I got fired from my new job

[joe2006]

I got a new job working at this airplane factory. I was in the fab department, building small airplane parts, but I had no idea what I was doing. I had never had a job working with tools or building things before so I had to have my supervisor help me out as much as she could. When I started my job, she was walking me through the projects and told me what I needed to do. Then a couple months later, the manager told her to have me work on those projects by myself. My supervisor told me to let her know if I needed help and she would help me. I thought I could do some of that stuff with no trouble. I knew how to sandblast items and could do a couple of other tasks at that point.

Things seemed to be working out well. The company president would walk by all the shops and make sure we were doing what we were supposed to be doing. I do not think he understood how I worked very well. For some reason, he thought that I was just sitting around and doing nothing and would sometimes complain to my supervisor about this. Both she and I knew that I was working but I did most of my work while sitting down. She would always try to stick up for me when he would complain and then he would leave us alone. Then he started giving me so much trouble that the supervisor moved me to the back of the shop so I would not get his attention so much. I guess she thought that since I was sitting in the front of the shop that he was noticing me too often and maybe if I sat in the back of the shop, he would bother somebody else.

Everything worked out just fine until the last two weeks I worked there. Sometimes, when I asked my supervisor for help, she would just ignore me or say she was too busy to help me. If she did not help me when I asked her to, I would just start working on a project and hope I did it right but a lot of times they had to scrap some items.

One day, the manager told me to go to a different department and put washers on screws. While I was working on that, the supervisor of that department asked the manager if he thought I was going to get to keep working there. The manager told him about several mistakes I had made since I first started working there and said that he might give me a couple more days before firing me. After I was done with the screws, I went back to the department I worked at and tried to do what I could to convince them to keep me. He must have told my supervisor that he was about to fire me because she made an extra effort to help me too.

They hired a new guy and he sat at my old workplace so the supervisor had to move me back to the front of the shop. Then the company president kept complaining to the supervisor because he thought I worked too slowly. I got so angry about this that I ignored him and kept working the same way that I usually did. I was afraid that if I did things too quickly that I would make mistakes and increase the chances of me being fired. Two days later, he walked by the shop with several people who were touring the factory. He kept giving me an angry look but I ignored him and kept working. Then he told my supervisor to fire me and she did. I only lasted at the job for five months but at least I learned some skills that might help me out with future jobs. I think I will take the winter off and start doing some job hunting when all the snow melts away this Spring.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Aerospace fab is intolerant of errors and I wonder if you were provided the proper training. Was it a union shop? The worst of the non-union operations is Boeing's facility in S. Carolina where shoddy workmanship is so prevalent that some airlines refuse to accept planes made there. So your facility manager may be feeling the heat.

Nobody should be placed in the position to complete even piecework without proper training and an understanding of how their task fits into the whole. I was once a production supervisor in nuclear pharmaceuticals where errors could threaten health, and I ensured that the team were properly trained. I had a worker who was ASD and she was a person I could count on to perform well.

Sad if you were put into a position without adequate resources or accommodation. I wish you the best in the future.

 

[Thinx]

It sounds like you kept on working and developing your skills, even though it was difficult. I am definitely slower to learn any manual skills, and sometimes I am fairly poor at them too, though I can get some skills up to a reasonable standard. Is this the type of work you want, or would you prefer something else? It sounds positive that you are going to try again in the spring.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

How are you in maths and analysis? A path for that may be statistical quality control. The American Society for Quality has courses in that. People who are good at that are still in demand.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I gave the same recommendation years ago, to new emigrants who had good qualifications, engineers or similar education, who could not land jobs in their area of expertise due to lack of Canadian experience. They were amazed how well my advice worked. No more menial work for the ones that took my suggestion seriously.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I've had a high pressure job like that before. I was working in a cleanroom assembling guidewires for angioplasty. It probably is as high stress as working in aerospace.

The wires are the width of a human hair. They start out as tiny, tight coils, about 1cm long, or less. You sit over a scope for ten hours a day, cutting them with a scalpel.

If the QCs discover any flash at all on even one of the hundreds of coils that you've cut, they throw it all out, and everyone in the department gets mad at you.

The reason being, that even the tiniest burr will cut up someone's artery. You must be precise.

Next, there is a production line where the coils are soldiered together into even longer guidewires. Then the six inch to one foot wires are soldiered together. There is lots of grinding and coating in between those steps as well. It's an amazing process. It all must be so exact that it is a seamless, beautiful chain, where you cannot see the welds.

You end up with these really long, three to six foot guidewires. All as wide as a human hair. If you pick them up wrong, they kink. If you drop them, they are unsanitary and have to be thrown out. They are works of art that save human lives.

The last stages are some of the most stressful. You sort of polish/sand each one individually into a beautiful rounded tip without any flash on the end. You work on hundreds each day, maybe thousands. If the QC finds even one out of your massive lots that has even a speck of flash still on the end, or a pointy tip, they all get thrown out and the entire department hates your guts, royally.

After they're grinded, the tip goes into the end of a machine that kinks them a specific way. I don't remember what this is for. Maybe the balloon goes on this tip? Maybe it's what the doctor starts with. It was too long ago. Anyway, if you hold the wire wrong, it gives it too wide a kink, and everything was all for naught.

It was so high stress. Good pay, great benefits. But man, you had to be precise. Any screw up and it would kill a heart patient.

It's amazing, the skill that these workers have. How clean and microbe free the clean room really was. The dedication is incredible.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

ñ

I've had a high pressure job like that before. I was working in a cleanroom assembling guidewires for angioplasty. It probably is as high stress as working in aerospace.

The wires are the width of a human hair. They start out as tiny, tight coils, about 1cm long, or less. You sit over a scope for ten hours a day, cutting them with a scalpel.

If the QCs discover any flash at all on even one of the hundreds of coils that you've cut, they throw it all out, and everyone in the department gets mad at you.

The reason being, that even the tiniest burr will cut up someone's artery. You must be precise.

Next, there is a production line where the coils are soldiered together into even longer guidewires. Then the six inch to one foot wires are soldiered together. There is lots of grinding and coating in between those steps as well. It's an amazing process. It all must be so exact that it is a seamless, beautiful chain, where you cannot see the welds.

You end up with these really long, three to six foot guidewires. All as wide as a human hair. If you pick them up wrong, they kink. If you drop them, they are unsanitary and have to be thrown out. They are works of art that save human lives.

The last stages are some of the most stressful. You sort of polish/sand each one individually into a beautiful rounded tip without any flash on the end. You work on hundreds each day, maybe thousands. If the QC finds even one out of your massive lots that has even a speck of flash still on the end, or a pointy tip, they all get thrown out and the entire department hates your guts, royally.

After they're grinded, the tip goes into the end of a machine that kinks them a specific way. I don't remember what this is for. Maybe the balloon goes on this tip? Maybe it's what the doctor starts with. It was too long ago. Anyway, if you hold the wire wrong, it gives it too wide a kink, and everything was all for naught.

It was so high stress. Good pay, great benefits. But man, you had to be precise. Any screw up and it would kill a heart patient.

It's amazing, the skill that these workers have. How clean and microbe free the clean room really was. The dedication is incredible.

I designed and worked in aseptic processing. We would be checked monthly for our gowning technique using surface sampling agar plates. The limit for acceptance was a max of five colony forming units from all surfaces including hands and feet.

It is very demanding work.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

One of my best career moves to date was to work for a temp agency. They let you make your own standards for availability, the work is mostly easy, and it pays pretty well. Best to you!

 

[SDRSpark]

I've had a high pressure job like that before. I was working in a cleanroom assembling guidewires for angioplasty. It probably is as high stress as working in aerospace.

The wires are the width of a human hair. They start out as tiny, tight coils, about 1cm long, or less. You sit over a scope for ten hours a day, cutting them with a scalpel.

If the QCs discover any flash at all on even one of the hundreds of coils that you've cut, they throw it all out, and everyone in the department gets mad at you.

The reason being, that even the tiniest burr will cut up someone's artery. You must be precise.

Next, there is a production line where the coils are soldiered together into even longer guidewires. Then the six inch to one foot wires are soldiered together. There is lots of grinding and coating in between those steps as well. It's an amazing process. It all must be so exact that it is a seamless, beautiful chain, where you cannot see the welds.

You end up with these really long, three to six foot guidewires. All as wide as a human hair. If you pick them up wrong, they kink. If you drop them, they are unsanitary and have to be thrown out. They are works of art that save human lives.

The last stages are some of the most stressful. You sort of polish/sand each one individually into a beautiful rounded tip without any flash on the end. You work on hundreds each day, maybe thousands. If the QC finds even one out of your massive lots that has even a speck of flash still on the end, or a pointy tip, they all get thrown out and the entire department hates your guts, royally.

After they're grinded, the tip goes into the end of a machine that kinks them a specific way. I don't remember what this is for. Maybe the balloon goes on this tip? Maybe it's what the doctor starts with. It was too long ago. Anyway, if you hold the wire wrong, it gives it too wide a kink, and everything was all for naught.

It was so high stress. Good pay, great benefits. But man, you had to be precise. Any screw up and it would kill a heart patient.

It's amazing, the skill that these workers have. How clean and microbe free the clean room really was. The dedication is incredible.

I manufacture surgical implants but WOW, I wouldn't want to do that lol. My head hurts at just the thought of staring through a scope all day.

Aerospace fab is intolerant of errors and I wonder if you were provided the proper training. Was it a union shop? The worst of the non-union operations is Boeing's facility in S. Carolina where shoddy workmanship is so prevalent that some airlines refuse to accept planes made there. So your facility manager may be feeling the heat.

Nobody should be placed in the position to complete even piecework without proper training and an understanding of how their task fits into the whole. I was once a production supervisor in nuclear pharmaceuticals where errors could threaten health, and I ensured that the team were properly trained. I had a worker who was ASD and she was a person I could count on to perform well.

Sad if you were put into a position without adequate resources or accommodation. I wish you the best in the future.

I agree with this and I too wonder about the quality of the training you received. I also suspect that the company president had it out for you personally for some reason. (I've heard the "people work harder if they're standing so no sitting allowed" thing before and it's utter and complete BS. For some reason it's common in manufacturing though, I can't figure it out.)

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I manufacture surgical implants but WOW, I wouldn't want to do that lol. My head hurts at just the thought of staring through a scope all day.



I agree with this and I too wonder about the quality of the training you received. I also suspect that the company president had it out for you personally for some reason. (I've heard the "people work harder if they're standing so no sitting allowed" thing before and it's utter and complete BS. For some reason it's common in manufacturing though, I can't figure it out.)

When I first started that job, It was so monotonous that used to fall asleep at the microscope. I'm so glad I had goggles on because, I'd pass out and bonk my head on the microscope, and then wake up suddenly, and get back to work.

 

[Pieceofmind]

Wow all for sitting in working, there's plenty more jobs out there not as petty. I work better on physical tasks when I'm sitting down to at work that require more attention to detail, everyone thinks it's weird no one ever got upset with me for it. I have much more control over what I'm doing when I do.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I think we seem to be good at is jobs that require attention to detail, my last position was on a coil coating line. any mistake run could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, You do not sand down a 40 thousand pound coil after it gets rejected, we call boat anchors in the trade. I still do not know how I lasted 21 years as an exceptional employee. you got to work to your strengths.

 

[Aspychata]

Manufacturing jobs are incredibly difficult. I would fail big time. However, l love putting machinery together. I enjoy the puzzle part of it.

Good luck with job hunt. Think you lasted quite awhile there. Some positions aren't a good fit but you do pick up valuable knowledge and confidence. The president is a jerk, and the writing was on the wall about your longevity there.

 

[Rasputin]

I think we seem to be good at is jobs that require attention to detail, my last position was on a coil coating line. any mistake run could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, You do not sand down a 40 thousand pound coil after it gets rejected, we call boat anchors in the trade. I still do not know how I lasted 21 years as an exceptional employee. you got to work to your strengths.

I agree with this observation. I have worked in auditing and risk management for 35 years, and attribute a lot of my success to pattern recognition and attention to detail. My half brother, who is also autistic, works in materials quality control and has similar strengths.

I used to complain about being rejected for management positions, but as I’ve gotten older I realize how fortunate I have been during my career. You have to learn from work experiences and make the best of the opportunities you do have.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

You are correct breaking into management positions is difficult, for us Aspie's lack of social skills tend to get us overlooked, irrespective of how well we perform.

 

[Judge]

I used to complain about being rejected for management positions, but as I’ve gotten older I realize how fortunate I have been during my career. You have to learn from work experiences and make the best of the opportunities you do have.

Indeed.

That for many of us on the spectrum, managing things may ultimately be far preferable to managing people.

 

[clg114]

Manufacturing jobs are incredibly difficult. I would fail big time. However, l love putting machinery together. I enjoy the puzzle part of it.

Good luck with job hunt. Think you lasted quite awhile there. Some positions aren't a good fit but you do pick up valuable knowledge and confidence. The president is a jerk, and the writing was on the wall about your longevity there.

Oh boy! Here I go again. When I first read your post, the first thing that I thought was "Why would they write on the wall?"

 

[GadAbout]

Some people are going to be slower workers than others, and may also make more mistakes. Do you have any problems with attention deficit? (ADHD or ADD, or just your own observations.)

If you did have ADHD, medication might make you a more productive worker. Have you ever explored that?

 

[GadAbout]

One of my best career moves to date was to work for a temp agency. They let you make your own standards for availability, the work is mostly easy, and it pays pretty well. Best to you!

I did quite a lot of temp work, too. I enjoyed that. One thing I like about it is, you never get too embroiled in workplace gossip.

 

[joe2006]

One of the things things that made my job so difficult was my disabilities. I have a mild case of Autism and ADHD that slowed me messed me up when I was trying to learn how to do some things. I once took medication for the disabilities and they did some good at first but after a few years they quit working. I found that I functioned better without them. Another issue I had was doing multiple tasks. I would be working on a project and the supervisor would interrupt me in the middle of the assignment and tell me she wanted me to sandblast some items. I would do all the sandblasting and come back to continue work on my assignment but would forget some of the steps that I was supposed to do and make mistakes. I do not do very well when I am working on multiple tasks but if they let me work on one task at a time, everything seems to work out just fine. Another thing was I had trouble measuring things that were smaller than an inch. I think I really need to work on precision for jobs like this.