I study plastic in school, as some of you may know (it's on my About Me page!). One thing that my program really emphasizes is summer internships; Because the plastic industry is really huge, but there aren't that many people going into it, companies are really competitive about their internships; they're paid, often including travel and room costs (if required) and if you put in even a little bit of effort you're likely to score one during the summers.

SO for the summer of 2024 I'm in the midwest, working in a factory that makes plastic barrels. For the majority of May, I worked as an operator. The way my internship works is that I am meant to move around different departments; For the first three weeks, I was on production lines, then I was moved to maintenance. For the final month and a half of my stay here I'll be working in quality control, which is where my real interest lies haha. The purpose of this is to expose me to the different groups that make up an operation; I'm going to school to be an engineer, but I need to have an understanding and respect for those in other positions.

The job of operator is the sort of thing you don't need a whole ton of direct training for as most of it is intuitive. I was working essentially on an assembly line; a barrel would come out of the machine, and I would have to 'stage' it- a process where the barrel is prepared to be shipped. What staging entails depends on the barrel type. Some of them require excess plastic to be hammered or cut off, some require lids or caps, some need to be bagged and stickered. After staging, the barrels were loaded onto pallets, wrapped in cling wrap, and moved to the shipping department. In the three weeks I worked as a temporary operator I got to experience all of the different types of barrels produced, except for one that was causing so many problems they just gave up on it and told me not to bother with.

NOW. I learned a lot in these three weeks. I also hated it and as of writing this I am working in maintenance and having a downright joyful time in comparison. I'd like to share with you all what I learned as an operator!!

PROCESSES ARENT AS AUTOMATED AS WE LIKE TO THINK

I feel like a lot of people assume that nowadays most factory jobs are automated. And in some industries that may be true. But the company I work for is huge- like, multi-billion dollar company huge- and. Well. There's a lot of human interaction between creation of barrel and shipping.

Checking for defects? Human. Removing excess plastic? Human with a hammer or a putty knife. Fastening lids and caps? Human. Putting 50 gallon barrels into a bag? A human's lifting that thing up and tying it, baby! Even the little drainage holes that some barrels have was done by some underpaid worker with a drill. Working on the production floor (and studying plastic in general) makes me feel more connected to the items I use in my everyday life, because it's easier to imagine the steps and people involved in making them. I think it's important for anyone to get a good feel for where their stuff comes from, to be honest. Items don't just pop out of nowhere.

Some stuff is automated, and the guys up top are working to try to automate some other processes; but the priority is things that straight-up aren't being done. Cleaning and testing of the barrels, for instance. The people here work incredibly efficiently- gotta fill out the blind spots first. On a personal level I'm not opposed to automation as long as the workers are still being paid a living wage. But, well. Capitalism isn't quite so kind. So I hope a decade into the future the people here at the factory are still doing alright.

THESE MACHINES HAVE PROBLEMS I CANNOT EVEN FATHOM

In school we learn a little bit about troubleshooting and potential issues you could have with a process. Most of these are not mechanical-focused; we focus on things like incorrect settings, power usage, misaligned platens, and the wrong materials. I would say however most of the problems encountered as an operator (and in maintenance) are things that someone fucked up a decade ago that only now had consequences.

School does not teach us about "what if some dumbass cut one of the cables inside this motor for some reason?", or "what if someone punched one of the operator screens?". On the production floor, time is money (blah), and that means taking an entire machine down to fix some fundamental flaw is decidedly not ideal. So it's just band-aid over band-aid until eventually a bolt falls out and brings the whole line down and nobody can remember why that happened in the first place.

As an operator, I had no damn clue what was going on at any given time. One time the machine just kept pumping molten plastic out without stop and it made a big mess in the mold. I asked one of the maintenance guys what could have caused that and he just shrugged and said "Oh, it just does that sometimes". WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT JUST DOES THAT SOMETIMES??????? WHY???????

Time and time again I see problems that, if caused in one of my school lab settings, would have caused a big fuss. At the very least a disappointed sigh. But the show must go on, and the goal is to get these things up and running again ASAP- and honestly the liklihood that any given machine failure is actually the operators' fault is very low.

MANUAL LABOR IS SO HARD AND I AM SO WEAK

Fun fact about me for those who don't know, I have 'everything hurts and I'm so tired and I don't know why' disease, also known as Fibromyalgia. Typically I use a cane, because my legs just Stop Working occasionally for no reason and standing is super exhausting, but lately my legs have been doing a bit better and my arms have been a bit worse. It's a cycle, it comes and goes, I promise this is relevant.

I thought that working retail would prepare me for manual labor to some extent. During the school year (and during high school), I work at a store that sells furniture, and as one of the only "guys" on the staff, I am frequenty called to carry out the furniture. This is normally fine. It is also very funny, because customers hear that they're bringing up The Guy, Jay, to help with furniture, and then the smallest, gayest employee at the store walks up. In high school, I was even asked to build furniture (not in my job description). I used a drill and hammer just fine with no training (because that job sucked). Now, my chronic pain and weak joints and strange muscles have gotten worse since then. Which leads to scenarios such as "I used a hammer so poorly my supervisor sent me home early because he was worried I would permanently injure myself".

My coworkers have been exceedingly patient with me. Like, holding my hands to get them positioned right, moving my elbow for me to get the feel for it, showing me how to hammer and cut the excess plastic off over and over and over again. I sort of got the hang of it towards the end of my time as an operator, but I cannot stress enough how strongly I was aware of my weakness. My right hand would be spasming and cramping by the end of some shifts. My wrists gave out a couple times which looked really embarassing because it made it look like I couldn't even hold a hammer, which I certainly can, just not at that moment.

Barrels are heavy, especially the big ones!! Some of them are about the same size as my body and I was expected to lift them. Stack them, even. Once again my coworkers saw me nearly injuring myself horribly and just ended up doing that step for me. It's not a height thing, because many of them are the same height as me if not shorter. I just... couldn't do it. This sounds like I'm just complaining (and I am, this is my blog, I can complain), but I genuinely didn't realize how much a job like this entails physically until I started here. I like to think I was always relatively aware of the difficulty of manual, "unskilled" labor, but I really have a new appreciation for those that do it. Sit down, dude. Have more water.

I'M AN EXCEL GOD

I taught the lead spreadsheet guy how to use ctrl+x and he had never seen that shortcut before.

I WOULD SOONER DIE THAN DO 12 HOUR DAYS

Part of working as an operator meant fully working as an operator. Being put with one of the shift crews and sticking to their schedule. For some godforsaken reason at this company they do 2 shifts a day, 12 hours each. We work in a two days on/two days off schedule. I take the bus to work, the bus comes at 4:30 in the morning to get me there by morning meeting (5:45). I had to get up at 3:30 IN THE FUCKING MORNING to make my lunch and get myself there on time. And THEN I wouldn't get home until like 7:30 at night. At which I had to immediately eat, shower, and go to bed.

If you are reading this and you believe that 12 hour shifts are the best for your personal brain I would like to study you like a bug. This shit should be illegal. Or at the very least all the operators should be paid a million dollars an hour. It is SUMMER and I was getting to work just as the sun rose and left it as it started to set. I cannot imagine the new mental illnesses I would gain if I did this shit during the winter. And because of the aforementioned physical labor being So So Bad for my weak little body, I had to spend at least one out of my two days off just. Coping, I guess?

The 12 hour shifts combined with being in a new place without any friends or a consistent routine, along with barely seeing sunlight, ALONG WITH struggling to feed myself because I didn't feel like cooking after all that, ALONG WITH the horrible pain meant that this schedule threw me into one of the worst mental health episodes I've experienced in years. Genuinely had me considering if I should check myself in somewhere, or go to church or something. Why the hell did I think about church??? I know crying at work and hating your job is like, The Classic American Experience, but I legitimately felt there was no hope for me. And then I finished my tenure as an operator and felt joy again. Genuinely like night and day. I'm working 8 hours a day as maintenance and I feel actually fulfilled. I don't even love the job all that much it's just so refreshing to be able to hang out and chill before and after work. My mind is clearer and I don't want to die.

If you've talked to me at all lately I have probably discussed the joy I felt like, listening to live music or riding the bus in the morning or playing games at night. I feel like I started antidepressants all over again but without the side effects. The world is clearer and more full of life. I am able to relax. On account of not working 12 hour days. I'm writing this and thinking about all the time I have afterward to chill and play games. Maybe even get ice cream. The world is beautiful.

PEOPLE ARE REALLY NICE I LOVE. PEOPLE :)

I will be quite honest with you all. As A Queer(tm) I was scared shitless of working on a production floor. I've heard horror stories about nasty, conservative factory workers who like. Hate women and shit. I fully expected to be dragged for my less-than-stellar physical performance, or my general gay appearance and vibes. But man my coworkers are so chill.

Many of them don't speak English, so maybe they're talking shit about me behind my back, but they've all been nothing but kind and welcoming to my face at least. Through the power of google translate and my high school Spanish class, we've talked about where we're from, what I'm doing here, stuff like that. One guy saw that I was stressing out and told me not to worry, because even if I'm not great at the physical stuff, he's not great at math, so we balance out. They're always reminding me to take breaks and drink more water. When I used a hammer correctly for the first time and successfully got the plastic off the barrel I was met with high fives and pats on the shoulder. One woman speaks no English but she'll just tell me funny stories about her family and gets really excited when I understand bits and pieces.

It's been interesting to be in a place where I don't speak the primary language! Everyone's been patient with me, and my limited Spanish vocabulary at least helps me say stuff like "Thank you" and "Here?" and "Does it work?". Generally I've had very positive experiences with my coworkers and I truly believe they deserve a million dollars an hour, and perhaps a union. I don't know how they do this sort of work like, all the time. It's wildly impressive!!

I'm so genuinely glad that I've met these people, and come to this place, and learned as much as I have so far, even if I have suffered my own personal hell quite a bit. I'm excited to tell you all about the things I'm learning in maintenance! Thank you for reading and be sure to go thank and/or heavily tip your local "unskilled" worker. It's not unskilled, or easy, or deserving of all the shit these workers get. And I'll kill the next person to dehumanize factory workers.

♥ Jay(click to go back!)