Composites

Composites

I worked at a composite company for three years. The stench of carbon fiber and frekote release filled the air, all while working next to 265 degree ovens made it difficult to breath and somewhat fearful to work without a respirator. I started out at the lowest yet important technician position there was, namely “prep and pull.” Eight months later, I was being promoted to one of the highest ranking production positions because of their appreciation for my detail oriented work ethic. Working there taught me many valuable things in life including self-discipline, that trust is fragile, and that having a college degree makes the work life much more tolerable.

Waking up and showing up at work by 5:00 am seemed like a stretch for me at first, little did I know that would be the least that would be expected of me. Since I was in a high position in production, I was relied upon to solve other workers problems around the plant, as well as push quality parts out of the door of my own. I worked a lot of overtime, which took tremendous discipline, and found myself all alone in the shop after everyone else had gone home trying to meet my quota for the day. This dude once said, “for every disciplined effort, there is a multiple reward.” There was one week where a critical due date was close, and I had to work a seventy hour week.

By the next Wednesday, I had over the eighty hours required for each pay period. This always brightened my day a little bit, since I could expect at least a thousand dollar check. It didn’t take John Doe (the president) long to kill that thought. He came out of his office to send me home, this cut off a whole15 hours of overtime that I would have earned. Not only that but we ended up getting a shipping bonus that month which I contributed over $30,000 by myself, but was cut out $100 of it since I only had 30 hours the week I got sent home. I brought this issue of mine up to Steve and he simply said, “rules are rules.” From then on, I never trusted him enough to put in so much hard work and effort because I could never expect any award. With all the stress I had dealt with, and long work days, I knew that without a college