Started this summer with a small paving company. Under 10 people in the crew.
I had done asphalt paving before and knew it was hard work but it wasn't too bad because the hours weren't that crazy.
Company had seen better days and the people that owned it were just squeezing out as much as they could while neglecting equipment, workers and being as cheap as possible.
Crew still worked like it was the 80's and they had nothing to show for it despite doing it for a long time.
One day the foreman got one of my co-workers to inform me I would be fired if I didn't show more initiative so they would give me one more week to prove myself. The previous day was a slow day for the whole crew as it was mostly just finishing touches on of a large 3-day job we did so it caught me off-guard. I laughed it off and buddy was like, “no, I'm serious”.
At that point it's 2 monthes in and I had been showing up early everyday, working hard and even ride shared for the messenger co-worker for a fee. The co-worker was an alcoholic who would stay up all night drinking so the alcohol would metabolize, he'd avoid a hangover and come into work still drunk, yet the foreman was fine with him doing that as they were buddies.
And, yes, he had a DUI, which is why he couldn't drive himself.
Obviously, the whole situation rubbed me the wrong way.The threat of being fired came on a Friday so I applied to jobs all weekend and had an offer by Monday. There was also a rain day the following week so I used it to set-up an interview. Interview went well and by Friday of “proving week” I had a fitness test + driving exam set-up for the new job offer.
During “proving week”, I pushed myself as hard as possible to prove a point, mostly to myself that I was a hard worker. I was the only one in my 20's and had the most endurance on the crew.
Last day on the paving crew I even bought beers for the guys, drank with them at the shop.
Monday after “proving week” comes and I give them the ol' no call, no show and an Irish goodbye, start preparing for orientation for the new job offer instead.
Ended up getting the new job. Went from a seasonal job, $25/hr with no benefits where I would have maybe made $20k-25k in 5-6 monthes to a full-time, year-round job with a salary of $70k + overtime, full benefits after a month.
Overall it was a gamble, I resigned through e-mail before being fired and before I even got the offer of employment but it paid off and got me out of a shitty situation.