Im new to antiwork and would not classify myself as left leaning like i think the majority here are but i still like browsing this spot cause theres a lot of truth and as a worker i dont like being bullshit to.
Im a welder and 4 years ago I left a spot that was horrible. I was only there a month and went because of $4 of a wage increase. My supervisor hated me from the get go cause he thought i was fresh out of school but had been in the field for over a decade (i look young) and I politely said to him I did not need to know the basics of welding, only how to build our stuff. Got yelled at by him for looking at blueprints, other employees fought with him and had screaming matches with each other for how they were teaching me to do things. Id have already worked 10 hours and practically at my truck in the parking lot only to hear the plant manager yelling out the door if i wanted to stay another 2 with no notice. The owner had just taken over and was awesome. He had my back during these disputes but the people i worked with suuuuuucked and no sitdowns with the owner helped the tension in the shop. At the suggestion of a long timer who was there and saw it all i found another spot, came in on a saturday grabbed my shit and left.
Been at this next job for 4 years but Ive been dealing with the realization its not long term for me at 33, pay wise or industry wise. That job i held for less than a month that I left with no notice has phoned and emailed me multiple times per year. For some reason I said screw it and decided to pick up last week and went in yesterday to kick the tires.
Whats changed? Theyve fired everyone from when i was there. The owner said my wage was a joke and offered a 50% increase from what I make at the moment (okay bud now im listening.) Its so much more than the average in my area thats not union I kind of went silent. The benefits package is other worldly compared to what i got offered previously. All overtime is both optional and available at will which i have no issue taking on especially if the weather is bad. Standard schedules are beyond flexible and if I wanted to I could start early enough to leave at noon. Ear buds are now allowed so I dont have to give up my podcasts. They now supply all tools which would have cost me hundreds up front. They have uniforms so I dont have to fuck up my own clothes. The entire management is now young and relates to our generation. They even laid out a plan for promoting me cause theyre opening a second shop.
I aired out all my grievances of my previous “stint” and said directly im not desperate for a job as my current one is more than safe, and thats when they laid everything out i said above. I told them Id sit on it for a week. They seemed to have learned and really made some big structural and philosophical changes which were explained to me but would make this post even longer but Im leaning towards going back. I already know the job, they want to pay me more and give me more leeway than I had and theyre growing.