posted
As a self employed person, I have had my share of working for others. My dad did 30+ years in an office furnature factory. I can't imagine that!
I had my try at factory work as did many of you did. I am always amazed how quickly we, (self employed people), dismissed this as a way to make a living. Today, many of our friends are retiring with big pensions, while some are being downsized out of their jobs at a critical time in their career.
Here's my question: If you did the factory thing, how long did you last, and why did you leave? Any regrets today?
For me, factory, 8 days, left because it was boooooring and the pettiness was unbelievable. Any regrets? Only when I pay my own helath insurance premium every month.
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3487 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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I went straight from highschool into a shirt/sewing factory. Started out inspecting - even though I didn't know what I was looking at Ha! Worked my way to real production job - made good money bagging them up. Then transferred to cutting dept., eventualy into cutting dept. office, then into front office. Then, came the day it closed. This was all of about four years. Unfortunately, I would probably still be there if it weren't for that. I loved what I did.
God has kicked my butt into the next phase of my life every time - and I've always gone kicking and screaming, thinking it was the end of the world. Now, I've learned to just roll with the punches. Never duck and dive.
posted
One real FACTORY job...grinding padlock bodies, bucket after bucket. Lasted about a week. My first real sign job, after attending sign school, was as the city sign painter in the public works dept. It was a great first job, I could take whatever time was needed to get the job done, and got lots of practice on basic type faces. It was also the Bicentennial year so there were lots of special projects that gave me some creative freedom. I stayed about a year then got bored and moved on. There are times I wish I'd stayed, an 8 hour day, full benefits and a pension..but it was just too boring. Almost like factory work.
posted
I worked for two years as a press operator in a printing plant, back in the 70s. There were two brothers that worked there and we became friends, which kept me sane. Most of the people there were middle-aged, and the social arrangements and pecking order were bizarre - two of my co-workers, who worked not six feet from each other, had not spoken in sixteen years. Another old guy, who (by the smell) bathed no more than twice a month, smoked at least a pack a day, but never paid for cigarettes - he just went through the place bumming them, and most of them would just give him a cigarette to get away from him.
I was never much good with authority figures, especially when the rules they enforced were idiotic and pointless, and very frequently counter-productive. For a few months in 1979 I worked in a truck body plant, which was unionized - Teamsters, not UAW (I never really knew why) and it destroyed any respect I might have ever had for unions. The worst workers - the truly incompetent, lazy, loudmouthed creeps - were invariably the biggest suck-ups and drinking buddies with the shop stewards, who made sure the union protected them against any unreasonable demands by the company, such as actually showing up on time or doing any productive work. Meanwhile, anybody with an ounce of ability and integrity was expected to work harder, fix the screwups, and take up the slack. I watched that crap for six months and couldn't ake it any more, and just walked away - that was my last factory job. Union wages?Benefits? Pension? Nothing makes money smell more like schitt than having to kiss someone's arse to get it.
I'm one of those people who has never wondered why every so often, somebody walks into a workplace and starts shooting. What surprises me is that it doesn't happen more often.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hm, i did the company thing ,, last biggies was General foods and then Proctor and GAmble..
Was working on a special project and was constantly second guessed by newbie enigineers. Asked teh plant manager why ,, he said" you need a degree to get more credibility. So off to University NEW Orleans for a Chemical Eng, skin.. That all sucked.. So off to open my own bizz..
REgrets ??? nah......
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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The longest I lasted at any job was in the sign business, and that was for 5 years. I probably would have kept working there, but I found that moving out of New Jersey would be a better choice for me financially. Once I made this move, I knew working for anyone else for any period of time was not an option. My last jobs just confirmed that. I don't mind working for someone and I would consider it again if this doesn't work out. But, it would have to be the perfect environment. Why should I deal with misery while working for someone else when I could be self employed and be miserable but, have more control over my destiny
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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I was employed by an injection molding outfit that did automotive arm rest, "A" posts, glove box doors and the like. Fortunately I was in the finishing dept and quite content spraying with my touch up brush all day.
I left shortly after the union steward told be to slow down, that I had met the days quota by noon. . . . and that's why our automobiles cost 40K.
-------------------- Bill Modzel Mod-Zel screen Printing Traverse city, MI modzel@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1357 | From: Traverse City, MI | Registered: Nov 1998
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I worked for another sign shop, right out of high school.
Old shop, old ideas, but I learned my craft.
Went into my own biz 1980. Its been up and down, 5 kids, and my wife has never had to work, except when I needed her here to help out.
No regrets!
Retirement pensions...well some are not getting them anyway, and its pretty late in the day for them to be thinking about their own business.
One thing you have when you own your own business is that you can always add something else, additional service or products, cleaning, window washing, t-shirt printing, whatever, and just keep going.
If you are really clever and set up your business right (turn key) then it will be something you can sell.
If not, the business needs to be set up so employees do everything and your paycheck comes from their labor. Works like a retirement plan, sort of.
[ February 09, 2006, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Dave Draper ]
posted
I left Ford Motor 30 years ago after being there 4 years. Actually, to many people it was considered a good job working in a prototype plant in a layed back atmosphere. It drove me nuts thinking of doing monotonous or meaningless work for the rest of my life. Before I left, I was replacing technical drawings in binders with updated ones. There were rooms full of these binders and all I would do is keep updating, yet no one ever came to consult one. What part of Hell did Dante envision for this? It looked like the final warehouse scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Don't even get me started on the mindless dopes, indolent sloths I had to work with. There were some really good people there, but for the most part something robs your soul in a environment like that.
Sure, I could have a pension now, but that means the intervening part (my life), would suck horribly.Yeah, if I was in the military I would be retired on half pay also. As they say, If is for children.
Lots of my family chose that route, though sitting with them it's hard to hold a conversation. I suppose something has to be sacrificed to make a secure life choice.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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Along with the above story, I took two years of Machine Shop training at a vocational center during high school, (shoulda took graphic arts, I know).
After those two mindless years I said to myself, "Self", I said, "I am NOT standing behind a machine, (metal lathe, whatever), for the duration of my working years" So, I started pinstriping cars. To this day I would say that I have installed graphics and/or pinstripes on over 5000 vehicles. Now THAT'S fun.
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3487 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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Out of high school I worked for a small contractor who closed up after two years.
Then I worked in an ice cream plant for 5 years as a machine operator making fudge bars, chocolate covered ice cream bars, orange cream bars, and crunch bars!
Got tired of making ice cream so I went to business school during the evenings for a year and then got an office job with State Farm as a retirement annuity specialist in their North Atlantic Regional office. Worked there for 8 years, until they consolidated and I either had to move out of state or apply in a different department.
Well, I had started my promotional business part time, so I decided if there ever was a "sign" to go at it full steam, this was it!
So I started full time on October 1st of last year. Still struggling, still trying to keep food on the table. Crossing my fingers I can keep at it and not go back to the consolidation world.
-------------------- Randy Graphic Details Promotional Merchandise Distributor South Glens Falls, NY Posts: 381 | From: South Glens Falls, NY USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Westpoint Stevens...10 years, 4 months, 17 days(or thereabout)
Forklift operator... I was always under pressure to get stuff hauled here and there across the plant in a hurry and unloading semi trailers all the time. I used hydraulic "jaws" to move bales of fiber, forks for palleted freight, cartons and machinery, and a pole attachment to haul 500lb rolls of cloth. I could flip bales over without dropping them and haul 4 or five to a stack with the jaws. Could pick up a quarter with the forks and could hit a 4'' hole in the end of a roll of cloth going full speed with the pole.
I had to carry a two-way radio and got calls from all across the plant needing supplies at once. People were walking out in front of the machine all the time from out of doorways and around corners. Too MUCH STRESS for too little pay.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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My first "real" job had to be the Navy, up to that I'd worked family business'. (Ranch-Newspaper-Oak Creek Resort) Navy was interesting, liked my job, hated authority from incompetent officers, mustered out 10 yrs. short, joined Sheriff's Office here, within seven months realized it was same ol' crap, the good ol' boys syndrome, opened Magoos, never looked back, and to steal Cam's phrase, I never smelled shytte money again as these lips weren't made for kissing arses... Though, at this late stage of life, I truly wish I had put more away into a private retirement fund, not doing this sealed my fate, I MUST work till day I die...I'm lucky to have mastered a craft I love, makes it sweet vs. bitter...
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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I've had two factory jobs -both in Denton, Tx. 1979:
One was a blue jean sewing factory as an inspector . . . It was mostly Mexicans workin' there. I was 17.
For my job, we each had these cool little scissors and packs of permanent markers in various shades of blue, and a list of things to look for on freshly sewn jeans - tag in place, all pockets on, hems etc. In case of a long thread we had to clip that off.
We occasionally saw flaws in the material in the form of white streaks. Then we would take the proper colour marker and touch it up.
We had to 'make production' as we were expected to have a certain number of boxes of jeans ready to send to the pressing rooms daily. I was always so far ahead, I helped the other ladies, who yelled at me in Spanish to slow down . . .
I only had this job for about 2 or 3 weeks. One Monday morning I went to work and the entire building was empty!! The factory was gone!
It was like the twilight zone . . .
They STILL owe me a weeks pay too.
The second factory job was not long after that . . . in a plastic factory. Extrusion/injection mold.
This was the graveyard shift but I did'nt care since my husband had disappeared about 3 weeks prior. I also consumed large quantities of speed in those days. Interestingly, there was only a few old ladies and a floor boss on this shift.
And there were two long rows of big huge almost life-like machines.
They reminded me of train engines.
Each machine sort'a separated at the center then slammed together every few seconds, and out fell such items as hangers, and phone buttons, whatever that machine was set up for, into bins located beneath. We were provided exacto's and our job was to quickly look at each item, shave off 'flashing'-flat melted plastic blobs', and neatly box the items.
Except for phone buttons. These came out all attached together, like kids 'assembley required' dollar toys. When a phone button bin filled, it was taken to a table where day shift spent hours breaking them apart and shaving them clean.
The smell of burnt plastic was always thick in the air. Sometimes stuff would get clogged and stuck somewhere in the machine. Each operator was responsible for keeping their 'hopper' filled with plastic beads. You had to watch for chunks of plastic in the fillin' bags, as they were usually the cause for stoppin-up the molds.
But . . . I always seriously joked . . . WHERE were the inspectors in the plastic bead factory who allowed these chunks to get in those bags in the first place!!?? HUH?? I frequently found and prevented fist-size and larger chunks of plastic from getting into the hopper.
If a machine stuck, you were supposed to stop the machine and check for globs of melted plastic, and not use too little or too much oil in the mold, etc., but it was always a daring thrill to reach in and knock a stuck hanger out of the machine before it slammed closed on your hand, and make the old ladies yell at me . . .
During free time, just to keep from being bored I would go break and shave phone buttons and stuff.
I stayed so far ahead of production, I got to where I was goin' around and helpin' the other ladies and they got so they just sat there and hollered for me to come un-stick and fix their machines, keep them filled, and help them shave flashing, and when no one would holler I would sweep, clean and organize, all time keeping on top of my production.
In those days, I went to a bar called Tootskies' every evening way before 11pm to hang-out and get a ride to this job, and I was often late, so the boss got to where he liked my work so well, he came there and picked me up on his scooter.
Every one was pretty laid-back on graveyard, and I loved the old ladies and my boss . . . but it was dark and depressing and stunk in that factory . . . so I quit.
Have'nt done factory work since, 'cept for the ocassional 'multiples' sign job I get, and if there's more then 10 or 20, I hold up a cross symbol and send the customer to a screen printer . . . lol
Altho, to be fair to myself, FEMA wants a hundred little bitty things . . . might bite that hook.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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i come outa western pa. only jobs that ment anything to most there was either STEEL MILLS or COAL MINES. back in the mid 60's there were no FAST FOODS, WAL MARTS,big grocery stores. most people worked as some sort of manual labor. i spent most of teen years on a dairy farm so good hard work was nothin, was used to it. june 1963 got outa high school, the following monday i was on a constrution job runnin a jackhammer. i finally got someone who worked in a steel mill to speak to the hiring dept(was only way to get a job there)for me and now i had the "dream job" of most who lived in that area. i worked at WEIRTON STEEL COMPANY, weirton w.va. was in between pittsburgh and wheeling w.va. good helth care, 20 yr retirement, what more could ya want. right. i did 6 months in the filthest place in the mill, the SINTER PLANT. this is the place all the ores and coke get mixed and semi cooked at 2500 degress and then is sent to blast furnace and then it makes molten steel. went to lackland afb in aug 65, they give me a white wash cloth to use when bathing, white towels to dry off with, white boxer shorts....i was there for 6 weeks and it took almost 4 weeks of showering everyday to get the RED ORE outa my skin from the steel mill!!! no joke, i would take a shower 2-3 weeks after being in basic, and the washcloth would get a red rusty color when i would rub it over my skin. the stuff they make steel with the ore was called FEROUS MANGO...and it is red clay colored substance. this stuff would cover the ground and floors of the steel mill area i worked at. no resperators or masks was ever givin to people who worked there. most never made 20 years workin in that dept, most died before they got 15-18 years there. i did my 4 yrs in thhe service(all this time went toward retirement)so now i came home with 15 yrs to do in the mill till retirement....right. i imediatly got a transfer to a cleaner job. i worked fuels in the serives for 4 yrs. figured i could work at the mills bulk storage fuels area. nope, didnt know anyone ther no matter how quailified. so they sent me to the 54" rolling mill shipping dept. this is where they load those big coils of steel you used to on the highway. was a lot cleaner but totally boring, i wound up work a steady 3-11 shift just because i hated it so bad. did this for another 6 months, wife was from maine, she wanted to go home, so i quit the mill in 1970. got a job as a draftsman for a butler metal builder and he boght a NAPA parts store so i did drafting in the summer and parts in the winter....continued the parts thing till 1985...and have been self employeed since. the steel mill retirment....guys who started same time as me and stuck it out...are now fighting to get their retirement....seems the mills cant find their money NOW!!! i regreet...not doin 20 yrs in the military, was a easy ride in the job i did.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Can't imagine one place that long, huh, Rick? My folks started this business in 1954, I was 12, now I'm 64. Do the math, but like everything else it sure doesn't seem that long.
-------------------- Robert M. Kistler South Bend Screen Process, Inc. 2018 S. Franklin St. South Bend IN 46613 Posts: 131 | From: South Bend Indiana | Registered: Jul 2003
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I did a lot of odd jobs, but none of them factory. Still, I just had to say:
What a great thread!!!
-------------------- James Donahue Donahue Sign Arts 1851 E. Union Valley Rd. Seymour TN. (865) 577-3365 brushman@nxs.net
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch, Benjamin Franklin Posts: 2057 | From: 1033 W. Union Valley Rd. | Registered: Feb 2003
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""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3487 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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I quit working for a sign company to take a job delivering air freight. One of my daily stops was at the injection molding factory in Denton where Sheila worked--this was about 7 years before her time there. Losing that truck driving job is what put me back in the sign business.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5089 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Dave that's pretty cool . . . Do you remember the boss on that shift?? He was a Greek biker!! If only I known then what signs were all about!! . . . I went on from there to bein' a mall janitor and an IHOP waitress . . . and other weird stuff . . . WHERE were you when I needed ya Dave!!
LOL
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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Factory- while studying at university I did 4 hard weeks work experience at a seed merchant's warehouse, bagging 40kg & 50kg sacks of seed, coating them with insecticide, and loading them on pallets, then unloading them by into ship's containers for export. We had forklifts, (which were fun) & I had piles of pallets fall over, but most of the lugging & throwing was by hand & shoulder. I used to sleep soundly from exhaustion every lunch hour.
Negatives- I won't complain about the hard work, nor the pay, which was average, but the union reps & their entourage- they were horrible people-real scum & slime- reminds me of those movies of the mafia.
The anti-union vibes that I picked up from there still make me shudder, their unreasonableness, and their suffocation of ther boss'prosperity which I felt was not just unjust but was anti common-sense all made enough of an impression on me to want my own business, rather than have to pay these particular leeches a compulsory levy from my wages,... I won't go on. I daresay some union reps do a good job in some places, but not the ones I was forced to endure.
...rant over... now back to my 'factory' to produce some banners...
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Five years in a Brewery. Only stayed for the money!
The signwriting business I had with my brother finally turned sour for me. He was a brilliant artist but no business sense and was literally giving jobs away for a case of beer or our name on the vehicle.
My ex wife was the Health Officer at a Brewery and got me a temporary job in the bottling room. Mind numbing stuff but the pay was good and lots of free beer. I was still doing a bit of signwriting on the weekends too.
Within six months there was an opening in the Brew House. Even better money and shift work. We were brewing 24 hours a day ... 5 brews of 27,000 gallons at a time. I soon ended up assistant foreman which meant being on call 24 hours a day to fill in for sick workers etc. Shift & penality rates meant I was earning more than the Brewhouse Manager per annum.
Unions were a PTA ... there were 17 different ones on site! Always seemed to be a stop-work or something happening. The guys running the steam plant virtually ran the factory. They stopped, everything stopped. Needless to say they almost needed a armoured car to carry their wages home!
Might have stayed, mainly the money and I had been approached by management to train as a brewer in Germany, but New Zealand was going thru a rough political time and we moved to Australia.
Started my own sign shop here 20 years ago and never looked back.
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Another old guy, who (by the smell) bathed no more than twice a month, smoked at least a pack a day, but never paid for cigarettes - he just went through the place bumming them, and most of them would just give him a cigarette to get away from him. ![[Bash]](graemlins/bash.gif)
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