My first job after high school was a mail clerk in a very large union factory. The individual that I replaced spent more time showing me where to go and who to talk with throughout the factory to waste time as once the mail was dropped off in the morning there was nothing else to do until delivery in the afternoon. A few weeks later another opening, this time a payroll clerk, the job was to drop off and pickup time cards in the various departments, once again a morning trip and a late afternoon trip with nothing to do in between. I got to know every foreman in the plant, new their life stories, what they ate what they didn't eat, etc., etc., This was the most boring job I had in my life. I was taught to work hard not to sit around smoking and drinking Coke all day. Occasionally I would help the lady in the payroll department get the cards ready until I got caught, this was a big no-no, not allowed to help anyone. From that point on I just sat in a chair and read junk mail until my route was ready for me. On my 89th day, the boss called me up to his office and gave me a list of about 200 numbers, told me to go over to the adding machine and add them all up, don't waste time checking the results, and bring the list with the total back to him. He looked at the total, said to me that is incorrect, I'm going to have to let you go, this was the last day of probation. I found out later that the list of numbers was used anytime they had someone that they wanted to get rid of. Getting kicked out of that union was the best thing that ever happened to me career wise, from that point on I got paid for working, not loafing. I got dozens of stories like this and even worse. There was a time for unions and probably some employers should have unions but for the most part I feel that those days of needing representation are in the past.
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