I spent the majority of my twenties working in a muffler factory. Starting out performing the most menial tasks on the line, I eventually worked my way into the inspection office and a management position. Our plant employed about ninety people, and ninety percent of them, if you could state thier attitude towards the work that they did in two words, those words would be "fuck it." They hated their coworkers, hated their bosses, hated the company, and hated the government. Most of the products made, mufflers for all kinds of machinery, steel parts for big equipment, and motorcycle frames, among many other things, barely passed inspection, if inspected at all, before being shipped out. Everyone, as far as I was concerned, was payed quite well. The parking lot was always full of the latest model trucks with aftermarket rims and custom paint jobs, usually a four-wheeler or snowmobile in the back. Most folks knew all the tricks to get around putting any effort at all into their work. In 2002, the plant was closed, and work orders and equipment shipped south, no one could understand why. Must be the fault of the big bosses, and conspiring Mexicans, they mused. Sloth, shoddy workmanship, and bad will towards men, made in the USA.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Made in the USA
I spent the majority of my twenties working in a muffler factory. Starting out performing the most menial tasks on the line, I eventually worked my way into the inspection office and a management position. Our plant employed about ninety people, and ninety percent of them, if you could state thier attitude towards the work that they did in two words, those words would be "fuck it." They hated their coworkers, hated their bosses, hated the company, and hated the government. Most of the products made, mufflers for all kinds of machinery, steel parts for big equipment, and motorcycle frames, among many other things, barely passed inspection, if inspected at all, before being shipped out. Everyone, as far as I was concerned, was payed quite well. The parking lot was always full of the latest model trucks with aftermarket rims and custom paint jobs, usually a four-wheeler or snowmobile in the back. Most folks knew all the tricks to get around putting any effort at all into their work. In 2002, the plant was closed, and work orders and equipment shipped south, no one could understand why. Must be the fault of the big bosses, and conspiring Mexicans, they mused. Sloth, shoddy workmanship, and bad will towards men, made in the USA.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment