A month ago, I was working construction, and it sucked. The work was tough enough (rebar), but combine that with about 1 out of every 3 guys seeming to have a permanent chip on their shoulder and it sucked that much more.
If you were told to work Job site A in the morning, and then the owner decided your help was needed at Job site B for the afternoon, you ate the time to drive between sites. They were about 40 miles and 1 hour apart. Because you were NOT working on a 1099, you couldn't even claim mileage.
Benefits?!? You work, and you get paid, how's that for a benefit!?!. Paid vacation? Nope! Insurance? Not any more pal! Something's not fitting?!? Hit it harder with a bigger hammer until it does!!
By the owner's own admission, the starting pay was "Not very berkeleying much!", but after picking up a few skills that "Should take a few weeks", there was a $3/hr raise promised. Like many contractors, the owner had too many projects going- 5 projects with three foremen including himself, so on many days, we supervised ourselves. I was the only one on those days who spoke fluent English/ and or without an attitude, so the other subs and general contractor came to me with questions and requests. Needless to say, it made me feel like a de facto foreman. However, without the owner around, there was not much time to pick up the skills used in the job, as my time was filled with fetching things from the gang box, and moving piles of bar around, so I was stuck at the starting pay.
The final straw was when the owner sheepishly told me to expect AT LEAST a week with no work before the end of the month due to all projects waiting on other contractors.
I came home that night and applied to a position at an area knife manufacturer as an assembly person, and heard back first thing the next day. I was offered a position less than a week after applying, and so far, it's been a great place to work. Because each person assembles and troubleshoots a knife from start to finish, you feel like a craftsman, not just a cog in the machine.
The starting pay is 25% more than I was making, the benefits offered are virtually unheard of at most companies, and it's a very laid back place to work. So far, it's been a record year for them sales wise, and the demand for their U.S. produced products has jumped significantly.
It has done wonders for my faith in humanity to discover a company that is not only determined to pay a decent wage to their people, but also to bring MORE of their manufacturing back into the United States. Even more comforting is that their customers are a loyal group of people willing to pay a few bucks more to support this business model.
