An American worker

My wife got fired a few months ago. She has never been fired before and took it kind of hard. Actually, to put it bluntly, it pissed her off to the core. And rightly so. She got fired for the same reason most Americans get fired these days; her boss found someone younger and drastically less capable who would try to do her job for less money. Customers will suffer but the boss will keep a little more of what he regards as "his" money.

Like most Americans my wife worked for a for a small company where there is no union, in a country that long ago sold itself out to business. Employees have virtually no protection from employers, and (in my experience) small company owners/employers are the very worst. Every penny they chisel out of their suppliers, every nickel of pay / benefit / vacation day / sick day they can steal from their workers, every dime of quality they can cut from their product, is change that goes directly into their pocket. Even if they started out trying to build a better widget at a slightly more competitive price, eventually there is nothing left but pure greed and utter selfishness.

My work history is a bit more storied but reflects the same realities of working in America. I bailed out of job #1 just before the government/military contract that supported the work went away, and with it the loss of thousands of jobs. It was with a big company with many layers of management trained at Ivy League schools boasting of the letters after their names. The program went millions of dollars over budget but at least managed to be months and months behind schedule. The "workers" took the blame of course; never mind that we weren't provided with enough tools and equipment to make use of all the people thrown at the project. It was a good thing there were some extras around though, since more than a few got killed in the unsafe working conditions. As there were thousands of us in the factory the odds were good that any particular worker would live to find another job, and I did.

I left Job #2 when the company decided they could make more money off of me by moving me to a production line rather than keeping me at the job I was hired to do. It was also at a big company and all workers were just like the parts of the production line, moved around at whim.

Job #3 was my first with a small company. It went away when the owner looted most of the accounts and ran off with a girlfriend. I had to talk the Sheriff into taking the padlock off the hangar door long enough for me to roll my toolbox out to the van.

Job #4 was for another big company. After managing to aggravate my immediate supervisor, mostly by simply doing my job without needing much from him, I was once again “moved” to “new responsibilities.” That lasted until the newly appointed President of this international company happened to run across a grade 5 aircraft mechanic sitting on the wing of an airplane after finishing up with the list of airplanes to be washed that day. After a good deal of loud conversation, (with my supervisor, not me) I was moved back to the job I was being paid to do. I kind of enjoyed the fact that my supervisor had his ass chewed off by the President of the company, sort of on my behalf. But clearly that job was not going to be tenable for long.

Job #5 was a move closer to family and lasted for more than a decade. But the owner of the company was determined that he would dictate to the market, not the other way around. I locked the doors and turned out the lights on my way out. Job #6 was half way across the country.

I liked job #6 right up until they decided they were spending too much money on things like safety, equipment and training. For some reason they took offence at me pointing out that they were likely to get someone killed, and that I might be that someone. Threats of being fired ensued, but I bailed before, 1) getting fired and 2) getting killed. Just a few months after I left one of the people who did the threatening and who was, himself, not particularly well trained, died in a piece of poorly maintained equipment. He took two co-workers with him and the company folded.

Job #7 was ¼ of the way back across the country and for another small company. The owner resented every dime that flowed through his hands that didn’t end up in his bank account. It was a fun job in some respects, but being consistently treated as an expense he resented took its toll. As time passed the job changed from being a key part of a challenging enterprise to being a Boy Friday running errands. I still did the skilled work needed, after all I was the only one on the payroll who could. But The Boss was clearly getting tired of giving some of "his" money to me and was upset by the fact that I wasn't as impressed with him as he was with himself. Once again threats of getting fired ensued so I started looking for another place to be. When I left he hired someone cheaper with fewer skills, then someone even cheaper and less skilled after that. Eventually he faded away, though thankfully managed to do so without actually killing anyone.

I took Job #8 mostly because it seemed a good chance to get away from Job #7 and they sang me a good song about starting up a first class operation. Within weeks the song changed to one of how they were smarter, quicker, and better than everyone else who had ever been in the business. They were wrong. The carnage ended up including at least 2 dead, several others severely injured, and the dollar amount of equipment damaged too high for even a lunatic reported to be worth some $200,000,000 to ignore. Fortunately I missed the memo that said my job was to nod, say, “Yes Sir,” and stroke the boss with continuous praise as to just how smart he and his demented little band of children really were. They fired me just BEFORE the first body hit the ground, and I am forever grateful it worked out that way.

Job #9 was a good job running a department for a large University and being involved with educating truly extraordinary young people for a demanding career. But eventually the University had “other priorities.” After nearly 7 years of nothing but glowing job reviews, job #9 disappeared into the hole being dug for the foundation of a new Basketball Stadium.  Fortunately the U. found places for the others in my department, but my job skills are a bit specialized.  Out the door I went with a couple of weeks pay and not so much as a "thank you." (My already dim view of big name collegiate sports programs took a real nose-dive after that.)

Job #10 was a brutal schedule with minimum pay and a management team that never saw a union worker they thought worth the trouble. Still, I kind of liked it and intended to hang around for a while. The equipment was new, the people out on the line were mostly good folks, and the job could be a real challenge. But Job #11 was too good to pass up.

So far job #11 is working out pretty well. With any luck it will be the last one I have. If so the score will be:

Jobs left for my own reasons on my own time? #10

Jobs that went away? #1, #3, #5, #9

Jobs that changed into other jobs I didn’t want to do? #2, #7

Fired or bailing just before getting fired? #4, #6, #8

Jobs that came perilously close to getting me killed? #1, #3, #6, #7, #8. Now I admit my job is a bit more dangerous than most - usually listed in the top 5 of the most dangerous jobs in America and currently at number 3. But wouldn't you think that people involved in such a risky enterprise would be more careful, not less?

Jobs I look back on as "good" jobs? #5, #9, #11. It is no coincidence that at these jobs I report(ed) to people I regard as first class, expert individuals who treat(ed) me as fairly as they can or could.

So far as I can tell my experience isn't that unusual. Being exploited as a revenue source on one hand and despised as a financial liability on the other, while being sacrificed (rhetorically or factually) to the whims of those in charge, is pretty much what it means to be an American worker today. Not always and not everywhere, but 3 out of 11 is just about 27% of my jobs that were good verses bad.

With the unions neutered and the government long ago sold to the highest corporate bidder, an American worker had best be a nimble, unencumbered individual who can throw any job back at any employer and walk away. Kind of difficult with credit card debts, mortgages, and family to feed. Which is probably why the government and banks are so eager to push credit card debt and home ownership. It helps keep the work force immobile and compliant.