I work in an automotive industry job. I've been with the company for almost 8 years in for the last, roughly 2 years, I have been working in the company's corporate lab. I essentially do quality control and durability tests on the parts. Nothing too fancy and nothing too exciting, but it's not a terrible job given the fact that I don't have a college education and am in my early 40s.
The past few months have been a bit rough, in the sense that I've mistakenly broken a few pieces of equipment and have had a few errors made. None of my mistakes would be anything that I would be immediately fired for, as equipment breaks all the time and we all make mistakes.
I am not trying to brush off responsibility for my actions, but given the circumstances I don't feel like I've done anything that is so terribly wrong that I deserve to be in the strange situation I am in now.
It is my opinion that the company is looking to consolidate the workload with fewer staff members and they are using my streak of bad luck as justification to push me out of the position and into another facility doing the job I did previously. My bosses have continued to use the phrasing that the job isn't for everyone, that it requires a lot of attention to detail, and that there's nothing wrong with admitting it may not be the best fit for me.
I've been given the strong suggestion that I take opportunity to transfer to another facility. "We don't see much in terms of new job openings at other facilities, here at this location." and "They need to fill this position soon, so you need to decide right away."
A written warning was mentioned, but it was going to be set aside, while I thought about it over last weekend. When I said I'd prefer to stay, the written warning was brought back out and made official. "We'll go ahead and work with you for a refresher course and we'll really need you to pay closer attention and be more careful. You should still ask HR about that other position, if you have any questions. It's a good opportunity to do something you already know."
I went ahead and scheduled a meeting with the team lead at the new facility on Friday, just to be sure. Speaking of team leaders, my current one has been a major stressor for most of my time in the lab, but he's also the only one who has had my back. See, he has butted heads with our bosses numerous times before. He was written up and given a 3-day suspension last year and he does not trust nor respect our bosses. He's also a huge bigot. Some of the incredibly racist, sexist, homophobic, and just plain idiotic shit that he has said should have gotten him fired numerous times, but I've never said anything because it would be impossible to keep it secret. There's only one other person on our shift and he'd know who to blame for any consequences.
Whether or not blaming myself for keeping quiet, simply to avoid conflict, is worth it, I think my unwilling validation of my team leader's bigotry may have won me an ironic ally in all this. He has repeatedly told me I'm a better lab tech than most he's seen come through and that I shouldn't let the bosses bully me. "They can't get rid of me, so they are coming for you. It's bullshit."
He's shared that he isn't happy with the job either and the constant attacks on him are wearing him down. He isn't completely wrong about how shitty the culture is there, but his attitude makes me think some of the grief he gets is warranted. He apparently thought I was gay for awhile, but that didn't stop him from making some really ignorant comments about the LGBTQ community, right to my face. Maybe he thought I was one of those cool self-hating gays. Or maybe he briefly forgot he was mistaken about me, and thought I was one of those big tough guys, who thinks lesbians just, "bring their hot girlfriends to parties, to make guys jealous."
This has left me at the crossroads. I can stay where I'm at, keeping my head down and accepting blame for my mistakes (all of which I immediately owed up to and some of which I had asked for help with beforehand). I'll be working for people who clearly have no confidence in me, and for a boss who's personality makes me sick. Or, I can go backwards, potentially with less responsibility but also a much heavier work week, cutting into the little social time I have. I did that for almost a full year before the lab, 50-60 hours a week. No time for breaks. Nothing but stress. If this new position is like that, I definitely struggle to continue working with this company. I'll be throwing almost 8 years away on a company that has no problem with the crap I've seen.
It sounds like the decision is easy, although I still want to hear what my possible future boss has to say. Other departments in that building have only been working 40 hours a week, so maybe this won't be so stressful. What's stressful is the newest wrinkle. My bosses want my team leader and I to swap workloads. The production facility I typically work on will now go to my TL and his work will go to me.
Also, I will start doing the Safety walkthroughs he normally does. My TL did attempt to tell our bosses that the walkthroughs are part of his specific job duties as team leader. My bosses seemed to dismiss this and almost insinuated that he just skims through them, to his face, while I was in the room.
I will now be asked to come in early for an indeterminate amount of time to be trained on an assortment of testing methods, equipment, and who knows what else as these are all going to be new to me. Me. You know, the idiot who can't pay attention apparently.
After the bosses left for the day, my team lead and I were talking. Funny thing is, even I can keep the conversations on music or movies, he's quite tolerable. If he's talking about politics, like how all Liberals are godless atheists who are also responsible for the Capitol riots last year, I try to appease him with feckless "both sides" rhetoric or deflect by making jokes about how ridiculous everything is.
If he brings up religion, like how college professors are all atheists with no morals who want to wear down our society pushing their agenda, I try to point out how most politicians and other people in power, use religion to pander to people. I mean, even my TL acknowledges that Trump is no christian. Not it makes any difference to my TL, as he sees Trump as a true American who really cares about this country.
When he goes into conspiracy theory mode, like how the jews blackmailed Walt Disney and that's how they took over the company, I really don't know what to say and look for a reason to leave. He is clueless. Even if I went all "snowflake libtard" and called him out on it or spoke to HR instead, he'd only see it as an attack on him. Any consequences would be seen as him being martyred. People like him will never get it. It's too exhausting to fight people like him when it won't change a damn thing.
And yet, his eagerness to complain about the bosses has shed some light on how truly screwed up this situation is. He even joked that maybe this is some kind of test/trap. They're looking to get rid of him and to give his job as TL to me. I'm in no position to even entertain such a thought as I do have a lot more to learn, but I'd also question taking a job that required me to be torn down in such an odd manner first.
Whatever the case, we're all incredibly confused. I don't even know what to say tomorrow, when I visit the other facility. Do I mention anything about what's going on in the lab? Should I at least inform them that I am not terribly interested in the position and that I only agreed to go there so I could get my bosses off my back?
Again, it's quite possible that the new/old job won't be that bad. Maybe I should just get the hell out of the lab either way and start looking at a new job altogether. The possible OT in the meantime may come in handy, if a new job means a significant drop in pay. It would help if I had even one fucking clue where to look. I've been more or less unhappy with every job I've had. I'm tired of working for companies that really don't have much use for their employees other than their labor. I don't really want to be in an environment that pretty much nurtures a garbage mindset, by sucking the life and joy out of the employees.
I know no one really wants to work, but I'm tired of jobs that have me not wanting to even show up. I feel like taking the new job means caving in. Staying still means I lose, because the slightest mistake I make will most assuredly earn me a 3-day suspension of my own. It's 3 am, BTW. I should go to bed.
