I started a new job yesterday. It’s a machine operator position at a manufacturing facility.
Some backstory: I was diagnosed with cancer last spring. I went out of work to undergo chemotherapy, lymph node removal, etc. I did not qualify for FMLA so could not keep my previous job. Now (in remission) I accepted this current job offer as I desperately needed to get back to work.
So my first day begins with about an hour of introductions, safety slides, videos about why this is a great place to work, and the usual orientation stuff just heavily condensed. By 9am I’m out on the floor being “trained” on the machine I’m to run. For what it’s worth, the guy training me was fine and for the most part helpful until the supervisor pulled him away to do another job around 10:30. I’m left on my own to run this machine. I had a decent grasp on the general operation of the machine and could keep it going albeit at a slower pace than the guy who trained me (he’s operated this machine for 11+ years).
Around noon the supervisor stops and makes the comment “try to pick up your pace, we gotta keep it moving”. I nodded and didn’t say much other than “yes sir”. I genuinely tried to speed up while keeping paperwork accurate. I need to point out there is a lot of physical effort involved in loading/unloading the machine and stacking parts. It’s also well over 90° in the warehouse. I kept pushing but by 2:00pm I’m spent. I mean I’m literally exhausted. More so than I’ve ever been in my life…and I’ve worked some physically demanding jobs in the past. But I do my best to press on when the supervisor stops by again and makes the remark in his annoying southern drawl “alright, this ain’t gonna cut it. You got to find some more speed”.
Quick reminder this is my FIRST day at this job and my first day back to work in over a year.
Obviously agitated I sternly but politely tell him I’m trying my best but I’m weeks away from running at the speed he wants. He goes into a spill about what his superiors expect to be done and his it’s pretty much unacceptable for me to not be producing more with the time I had. I kept my mouth shut, didn’t bring up my health battles over the last year, and finished out the day…at my pace.
Probably against my better judgement I came back today. I’m actually moving slower than yesterday just to not wear myself out. He’s yet to say anything about it but I can tell he’s dying too. If he makes one more comment about my speed, or lack thereof according to him, I’m looking him dead in the eye and telling him “I’m done” and walking straight out. Having cancer changed my perspective and I refuse to bow down or break myself to keep a manager or supervisor at a job happy. Being jobless sucks but there are other opportunities out there. I’ll keep you updated as the situation progresses lol.