(no subject)

[sathor]

They switched me up to 12 hour nights, 6pm to 6:30am. Mostly at the request of a major outside contractor doing work through this shutdown - apparently they want me around to help with finding the right equipment and parts for critical path assignments, and they don't really like or trust anyone else - and the reality is, I AM the most knowledgeable down there - my knowledge surpasses my foremen and at times I wonder if I read drawings better than engineering, but I guess that's how it goes. It's annoying not having ANY time for myself, but if I really am working twelves because outside contractors were impressed, then I probably shouldn't complain. It's not exactly how I wanted to be noticed in this life, though.

Hopefully i get adjusted and can be a bit more lucid writing in a few days. At the moment, I don't have much patience for reading. I'm managing about 10-20 pages of The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russel every night during slow points at work, and that's about it for me.

I'm pretty meh feeling today, but I think it's because of how exhausted I am. A few good laughs at work with Chris helped.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

12-hour nights?!? Is that even legal? If your job requires you to make crucial judgements, and especially if any sort of safety concerns are at issue, I would think it is probably NOT legal. Perhaps you ought to see what the Labor & Industry standards say about that.

If your knowledge surpasses your foremens', are they paying you more than your foremen? I presume you ARE raking in the overtime, and that's great up to a point, but you need to have a life. Regardless of the safety concerns or how good the money is, regardless of what outside contractors may think, the company does not have a right to work you all night every night like that.

I don't think you should complain. I think you ought to simply tell them No; tell them that for health reasons you cannot work more than 10 hours overtime a week, and stick by that. They are not likely to fire you for that, because that would bring L&I down on their necks, but if they did, you'd get good Unemployment while you sought a better job.

Bertrand Russel is pretty heavy reading under such circumstances; slow points there must be slow indeed. Glad to hear you had some laughs! Hang in there! *hugs*

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Of course it's legal. The only stipulation in law regarding working hours is a maximum of 16 hour mandatory. You can work more than that straight if you volunteer, but a company is breaking the law if it threatens you with dismissal, for instance, if you refuse. You must have eight hours off between work as well. You must have a 15 minute break paid for every six hours you work consecutively. Lunch breaks, paid or unpaid, are not required by law. Emergency response follow different rules and can actually break the 16 hour straight legally, but I think that's a bit of a gray area.

The Department of Labor strongly suggests numerous breaks, notes reduced productivity after 10 hours, and "suggests" management watch for signs of fatigue and attempt to help that situation as much as possible...but there are no laws regarding this. Labor law in this country is terrible and it's one of the primary reasons unions are so important, but unions as Americans implement them also have incredibly terrible downsides, which I'm unfortunately very familiar with. People who show great talent, merit or intelligence are not given any benefit, as would befit a meritocracy, in a union. Lazy, unproductive people are protected even at the expense of morale and unfairly overburdening others. These are things unions could deal with directly if they chose, but they don't.

My union is actually weak compared to most - generally, trade unions get double pay after 8 hours straight or 40 hours in a week, while we only get 1.5x pay. Our pay rates are lower than trade unions as well. It's just local, you don't travel all over, but you also don't get per diem, and they fuck with operators badly - I did rotating shifts for a year in operations, basically I worked six days on one shift, had two "days" off, then swung to the next shift, rotating through all three. 3rd, 2nd, 1st, return to 3rd. Honestly, working at United Refining has basically made me as filled with PTSD and lasting psych issues that I think soldiers get because the hours and the workload, as well as boredom, is just as bad. I just avoided having to murder people.

Bertrand Russel heavy? I actually feel he is pretty light compared to say, Heidegger or Hegel, or Plato even. I like to think if you are skilled at reading and getting something out of philosophy, you are essentially at the top of the reading comprehension game.

I wish DoL did regulate this, but they don't. I'm pretty beat up, considering quitting early. It's hard not to. I'm so sick of watching people get paychecks handed to them like a charity, while anyone who actually goes above and beyond to learn and become valuable is burdened with everything no one else will learn to do. The culture of invincibility, it is.

-hug- Love ya

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Oh man, that totally sucks; I had no idea. Very sorry to hear!

What is it that you do all night? Bertrand Russell isn't heavy as philosophers run, but do you get to read a significant chunk at a time, or do you have to stop every page? That would drive me nuts; I hate being interrupted - if I was going to read at work, it'd have to be poetry, so I wouldn't get stopped in the middle. But none of my jobs have been the sort I could read at, except night-time caregiving. I worked in a department store during college, and there were lots of long boring spans that would've been fine for reading, but of course it wasn't allowed.

One doesn't get PTSD from working long, working hard, or being bored, but having one's sleep-cycle constantly jerked around will definitely mess up the brain patterns, and being disrespected and invalidated grinds a person down, even if it's not actual bullying. Traumatic stress isn't the only thing that causes psych issues; plain old ordinary stress will do just as well, if it goes on too long without relief. Also, of course, your stress isn't 'post' at this point; you're still right in the midst of it, with no clear end in sight.

You say you're considering quitting early - 'early' meaning you've already decided to quit after a certain time, or after a certain project is done? If you're so valuable to them that nobody else can do what you're doing, seems like they'd rather give you better hours than lose you entirely, wouldn't they? Culture of invincibility or no, someone's got to do your job. So, what would happen if you did tell your boss that these hours are trashing you, you need your schedule adjusted, and if that can't happen, here's your two-week notice?

I had a huge fight with my boss at the robotics shop over Bitch Manager's presuming to mess with my schedule, and finally just up and quit; ka-bam; goodbye. After two weeks of putting Bitch Manager's "No one is irreplaceable" hypothesis to the test, my boss hired me back with a raise; also one for my loyal minion (who loyally refused to try to take on my job as well as his own) and a promise that Bitch Manager would not be 'managing' MY department. The fact is, some people are not replaceable - some people are essential, and if they aren't there, "the play is marred; it goes not forward". I realize your company is a lot bigger, and you don't have seniority, but it may be that you're more essential than you realize, and have enough clout to get what you need if you insist on it.

What would you LIKE to do? I looked up your town, and it's very beautiful - oh, me still homesick after almost 30 years for the mixed-hardwood forests of Ohio and Pennsylvania! - but there's no opportunity there, and not likely to be any in the next decade. (Sadly, my own quiet little mountain town has the same problem - the young folk grow up and fly away to places with jobs.)

Do you know Antioch University Midwest at all? It's in Yellow Springs, OH - a long day's drive from Warren, I realize, but still do-able. It's a unique place, full of unique and fascinating people, and I think you might well find your niche there, among your intellectual peers. Something to think about, at least - a man who reads Bertrand Russell during slow times at work is clearly meant for better things than United Refining.

*hugs hugs* Be of good cheer, my friend; this too shall pass, and better times will come.