seen because they hang on to dead wood that dont make them money,who just show up for a bludge to get their pay and the end of the week,though thats not always the case.

So my advice is if your confident in your abilities as a good tradesman who can knock out quality work under the quoted time (so long as its been quoted correctly/fairly) that you consider going sub contract some where else,if thats an option in your country.There are times when we all have to suck it up sometimes because of little other options,thats when your over the barrel,if there are other options be prepared to go all the way,your boss may just see this and pay you what your worth instead of losing you.

Personally I have turned down any offer of management that was going to take me off the tools totally,I loved to learn and create and teach so long as the apprentices have a want to learn,just as I had decent tradesman teach myself in the beginning.

There`s a shortage of tradesman over here in Australia and in the mining industry there`s heaps of money to be made,hard and hot work and sometimes rough conditions though,but small to large fortunes can be made.
Where over ten years ago I was getting $30 an hour even then on wages not sub contract with air fares accommodation allowances electricity etc on top and a 4x4 landcruiser most guys were getting $25 minus the car,some were getting $25 on sub contract,Let alone now,so there is no way on earth I`d work for minimum wage and crap conditions in a clock on clock off environment,thats slavery to me and fully understand why people are upset.

Maybe its too drastic to move,but look around for other options and dont become complacent,they will shut the doors or sack you as soon as they wish and not think of you and all your hard work for basic wages and loyalty regardless if your work and ideas have made them a fortune.

Look after yourself.

Nice post!

It's not only about being underpaid, it's the attitude management take with most of the lads on the shop floor and the way they treat their own machinery, unwilling to spend money on the current press brakes we have, he has went and bought another one which is a little silly. He could have used to money to buy more punches & dies for the two machines we do have.

I'm probably going to look elsewhere about January, hopefully i'll find something.

It does feel like i need a change of career altogether!