I'm an aviation maintenance contractor. For some reason, my industry has very few jobs where I live, especially lucrative ones. So I have to pack my car, kiss my family goodbye, drive time zones away, and go to work.
Once I got to the hangar I realized there was a problem. It's a quarter mile long! From my car to my toolbox it takes 5 minutes of walking. My contract house that set me up with this client told me that they have “lots of work”. In anyone's right mind that clearly means there's plenty of overtime. Once I'm in orientation I'm told there's absolutely no overtime and there will be none for the foreseeable future. This didn't sit well with me so I asked a few questions to a man I later found out to be the VP. He looked me in the eye and actually said, “this might not be a good place for you to work”.
I agree.
Well, I guess I'll just have to stick with it for a while until things improve or find something else.
Then I start working on the plane and it's an old dc10 built in the 70s. It's dirty, it's old, it's dented, and the screws are murder to get out without stripping. But hey, they give you a task card that says you have 8 hours to get all the panels off of that thing. It took me 30 hours. I think I'm pretty good at my job, not the best but I know what I'm doing. A screw takes about 5 seconds to aim, fire, pull out, and put in a bag and then continue the process. If it wants to be stubborn however it can be anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour of trying to punch that thing out with a screw knocker or drilling it out.
Then I was given the lovely job of pulling panels out underneath the floorboards in the AFT cargo bay. But with the floorboards out you absolutely have to wear knee pads because of all the rollers and stuff that would have been smooth out with floorboards which are now missing. It's difficult the situate your body and you're bent all the way over past your heart so all the blood and everything you ate for breakfast and lunch is rushing to your head. These panels, thankfully, were bolted down with 3/8 bolts. Unfortunately, because of the location they needed to be covered in sealant and the edges of the panels need to be sealed as well. Whoever installed them used gallons of sealant and that of course just slowed everything down. Again another 8-hour card to get these things out which took a couple days at about 16 hours.
Over the past few years I would look for the best deals for airbnbs or extended stays and settle in to work 60 hours a week which was the only way I could afford two locations and still be able to sock away some savings and pay down debt. THIS time I opted to sleep in my car and THANK GOD I DID. I would have been out about $1,000 if I had got myself a place here but now I can just bounce out so there's a positive at least.
I guess what the takeaway here is what is always posted in the subreddit: the jobs just don't care about you. Your situation is very different from those around you. I really don't have any advice. I guess I'm just kind of venting and this is my first post on the subreddit so thank you for reading.