It was really a bummer, because I really enjoyed the work, and the people. We were building and repairing high voltage electric motor testers, which are in use in dams, bridges, anything that needs a gigantic electric motor. They didn’t disclose this to me during the interview, and my first few units were for local municipalities, and small niche electrical companies. That said I overheard today, someone talking about Raytheon, and asked to talk to my manager to find out if they were working with them. Come to find out, not only are they working with Raytheon on a rocket project, their primary customer base is Defense Contractors.
I told him that I have an ethical and moral objection to contributing to the perpetuation of the Military-Industrial Complex, and could not continue working for a company that does not adequately align with my values.
Immediately, he became defensive, telling me, “you are gonna have a hard time in life.” And accusing me of working for apple, (I used to run a NON-Apple repair shop specializing in microsoldering repairs that Apple and other companies refuse to perform), which tells me he didn’t really understand my resume.
There were other red flags before that, in the employee handbook, the only thing under “instantly fireable offenses” was listening to the news or anything other than music in your headphones, specifically called out news, but this was the straw that broke the camels back.
The funniest thing to me, is in my short tenure there I gathered that they’re months behind on everything, are relying on near-retirement age workers who hold all the institutional knowledge that keeps the place running. When those guys retire, they’re taking decades of knowledge with them. It seems to me, they’re the ones “going to have a hard time”.
I feel lucky to be in a position where I can leverage my labor to make a statement about injustice, and I understand not everyone can do so, but if you are able to, I encourage you to do the same.