This is a somewhat long story, and I'm pretty bad about being over expository. This is basically the story of why I think most managers are incompetent scum and why I dislike working in general.
Between the ages of 14-18 I worked for my family business, a pool and chemical supply company, during the summer in a subtropical area where temperatures could reach up to around 99 degrees and humidity can get as bad as 79% during the summer. This was my 3rd summer working there and I was making minimum wage with the only pay increase being when federal minimum increased. When it increased I was instructed that I needed to work harder.
When I started at 14 I was incredibly out of shape, being about 30 lbs overweight. I was not very active prior and I had a lot of trouble keeping up. I would often feel dizzy or out of breath at work. The first year I had lost about 15 lbs by the end of the summer. Part of this job was carrying down 50 lb bags of chemicals and occasionally 100 lb barrels, something that took me a long time to do at this age because it was probably the heaviest thing I had lifted at that point, however because every other person at that job was over the age of 25 I was constantly berated for not being able to complete this work as fast as others. During this time I was constantly chastised for being lazy because I would take frequent rest in the cooled area of the building (I worked outside for most of the job. I'd have to go to the breakroom or inside the store floor if I wanted to get out of the heat). One of the issues exacerbating my problem with the heat is that because we were working with caustic chemicals (I regularly packaged 14% bleach, calcium chloride (which heats up significantly on contact with water), and a few other milder chems which would inevitably get on my hands. I had gloves but one of the employees (who had a mental handicap and insisted I was there to replace him despite having no interest in this job and plans to go to college) filled them with bleach at one point making them unusable as I could not get the residual bleach out of them and would repeat this with the two following pairs resulting in me just giving up on wearing them. I reported this all 3 times and nothing was done) I was required to wear a long sleeve button up along with an undershirt because as soon as it became drenched in sweat it'd become see through and i've never been comfortable bare-chested (I would later come out as trans which did not help as I had known since I was 8.)
By the time I was 16 I was pretty easily able to lift the heavier objects that I was expected to carry and could do most of the work assigned, however I would still take frequent breaks as the humidity caused it to be difficult to remain cool. Additionally because I was 16 I would often drink caffeinated soft drinks over things like sports drinks, or water which did not help keep me hydrated. My parents were somehow very strict but also very hands off so they weren't good at helping encourage good habits (I've only started brushing my teeth regularly at 25 y/o and I had problems with diet for a very long time), and typically I would be expected to figure out things on my own (typically I'd be told what I need but not how to do the actual work) which I don't think was a particularly bad thing, but it would have been nice if they had been better at teaching decent life skills.
On the hottest day of July that year the heat index was in the upper 110's maxing out at 119. I had not been given a break yet and had been carrying barrels up and down. I had been working since about 8 AM that morning and it was nearing 1 PM. I was pretty confident in my ability to get work done and was okay with pushing myself slightly, if only because I was tired of being called lazy and unmotivated (This did not work. No matter how much I did I was always considered this because I'd need to take breaks due to lack of conditioning. This would change as I got older but at the time I still wasn't in great shape, despite now being a normal weight). I was carrying 100 lbs barrels of chlorine stabilizer down the stairs and was already sweating profusely as the warehouse was not air conditioned or ventilated and was basically a metal box. I began to develop a headache around this time, which wasn't really abnormal for me as I regularly had migraines until I was 15 and would still get them intermittently at that age. Eventually however the headache became very intense. I continued working because I had already had my work ethic insulted that day and my ego couldn't take another hit (Maybe a failing of mine who knows). Eventually I started to feel some nausea and went to get a drink, however that remained even afterwards and I returned to work. Soon after I began feeling dizzy and my vision was fading in and out. I though I needed to cool down so I went to hide in the restroom (Something I had learned to do because it was air conditioned and nobody went back to that area, which was an issue if I was seen in the break room) to cool down slightly and possibly splash some water in my face. When I got in there I almost immediately vomited. I don't know what was going through my head at this point as it's mostly a blur. I know at some point I made my way across the hall to the employee break room and blacked out. Eventually when I came to at some point (I'm unsure how long I was out for) I was looking at my manager. I was having trouble stringing words together, but I'm pretty sure I was being scolded for sleeping on the job. Eventually the manager realized that I was physically incapable of work at this point and instructed me to clock out. Following this I went and sat in my dads office (which was air conditioned) until it was time to leave and was basically downing glass after glass of water. At no point was I given any medical care despite losing consciousness, confusion, and vomiting. Only at my next pediatrician visit did I bring it up, and was told that I most likely experienced heat exhaustion. I managed to return to some semblance of normal by the next week, however I returned to work the following day, and of course I was given shit for having to leave work early the day before.
Eventually I was “promoted” when I was 18 without a raise (still minimum) to a water lab tech (I was still expected to do all my other duties, but now I also needed to work the water lab. This resulted in me no longer having a lunch break (which is not legally mandated in that state) but it did let me stay in the AC more often without getting in trouble and also gave me 5 hours of overtime a week. What a reward! At no point was I given the option to quit by my parents
The only benefit I got from this job is that it got me in pretty good shape. Combined with doing dance during the school year and at the end of summer (which typically involved 6-8 hour rehearsals daily for 6 months out of the year) I could pretty easily lift over 250 lbs. Otherwise this job taught me how incompetent managers are (Like seeing this shit a competent person would have immediately gotten me some kind of medical treatment instead of, you know, insulting my work ethic. My sister would later injure at this job due to negligence of the staff resulting in an internal amputation (which was repaired with plates and screws) of her left ankle. My grandfather spent a significant amount of time trying to convince her to not file for workman's comp or sue. She did and won which is good because the medical bill was ungodly high.) and if they thought I was unmotivated when I started, by the time I was finished with this job I had no motivation to really work past that (I did continue to work summer jobs for the next few years and have been employed since leaving college). I don't enjoy the way that our society allows this shit and frankly I think there should be more laws governing child labor. (In my honest opinion in an ideal world it should be outlawed, however I was kicked out at 17 (Still expected to work the family business during the summer though by my grandfather) and would not have been able to survive without the money I had saved up over the summer). Additionally I think that there should be way harsher penalties for not reporting on the job incidents like this, or attempting to prevent them.
TL;DROut of shape 16 y/o forced to work in warehouse where the walls were made of sheet metal with outside weather that felt like almost 120 degrees carrying heavy objects up and down stairs. Ended up vomiting and blacking out due to heat exhaustion. Instead getting medical treatment I was scolded for laziness before being allowed to clock out. I had to return to work the next day and continued to be called lazy pretty much for my entire time working there.
Edit: Removed excess spacing
Edit 2 for a bit more context about me: I'm 27 now. I had leukemia as a kid and was kind of pushed really hard to succeed (rarely having time off from studying), however I had a lot of issues with behavior at school and was generally considered a problem child, despite my academic achievements (I was suspended on 2-3 occasions, and regularly spent time in in school suspension, at least about 5 days out of any month. Most of it's a blur but I know it was at least 2). By the time I was 13 I was diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. I assume some of the poor behavior at school was a result of this however my parents refused to have me treated and I was eventually taken out of therapy that the school was requiring me to attend. My parents (dad and step-mom) had already been charged with child abuse of two of my sisters and the only reason they had avoided being charged for me was because DSS interviewed me literally sitting between them. After they were charged they stopped using corporal punishment instead locking me in a closet or bathroom for up to 10 hours at a time which honestly wasn't so bad as it helped me learn how to meditate and gave me time to practice public speaking (I still am slightly over expository though). I was later diagnosed with autism but I find it a little bit questionable because at some point I feel like once you have enough mental health issues they just form one giant cluster fuck of labelable psych issues. My point in explaining all this is that I was not super stable going into all this shit.