Tuesday, March 02, 2004
The Mistake: A Tale from the Files of CANT-DO “Based on an all too true story!”
The employee had gone through considerable hoops to get a job at the new cardboard factory because it seemed like a good gig. He was promised 8-hour shifts in this CANT DO land of insane 12-hour swing shifts and he was promised a good wage (by Hazleton poverty-level standards). The employee had another part-time job that was four hours a day in the morning, something he was sure he could manage with the addition of the 8-hour factory job.
However, his first night on the job he was in for another Hazleton Public Secret: All factories in Hazleton are slave-shops!
To the employees surprise the labor involved lifting continuously 100lbs or better of cardboard boxes on a shift with hours that could fluctuate anywhere from ten to fourteen per shift depending on what the supervisor decided he needed you to do in order to get his ‘numbers’ up. Didn’t matter that there were no breaks or any lunchtime. You rested if the machine broke down! The supervisor went around pretending he was a Bruce Lee hard guy while you slaved.
The employee decided that something was wrong. The next day he went directly to the main office to speak with a manager. The manager spied him with dislike and arrogance. Behind the manager was a shift supervisor standing vigil like a rabid dog with out a thought in his head that the company did not put there. The employee got right to the point.
The employee asked: “What happened to this being 8-hour shifts?”
The manager replied: “I think we’ve made a mistake.”
The employee asked: “What happened to breaks? And lunch?”
The manager replied: “I think we’ve made a mistake.” And he continued to say this like a mantra speaking more for the supervisor standing behind him then for any concerns of the employee before him. In fact, the manager was practically ignoring the employee and continued his mantra as he looked over papers on his desk.
Infuriated finally after several minutes of this insanity, the employee responded: “Why? Because I have a brain?”
This made the manager finally break out of the loop of: “I think we’ve made a mistake”
Now the manager said: “This meeting is over. Escort him off the premises.”
The employee was not aware this was a formal meeting although it had the air of tribunal with a firing squad. He was lead out by the supervisor who followed him ridiculously closely as they exited the building. Suddenly, as the sun was shining and the sky was blue, the employee felt a tremendous relief. His chains fell away. Even if he did need money, he at least had his soul back. The company and their lies and promises no longer bound him. The ex-employee raised up his freed hands to the sky and shouted: “Free!”
To this the supervisor was disgusted and growled: “Just leave!”
The moral of this story is never trust a factory, especially one brought to Hazleton by CANT DO. They lie to you, cheat you, trick you. And when you are all used up they dump you like so much trash, because they have another sheep lined up to take your place who is just as in need of money as you are.
Now here's a borrowed RANT from our good friends at the Institute Bulletin... 7/16/03
Well I'll be a son ov a bitch, oh wait...Penndot's gonna raise the speed limit on 924! At the request of Hazleton Chamber of Commerce members (and with no regard to all the working stiffs who drag their asses daily down that evil road), the limit will be raised from S. Broad to past I-81 15mph to 55! And up from there to the south Luz. county line a big 5mph to 45. I'm sure this is much to the chagrin of the State Police, who've probably black-balled the trooper whom ticketed the COC big whig and inadvertently raised the liberty of working class schleps who need a boot in their back to keep their place. How long do ya suppose it'll be before countless tax dollars are pissed away to study how this action has turned 924 into a road even Mad Max would avoid due to the speeding carnage?
--Thanx Raymond (make sure to check out the webring!)
The employee had gone through considerable hoops to get a job at the new cardboard factory because it seemed like a good gig. He was promised 8-hour shifts in this CANT DO land of insane 12-hour swing shifts and he was promised a good wage (by Hazleton poverty-level standards). The employee had another part-time job that was four hours a day in the morning, something he was sure he could manage with the addition of the 8-hour factory job.
However, his first night on the job he was in for another Hazleton Public Secret: All factories in Hazleton are slave-shops!
To the employees surprise the labor involved lifting continuously 100lbs or better of cardboard boxes on a shift with hours that could fluctuate anywhere from ten to fourteen per shift depending on what the supervisor decided he needed you to do in order to get his ‘numbers’ up. Didn’t matter that there were no breaks or any lunchtime. You rested if the machine broke down! The supervisor went around pretending he was a Bruce Lee hard guy while you slaved.
The employee decided that something was wrong. The next day he went directly to the main office to speak with a manager. The manager spied him with dislike and arrogance. Behind the manager was a shift supervisor standing vigil like a rabid dog with out a thought in his head that the company did not put there. The employee got right to the point.
The employee asked: “What happened to this being 8-hour shifts?”
The manager replied: “I think we’ve made a mistake.”
The employee asked: “What happened to breaks? And lunch?”
The manager replied: “I think we’ve made a mistake.” And he continued to say this like a mantra speaking more for the supervisor standing behind him then for any concerns of the employee before him. In fact, the manager was practically ignoring the employee and continued his mantra as he looked over papers on his desk.
Infuriated finally after several minutes of this insanity, the employee responded: “Why? Because I have a brain?”
This made the manager finally break out of the loop of: “I think we’ve made a mistake”
Now the manager said: “This meeting is over. Escort him off the premises.”
The employee was not aware this was a formal meeting although it had the air of tribunal with a firing squad. He was lead out by the supervisor who followed him ridiculously closely as they exited the building. Suddenly, as the sun was shining and the sky was blue, the employee felt a tremendous relief. His chains fell away. Even if he did need money, he at least had his soul back. The company and their lies and promises no longer bound him. The ex-employee raised up his freed hands to the sky and shouted: “Free!”
To this the supervisor was disgusted and growled: “Just leave!”
The moral of this story is never trust a factory, especially one brought to Hazleton by CANT DO. They lie to you, cheat you, trick you. And when you are all used up they dump you like so much trash, because they have another sheep lined up to take your place who is just as in need of money as you are.
Now here's a borrowed RANT from our good friends at the Institute Bulletin... 7/16/03
Well I'll be a son ov a bitch, oh wait...Penndot's gonna raise the speed limit on 924! At the request of Hazleton Chamber of Commerce members (and with no regard to all the working stiffs who drag their asses daily down that evil road), the limit will be raised from S. Broad to past I-81 15mph to 55! And up from there to the south Luz. county line a big 5mph to 45. I'm sure this is much to the chagrin of the State Police, who've probably black-balled the trooper whom ticketed the COC big whig and inadvertently raised the liberty of working class schleps who need a boot in their back to keep their place. How long do ya suppose it'll be before countless tax dollars are pissed away to study how this action has turned 924 into a road even Mad Max would avoid due to the speeding carnage?
--Thanx Raymond (make sure to check out the webring!)
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