One Day on the Factory Floor

I had never worked in a factory before. I had only done office work up to that point, so I didn’t know what to expect. Human Resources went over the job description, code of conduct, and the ethics policy. They gave me an employee’s manual, which I read cover-to-cover before starting my first day. On my first day, I put on some jeans and a T-shirt with some work boots. I felt I was as prepared as one could be. I arrived fifteen minutes early and reported to my department lead. She rolled her eyes at me and told me to go sit in the breakroom until someone comes and gets me. The first thing I notice as I walk through the factory that is different from an office is that the place is filthy. The floors were covered with oil, shards of metal, pieces of paper, and other random pieces of debris. Workstations had tools and parts strung all over them. I had no idea how I was going to get anything done. In an office, everything was organized, had its place, so that you could work efficiently. This looked like pure chaos.

I sat in the breakroom for an hour, sipping on a soda before someone came and got me. He introduced himself as Keith, the assistant lead, and he took me on a tour of the plant. We walked out of the breakroom, and I hear machines banging and grinding, compressors hissing. I blinked every time there was a bang, so I asked if they had ear protection. Keith reassured me I’d get use to it, but I insisted on the ear protection anyway. We stopped by the supervisor’s office where there were some earplugs and he got me a pair of safety glasses, which no one told me were mandatory. We continued our tour of the plant. Keith introduced me to a few people, some friendly, and some not. Most of them seemed busier talking to each other than working. Keith says that management set unrealistic goals, so they don’t bother trying. I always found moments to chat when working in an office, but always got my work done on time. This seemed like blatant insubordination, but no one seemed to care.

Keith set me up in an assembly cell with a guy named Steve, and two women, Barb and Sheila. Barb showed me what I needed to do and then wandered off. When I had questions, Sheila didn’t have answers and Steve didn’t have time to help. I had to find Barb and bring her back to the cell to show me how to correctly assemble the fixture. After a couple hours I got into the swing of things, and I was putting out good numbers. Steve, Sheila, and I actually made a good team doing the assembling, testing, and packing. We reached an hour’s quota, which solicited snide comments and stern warnings from other employees to slow down. Barb came back and took me off assembly, putting me with Sheila to learn packing, which slowed us back down and gave all of them plenty of time to walk around.

I got fed up with their leaving all the time. After lunch, I went looking for the lead, hoping she would put a stop to it. I was dumbfounded that she hadn’t already. How could she not notice her staff not working. I couldn’t find her anywhere, so I went to the supervisor's office. That’s where I found her with two other leads, all of them sitting around shooting the breeze with the supervisor. I voiced my complaints. I was told to get back to my station, that I was new and needed to learn how things worked before complaining about them. If I didn’t like it, there’s the door.

That didn’t sit well with me. In an office there were always things that needed to be accomplished and in a timely manner. There was a chain of command that ensured these things were done and ran smoothly. No one seemed to care around here. They were clocking in and collecting their checks with minimal effort, everyone from the supervisor to the lowest guy on the totem pole. I didn’t know anything about upper management, but things were reflecting on them poorly. Anyway, I went back to my cell where Steve, Barb, Sheila, Keith, and two other guys I hadn’t met were standing around talking. When they saw me, they got quiet. Keith and the other two guys walked off.

“We thought you quit, that we ran you off,” Steve said.

“No, I was just looking for our lead.”

“I guess you found her in the supervisor’s office. That’s where all the leads hang out. Look, I can tell you’re not used to this kind of work environment. Don’t let it get to you. Slow down. If you start to care, this place will eat you alive because no one cares. You’re just one person. There’s nothing you can do. Just go with the flow and collect your pay. It’s good pay for minimal effort.”

For the rest of the day, I went with the flow. I would build a few parts and if Steve wasn’t around to test them, I would walk off and meet new people, get their perspectives on their jobs and the company. There were a lot of complaints, mostly about management’s demands without providing timely delivery of materials and expecting them to use broken and unsafe equipment. They complained about supervision, saying they care about their job, but there are too many people who don’t care, and they refuse to stress themselves out day-in and day-out when nobody will do anything about it. They were right. I talked to several people who said that place was a joke, the easiest money they have ever made. Before I knew it, the buzzer sounded, and it was time to go home.

The next day, a human resources rep met us all at the time clocks first thing in the morning. She directed us to the break room where a meeting was to be held. I grabbed a seat next to Steve. There were a bunch of people standing at the front of the breakroom.

“Who are all these guys,” I asked Steve.

“The one holding the microphone is Dan Helton. He’s the general manager over all four plants.”

“He looks nervous, but not as nervous as that guy. Who’s he?”

“That’s Jason Hartman. Our plant manager.”

“All right everybody, quiet down. The man who signs your checks, CEO Charles Phelps, is here and wants to make an announcement, so listen up” Dan said.

I stood up and walked my way to the front of the breakroom to the sound of gasps and sighs. I hear Steve laugh above the silence and say, “Hell, I didn’t see that coming!”

Dan hands me the mic and steps back. I look out at a crowded room of low hanging heads. “I was here undercover for one day and I saw more than my fair share of things that need to change around here,” I said before turning to the supervisor and saying, “and if you don’t like that, there’s the door.”