TLDR: Husband’s boss said he was observing him work because husband was talking too much and thus holding up assembly line. When approached directly boss changes story and says my husband’s team is complaining he’s working too fast and thus making them work harder. They tell husband he’s “overreacting” so husband quit on the spot.
(Sorry for long post) My husband is an amazing guy. He’s not the smartest dude but he’s a hard worker and ALWAYS willing to improve on what he is doing wrong.
Last year he got a job working assembly for a big company that makes boat engines. They paid great for someone who doesn’t have a college degree and the benefits were pretty good.
This week my husband’s boss kept coming by his station and “observing” him. He was looking under the tables, eyeing my husband, and just being pretty intentional that he was watching my husband. This happened for half the week (Mon-Wed) and then on Thursday I told my husband to just ask his boss if everything was okay. Mind you, after the boss would come by his coworkers would come up to him and tell him to “be safe, be aware, boss is looking for mistakes, etc.” someone even told my husband that the boss told them (the coworkers) that since my husband is “talking so much” at work that he’s not going to get a partner (they were looking to add an additional person at his station).
Anyways, yesterday my husband asked the boss if something was wrong when he came around again and boss dude goes, “Yeah uh I’ve been noticing you talking to your materials lady too much and it’s slowing your line down.” And then he walks away. My husband was royally pissed because he only has short convos with people when their line is down, and when the line is down it’s down for 1-3 hours. My husband never leaves his station and is usually still building and working when the line is down. Meanwhile, his coworkers are on their phones, taking extra breaks, leaving stations, etc. but for some reason my husband is holding the line back?
So, anyways, husband calls me on lunch and I tell him to go talk to his union rep (huge mistake). Union rep calls in the boss and says “hash it out” so my husband tells him how he feels and boss goes, “I never talked about you behind your back. Actually, your team has been complaining to me about you saying you’re pushing too many pallets and making them work faster.” My husband being the least confrontational dude ever just freezes up from anger and doesn’t say much else.
He calls me again and I point out the discrepancy between what boss dude says. How was it that he originally told my husband he was holding up the line for talking too much and now it’s that he’s making the line work too hard? So which one is it? Also, union dude was fucking useless so fuck him too. Pay almost $70/mo for a useless ass dude.
Anyways, husband wanted to quit and so I told him it was fine and we’d figure out finances later. So he quit and walked out. When he told them he was quitting they begged him to stay. They offered to move him to a different line, to have a conversation to see what they can change, etc. but husband said no. They even tried to guilt trip him by saying this isn’t “who he is” and he’s not the type of person to do something like just quit and walk out. They said he was being “unreasonable” and it was surprising to see him “act that way”. Yeah okay lmfao.
I just want to say… it’s not worth it to work somewhere where you are giving 110% and your leadership can’t even have the decency to just tell you there’s a problem with how you are working. This whole thing wouldn’t be an issue if boss dude just came up to my husband and explained that there have been complaints about him. Instead, he talked about it to others whom eventually ended up telling my husband what was said.
I know a lot of people can’t afford to just quit on the spot but if you or your spouse are getting singled out or harassed at work for stupid shit please leave. Please support your spouse and each other. Your mental health and happiness is worth more than money. That’s all. On the bright side, at least we get to spend his birthday together now!