Fairly interesting post this is going to be as usual the legal disclosure still applies.
While I was out hopping around and experimenting with different industries, I stubbed across a rather modest job. Though it wasn't really that modest and I kind of already knew of the place as my boyfriend used to be employed there but he never really worked the warehouse he was a delivery driver so thats what made the difference. I gave it a shot because it was something new and the only thing I truly knew of when it came to laundry was washing my clothes at home. This was the same thing except in a more industrial level and the type of laundry was hospital laundry. Little place in Manteca doing big work. The pay was low but I figured Id still try it out. I wanted to try the whole "pay doesn't matter its about how you spend your money". It worked for a while till I really started my job I was looking at the most gruesome things and even though I dint have a weak stomach and I have worked in a hospital type of setting it really wasn't that bad compared to what it could've been if I didn't already have that lead way.
I feel like I needed more then 15.80 if I'm sorting heavily soiled laundry. Not too mention we are in the middle of a pandemic so the volume was crazy. Another thing the rules were pretty rigid they didn't give you any room to be a bad worker and I think thats due to a micromanaging corporate system. For example you couldn't be anymore then 2 min late coming back and when break was over you have someone in there watching to make sure everyone leaves at the same time. It felt as if even though you were late taking a break your still had to cut it short just keep up with everyone else. They wanted everyone in unison It made you feel like you couldn't even take a bathroom break, that ifs you left something behind you couldn't got get it without risking being late. There were eyes everywhere and its like if you stopped working no matter the manager was he would come and coach you. It was pretty annoying sometimes it doesn't matter how nice you are, the frequency of how often you are appearing for what reasons is frustrating.
The scheduling was also a little strange in my personal opinion.Theres only two shifts morning and swing, but they work you 12hrs sometimes 10 if they have enough people and the workload isn't that heavy. That also depends on what side you come from if that makes sense. So if you worked the clean side you got off earlier, its that type of thing. Overall the work wasn't too bad. I did wish there was more to it and there was more of a challenge but it wasn't, all we did was sort and Like I said it became monotonous. The people are an entirely different story, the audience was older and there weren't too many youngsters like myself everyone I met was at least 40 and up. The youngest person that I met she was 22 and it was refreshing sometime to have someone you can talk to but she worked the morning shift so we didn't see too much of each other. I also had the luxury of meeting her mother. Both were very nice and definitely enjoyed the work. That energy I didn't mind.
Now not everyone was nice of course there a couple of people who were dead set on making sure I had the most annoying day possible. It didn't help that I was trying to be the very nice coworker who worked hard but kept to herself. So I wasn't trying to make waves and be on bad terms with anyone. I was trying to make this different from all of my other jobs. However there were people like Alice...people who worked hard, who were social and management favored. She started off friendly but over time I noticed a change, she would size me up every time she saw me and when she would talk to me I could see through the fake smile on her face. She left the worst items to me and when it came time to her needing help, she was always so quick to walk away when I got there, but when it came too others she would talk to them. A lot of the time she left to go to the floor to sweep up the mess and to collect the items that didn't make it into the bags and to collects the carts that were fulls and replace them.
Didn't seem like much but when there's someone already down there doing it she would still go down there and she would strike up a conversation leaving the rest of us to do the harder and more gross work. It was pretty frustrating because we worked on a conveyor and sow we had to air the laundry before it reached the end of the line and it ended top in the trash. Sometimes it happened and sometimes they would fish it out of the trash but most times they didn't. It was based on what type of mistake you were making. Most of time we would throw away the things that were way too soiled to be washed. My point is that she would leave at the absolute worst times and when it came to us getting overwhelmed she would kind of just stand there. You can put together where that type of thing is frustrating.
Another individual who tried to make it a harsher experience, for now we will call this person Rosalinda, Rosalinda was in the upper middle ages and she had a good group of friends and she was very good at her job. Too bad she found me to be the most annoying person on the planet and after working with her for a few days I seen a drastic change in her body language. She wouldn't really talk to me and the only time she did it was to scold me when I dint sort something the right way. I noticed she wasn't like this with anyone else ad I didn't know what to do. I was as friendly as I could be too her and thats because I dont argue with older women. I truly feel lie there's no point too. I just let them have it their way and I let them think they're winning. The purpose of this post isn't to slander anyone its to show how coo workers can make it hard in the workplace just as much as anything else and I wanted to shine some light on it.
I thin k the most inqsteresting person I met was the Janitor, he had a cool vibe he was like Lenny Kravitz mixed with Bob Marley. He was surely eccentric and lovable. He was the one who pointed out to me that there weren't many black people who worked fir the company and it explains why he latched on to me so quickly. I was working around the holidays so it was a lot of family talk. He even got me a lunch box. I didn't get him anything back but he didn't want anything. He also made sure I Packed a good lunch and that I had someone to talk to whenever we had the same break. He was my first real friend in the workplace. ut over time things got distant. I guess corporate noticed how friendly we were and somehow we weren't talking the same breaks anymore and the only time we had to talk was in passing. It was quite unfortunate. He was nice enough to get me a lunch box for Christmas, pretty dope.
I would definitely say that this was the most unproblematic job that Ive had in a while and I wanted to get the lighter stuff out of the way. One highlight was that I did manage to meet 2 really cool people before I made my exit. They were a black couple we will call them Rhonda and Sean. They were nice and we all connected really quick, and they too pointed out to me that there weren't too many other black people. They also touched on how they were treated a certain way a lot of the time. I was a witness to that, every time me and Rhoinda were on the clean side pillow sheets it was like the supervisor would pop out of nowhere and too tell us to make sure we keep up with production. Me and Rhonda were relatively fast so HIS POINT really heals no weight to the both of us. We were directly next to each other and we always had plenty of work laid out before us so there wasn't really a delay. Plus what made him kind of questionable to the both of us, when he pulls out a group picture of his friends.
Seemed harmless, now let me add the supervisor was Hispanic and the photo he showed was group of men of similar ethnicity except the one black guy off to the right half of the photo. It was crazy that at the same time I had that thought about the individual black guy, my supervisor brings him to make a point about how the man was his best friend, he also includes that he wanted to make that point so we didn't feel like he was being racist in any way. It wasn't something that really crossed our minds...well not at least until he made that point. I almost wanted to remind him that, just because you have a black friend that doesn't mean you aren't racist...It simply means you have a black friend. I didn't `want to burst his bubble as he seemed really proud of himself. Me and Rhonda looked at each other and just left well enough alone. We laughed about it on break.
The conclusion to this is that it was too rigid and eventually had to make my departure. I personally felt the work and the hours didn't reflect in the pay, would I try it again? I mean maybe, i'm just not at that point in life currently. Now thats out of the way lets talk about something more fun in the next post where I got fired for waiting for a bereavement leave...