On My Way (Working for Moeller)

So, like I said, I haven't had many jobs in my life cause, I'm usually pretty good at keeping them. This place however, felt the need to "get back" at my name because my brothers created a shitty look for the family in the time that they were there. The people of the company LOOKED for any reason to get rid of me BEFORE I made it through my 90 day probation. They did it 3 times, and each time it was COMPLETE BULLSHIT but, I had no power over the situations.

The first time around, I was working night shift up at Moeller in the Burr ops department. De-burring important parts to different aircraft engine assemblies. Mainly ones that pieced together turbines and such. I learned how to sandblast, use a pencil drill, and other fine tools as the parts I had to cut down, shape and clean up had to be at exact 1000ths of an inch. I got REALLY good at my job REALLY fast. I was knocking out parts faster than they could bring them to the room. There were days were I would walk into my desk and easily have 300 parts sitting around, and everything I did was 100% done BY HAND. I had got real cozy with the people I worked with and, it was pretty nice that if I ever needed something, my brother Alec ran a department RIGHT ACROSS THE WALKWAY. Colin had worked there before too, a few times..I wanna say it was something like 8 years or so in total or so. Alec and Colin had worked their way up to a point where they basically ran the place. They did what they wanted, when they wanted and how they wanted to do it. With no REAL question about it because, they had people working under them too so, if they were off blowing each other through the bathroom stall walls, work was still getting done and done right. Eventually everything caught back up to them though, between all of the drinking, painkillers and, drugs they would consume on a regular, they slipped, and got busted, lost their jobs. They were invited back, Colin fucked up though and Alec stayed on without him. So anyway, like I was saying, I was REALLY good at my job and had been there for a good while. I even ended up filling in for one of the guys in another building while he was on vacation. The manager at the other building was so impressed he wanted to transfer me over there full time. Looking back I totally should have done it but, live and learn you know? Well, time came and went, I was busting out parts and moving up how and where I wanted to go. Things were going well for a good while until, my time came for review and, the HR manager decided that it was better that I get let go. (Side note, the HR Manager DOES NOT like my dad). So, pissed off, jobless, living with my brother Alec in the town house him and his girlfriend lived in. Rent was coming and I crossed a pretty decent stroke of luck when my dad got a hold of me saying that they had a shift opening up in the mornings for a Janitor position, it was likely I wasn't all that interested but, I needed it so, of course I jumped on it.

I ended up back at my dads cause my brother and his girlfriend up and left me hanging with the rent and everything... which I was fine with right up until I lost my job. Dad helped me out and got me back in on first shift, where I was now a Janitor for the company. Fucking gross job but, I was getting paid so couldn't complain too much. It didn't take long to get everything down to a system, time it all out and STAY ahead of the schedule. I got real cozy with the office employees in the north building, and even improved everything I stepped into task with. On top of that, in collecting cans and bottles throughout the shop and office, I found myself making an extra 100 bucks a month!

Just as an added, I was on probation at the time, but still doing everything I had to do to maintain meetings and still work my full time job. I had spoke with the HR Manager AND shop managers, everyone I had to deal with KNEW and understood that I had a schedule worked out and as long as I was still getting the work done (Which I was) there shouldn't be any kind of problems. Unfortunately, because the HR Manager didn't like my father, and I was very quickly becoming a favorite in any department I worked in, he took it upon himself to punish my father by firing me.

Now, here's some added fuckery that happened leading up to my firing..Some days, due to drug testing in the mornings, I would be late coming in but, as I've said, I worked out a deal with management to keep my position solidified as I worked through the probation and such. HOWEVER, Christmas came rolling around and I was coming up on my 90th day on the job, which would have put me past my probation at work, getting me a raise, and opening me up to move back into shop work. We had just gotten hit with a VERY LARGE snow storm, I was heading out the door when dad was pulling out at the same time. I had a feeling that it might be best if I just drove with him, but I went against it and backed out of the driveway anyway. I was going about 20mph down the side road headed up to the 4 way down the street from the shop when, I hit my brakes, started tapping on them but, soon realized I WASN'T STOPPING. I got about halfway through the intersection, sliding on black ice the whole way and thought "Well fuck, if I can't stop I might as well try and make it through". So I punched it, and I did get further through the intersection than I would have if I stayed sliding but, ultimately ended up getting slammed by a car coming into the same intersection. I got spun around to the other side of the road, hit again in the same spot, and then when things finally came to rest, another car decided to drive up and hit me. The last guy was the most pissed about it too, everyone else politely calmed down and made sure everyone else was alright. I called the shop to make sure they knew the situation and that I was going to be late because of it. So, I got into a screaming match with a cop WHO INSISTED that I drove in to the intersection on purpose, then drove my car to the shop. The shop was only like 500ft away from the crash zone anyway but, as soon as I got there, I got called in by the HR and got fired. Went and talked with my dad before leaving the shop, and then drove back to our house down the road. My car didn't look to bad but when I got it towed it was right around Christmas so nobody wanted to spend the time fixing and reinforcing my rear axle. So, in that day, I lost my car, lost my job and was right back to square 1.

After a few, I got another vehicle, and Squeezed myself back into ANOTHER janitorial position at Moeller, but this time it was in the other building on the property. ONCE AGAIN, I had gotten a quick grasp on the schedule, and had no issues staying ahead of the game. I even made time to take naps during the day WHILE still going the extra mile all throughout the building. My new boss was the same guy my dad had bought our old house off of, he actually owned his own construction business AND, owned and rented out the majority of the subdivision our old house was in. We got along well, I did my job well, and he gave praises deserved. The south building was a lot more dirty and un-kept than the north building but, it was a very easily lead task once you got in a groove and found a solid routine. Which is exactly what I did. Now, having gotten good and timing out my day, and scheduling out everything needed to be done. I made time to get changed for my community service after work. I would bring a change of clothes to the shop, keep them in my truck, and when I had gotten through the final task of the day, I would run out, grab my clothes, and go change in the janitors closet before leaving work. Everything was going fine until I hit my 90th day and got gutted AGAIN, because somebody told the manager I was changing my clothes in the parking lot. Fun part, I had even discussed WITH management what the terms of my probation were, and they understood that I had to do what I had to do. No complaints until I was about to make it past my 90th day. Weird right?

Moeller Manufacturing has done a lot of people dirty, and I know ONE DAY, all of the wrong they have put out WILL COME BACK onto them. I hold no grudges, I've moved forward and am not worried about where they are or how they are going to fall back. I did kind of laugh when I found out a while later that RIGHT AFTER I left, the whole shop managed to find itself in a pretty fucked up spot, and a lot of issues had come up in all of the up-keeping of the places I ran. Whatever though, we all have our own lines, our own issues, and our own reasons for doing what we do. I hold no grudges because I moved on with my life. They are a tricky people, and they will get what's coming if they haven't already.

Thank you, and please, keep reading. Feedback always appreciated.

Written and lived by: Zachery Lee

This is part of a series. Read the main series of "On My Way" over at Families here!