You've got to be kidding me...

frank submitted 421 days ago

So we're working at a paint manufacturing plant. We make paint. And I don't mean we as in the company. I mean we as in the workers. We literally MADE paint by hand. The only machines included in the process were the ones that MIXED the ingredients. We lifted 50+ lb. bags over our heads to dump them into a 6ft high 1000 gallon container over 100 times a day. We poured it. We fastened the lids on the 5 gallon and 1 gallon paints with mallets. We worked with hazardous chemical and the only time we would get protective gear (goggles, masks, gloves, etc) was when OSHA was coming to inspect. Yes, we were in the Flintstone ages, and yet, we were the first crew in the history of the plant to meet the quota of 3000 gallons/day on 30 consecutive days. Management told us so, and at the same time, constantly complained and hovered over us (practically with whips) to make us work even harder. So, now that you have some background on this place, here's what happened. One day in the middle of summer (100+ degrees) we were told to take the old resin that had gone bad and take it to the parking lot and use it to coat the asphalt to give it a new asphalt look and protective coating. (By hand of course, with no protective gear for the fumes or toxicity) We were given nothing but a 5 gallon bucket (which we had to keep walking back and forth to the plant to refill) and a couple of push brooms to spread the resin. The manager kept coming out to check on us to make sure we were "working hard" as he did every hour during the days we were in the plant making paint. Once the parking lot was completed to his satisfaction, he said "thank you" handed us our last checks, told us to leave, and walked away. I don't know how much time passed as we were standing there with our jaws dropped before we looked at each other and asked "was he serious?" Well, yes he was. And then, if that wasn't enough, they beat us to the punch with the unemployment office and told them some off the wall story (that I don't even remember the details of now) of why we were fired so that we couldn't receive unemployment benefits. You've got to be kidding me....