Nonsense Thread

[2mAn]

I hope whatever happened this can be turned from a negative into a positive for you, like what Sir Reverend Biggie Smalls said.

thats my hope too. Hoping for the best

[Chilezen]

Long story short, I have been unhappy there for years. I am happy when I build the race cars, but there's a lot of other work to do, and I struggle mentally with it. I'm not trying to say "boo I don't like working unless it's what I want to do", because I do a hell of a lot that I never anticipated when I got the job. This guy hired me almost 6 years ago, and I have had to learn a lot of new things, by myself, in order to keep the business moving forward. Self-taught has its flaws; whenever more experienced people come through, I am corrected or criticized for the way I do things. Which is good and bad. Overall it created an environment in which I cannot trust myself to do anything, because it's not exactly what they (my boss or coworker) specifically want. So I am fighting myself internally to try to figure out what not to do and try to remember what they said and do it as quickly as possible and sacrifice (in my opinion) the quality that I think would be appreciated by the customer. The company kept growing because the boss was making moves to increase productivity. He bought large, technologically advanced machines to increase throughput and reduce human error.. but had me "learn it" aka figure it out. Because he bought Chinese machines. Whenever there were problems (and there were a lot) I had to talk to one guy on the other side of the planet, troubleshooting with a language barrier. My coworker could figure stuff out more easily, but he also had more experience coming from a big company with similar machines.

None of this was the creative job I started out in. I was always yelled at for being too slow. Or forgetting something. Somehow I would interpret directions differently than they were intended, but I would be ridiculed when asking for clarification.
I still had to clarify where the line was: "You asked me to do less, so is this the amount of less, or do I need to do even less?"

And again, this is a "small" shop. Boss, 1 coworker, and myself. My boss insisted on buying machines to remove the human element, instead of hiring people to do more specific jobs. I'm not going to say he is wrong in his effort to grow his business, but it was demanding in my opinion and I didn't get a pay raise in 2.5 years because my performance didn't improve. But the expectations sure grew. (Like, they got a forklift; I refused to use it because they refused to teach me, they didn't trust me. So whenever a pallet needed to be loaded/unloaded, I had to wait for/bother one of them to do a task.)

This wasn't really a long story short, but yeah, I couldn't adapt. I have been going to therapy, which has helped, but still wasn't enough to reconfigure my brain and cope with the literal trauma of our.. past interactions (getting yelled at). I swear, my coping mechanism to deflect his criticism was to just not listen to him, so whenever he was in a good mood and just giving simple directions, I still wouldn't remember because my brain just rejected it. Yes, I did write things down, that definitely helped.

The last straw for him was when he asked me to package up a large order of tubes that I has just cut in our laser machine. I had to do some organizing, but he told me to just throw them in boxes, put paper in, and tape them up good. He said don't make them fit all real nice. Well, I disobeyed him and I made them fit real nice. I lost myself in the act and told myself, there will be less boxes to package up because I have organized the parts better. It took me 2 hours to do a task that "should have taken half an hour." He's probably right. I should have done what he said.

He told me I'm done. I left in a hurry because he was so mad.

I only grabbed my welding helmet. He briefly threatened to throw it across the shop. There are a few tools of mine there, that I may just leave there.

Ultimately what I take with me is the knowledge of how some things are built, the files, the organization, the instructions, and the methods that kind of only make sense to me.


I knew my departure would be coming but I thought it would be civil, mutual. I never wanted to cause frustration or burn any bridges. I'm wondering if I will get paid for that last week. He already didn't want to pay me for taking 4 hours to do a 2 hour job.

Fortunately I have been looking elsewhere already. I have a friend in a county over who can use my help. I have another shop that can use me from time to time. I have a couple projects I can do at home.
But most importantly I have a job interview in Sacramento which I'm looking forward to. The biggest challenge will be moving, leaving my life here behind. We'll see how it goes.

[MrBurgundy]

Damn dude.

Sounds like a terrible work environment. Also, seems like a blessing in disguise.

If your boss cant even keep his cool, yells, micro manages, ect ect, I guarantee you his business is on borrowed time.

I bet you whatever comes next is going to be infinetely better for you. Hating where you work, being treated without respect blah blah is soul sucking.

You have to be at the minimum content with your work environment. If you hate your job, you have to change that.

Still, I know this shit is tough but time will move on and so will you.

Hang in there big dawg.

FUck that guy.

I will say this tho. Always stand up for yourself. Don't let people talk to you in a way you're not okay with. It's a good skill to have. Trust me.

[roguetoaster]

Hey, I'm sorry to hear man. But it will get better.

Really be honest with yourself about why you couldn't do that job, or when you decided not to, and why you stayed. I know you wrote about it some before.

Sincerely, do the same thing with your relationship. 8 years is a long time without it progressing to another level. There are so many reasons why that might be, and I'm not trying to judge at all.

Seriously consider if you might not be in the right field. Try new stuff. I have personally had 4 seperate careers, and it took me 15 working years to find the right one. Leaving the stability of being an employee, to becoming a sole proprietor was legitimately the best choice for me. I love quality work, and I can work to that level while billing for it appropriately. Yes, I have to fill my schedule with some work I really don't want, but I can tailor that to suit based on my level of give a fuck that week.

When I found happiness with my work, happiness in my life followed very quickly as I simply started to change whatever I didn't like about myself once I got out of not liking what I did.

Also know, there will be very dark times. Times when you want to simply give up. Find that reason to keep living, for me it started with my nephew, and now it's the woman I fully intend to marry. Understand that those things that make you wake up in the morning are greater than yourself, and we all need something beyond our own selves to exist in a meaningful way. That something shouldn't be our work if at all possible.

Recognize your value as a worker, as a man, and as a human. You are worth it, and when you find that right fit, you will become indispensable.

[DEV0 E30]

Already some incredible advice given already - but I 100% agree with all of it. First, sorry this happened but you will be better off.

Like you said, this was bound to happen - and you weren't happy.

Take a moment to realize - and release that stress, trauma, and exhaustion.

That is 100% a terrible work environment - if you are constantly berated without being given the tools or advice to progress - it's time to move on.

Even the star employee of a business needs to have success, and it isn't 100% on them. The conditions and other variables matter.

I left my last job, because of many reasons - and I should have left sooner, but it's a big deal, and usually isn't easy.

I don't really know where my career path is going next, I've got some ideas and that is going to be a big priority soon.

We tie so much of our lives into our work, and if you aren't happy, what the fuck is the point?

I've already told myself, I'm going to try some things out, and if it isn't what I expected, I'll move on.

I'm fortunate that can be my short term outlook before I have to stick with something, but you should never feel STUCK going forward.

At the end of the day, you have to do what is best for YOU and YOURS. It is not easy to move on, but only positive things are ahead.

We learn what we can put up with, and learn what we absolutely can't deal with - and you need to respect yourself again, as already mentioned.

Open your mind and give the possibilities that present themselves a real listen, you never know where it could lead.

[2mAn]

Send homeboy a message that you intend to collect your final check and your tools and give him a day or two to be prepared. Put it in writing.

Fk that guy