Working Wednesday Part 4

Working Wednesday is a compilation of stories from various working environments. We tend to spend a large portion of our lives doing it and we can learn a lot from each other's experiences, good and bad alike.

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A long, long time ago, in a galaxy city far, far away I took a rather strange job. It was a holiday job and I simply prayed it wasn't going to be anything gross like working in a chicken factory. Luckily it wasn't, but it was industrial factory work that meant a lot of noise (ear plugs were required) and very little stimulation otherwise. You were basically in your own little world working away at your own station for 9 hours a day.

I'd found the advert in a classified ads section of a local newspaper and decided to send in a CV on the off-chance that it would tide me over until the new year when I could find something more permanent.

It was in a town that I didn't know but could find the right bus to take me to the rendezvous point of the various people that would be meeting up with the human resources team and find out about the job.

Money was tight and time was of the essence, so as soon as I got the details that it wasn't working in a chicken or fish factory I hastily signed on the dotted line. It was probably a desperate move to do so only a handful of days before Christmas, but I figured that something was better than nothing.

The job apparently came with nice perks - living in a hotel with a tv in each room, supper available at the hotel each night, each person would have their own single room and a few others that I can't remember now. Let's just say that the advertised "perks" were probably written for people with a very bad grasp of English.

On the first day we were all introduced to the factory, the work, the safety codes and issued with ear plugs. Then we were taken to our "hotel" and shown to our different rooms. Well not really different rooms.

As the day progressed I felt increasingly annoyed at the various things that simply didn't add up to what had been advertised and what I had signed on the contract.

The hotel wasn't a hotel, it was a rather dingy looking hostel. There were no tvs other than a communal one in the lounge area, but the worst part was that nobody was afforded single rooms. They were all double bunks sleeping up to 4 people per room. Luckily my friend and I got a small double room so there weren't other people invading our space, but I still wasn't particularly happy with the fake advertising and embellishing on things that simply weren't what had been advertised.

It turned out that the pay was even different from what we had been told originally.

The first day at the factory came and we were up at 5am to catch the bus from our hostel to the factory. It was a long drive and we only arrived at 6:30am. Our shift started at 7am and ran until 5pm with a half hour break in the middle. There wasn't much to do on your lunch break and this is long before we had social media or even cell phones. Needless to say I was bored out of my mind, under-stimulated at the job, pissed off with them taking advantage of extra hours.

So I did something. I started to ask other people who had signed up for the work if this was what they expected when they initially read the advert. It didn't take long before they were all admitting that they weren't impressed either.

Day two came and went, day three hit me like a ton of bricks because insomnia had crept in and I had to get sleeping tablets from the nearest night pharmacy to help try fight off the fatigue by day and encourage better sleep by night, but I couldn't. It was all just eating at me on the inside. This felt like a syndicate of people taking advantage of those that were probably not allowed to legally be in the country to begin with. I was. I had a working visa.

I became more animated and spoke to more people. I seemed to be gaining a following of dissatisfied people who were just as unimpressed as I was.

And then day four came. It was Christmas eve. I went to the factory and we clocked out on a half day with a kind of staff get together at the end where each of us was handed a frozen turkey as a thank you. I was surprised that even I got one as I had only been there four days, but hey, I wasn't going to pass up a frozen turkey. I arrived back at the hostel and was so tired, I laid the turkey down in the little bar fridge and then there was a knock at the door. I opened it and was faced with a loud and annoyed hostel manager - who promptly booted me out. Frozen fucking turkey and all.

I gathered my belongings while nodding at her as she flew accusations of "sowing discord" at me and I accepted my fate. I went to find my hostel mate and told him what had happened. He looked at me and said "lol, you really know how to stir up a hornet's nest don't you?"

Well it was the start of an interesting night because we were essentially stranded on Christmas eve with a thawing turkey and our bedding and clothes. We were homeless nomads.

I promptly threw away my used ear plugs and we sat down together to strategize a plan. The worst part was that we were essentially broke as we hadn't been paid for the 4 days of work at the factory. I had an idea. I needed to find a bank atm so I could see what was left in my savings account.

We walked for a while to find one.

It was only then that I realised I had forgotten I would get paid out for the last two weeks I had completed at my previous job. £270. Perfect. That was enough to get us through the next couple days. My friend then made a phone call to one of his friends who invited us over for Christmas eve dinner if we could find a tube or train still running. After explaining my stupidity and our situation, we were offered a place to sleep until the New Year when we could get the ball rolling again.

It was the most bizarre Christmas I've ever had, but I still tend to question whether what I did was right or wrong? People shouldn't be advertising things that are completely different in reality as I feel that when you are offered a job, it comes with paperwork specifically to iron out any sorts of misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

The fact that I had done what others were too scared to do up to that point (stand up for myself) shows that there were plenty that shared my view, but because I was the only one brave enough to voice it, I was the one that was targeted to get rid of - I was the bad apple. It's interesting as this isn't the only time it's happened to me.

I did however put us into jeopardy by not remaining passive and quiet and perhaps there could have been a better way to have handled the situation. I was young and really stupid back then and my approach now would be completely different, but it doesn't mean that their approach was the right one either.

_{The turkey was fucking delicious and it was a good Christmas after all.}

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How would you have handled a situation like this? Would you have simply put up with the lies for the sake of keeping the peace and having a job or would you have found a way to tackle the issues?

Please let me know in the comments.