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Factory Work

So many thoughts about art and my first thought page is about working at a factory haha. If you didn't know I recently (about 2-3 weeks ago as of writing this Sept 3rd 2025) started working a full time factory job on the night shift it has been interesting and it has generated a lot of thoughts about this job specifically and all jobs in general. Idk how to format this page yet but the plans that these are editable overtime anyways so just going with the flow right now!

Let's start with some of what I actually do at work. The factory I work at is a plastics manufacturing company so many of the jobs I work revolve around that, many of the machines revolve around clipping off the runners (think of these like the support beams when 3D printing something) and packaging the parts into boxes based on a certain amount. Clipping is interesting sometimes it's not too bad but then one time I was put at a machine that was really fast and I had to clip over 4000 parts in one shift which was hell and my hand was defintiely bruised the next day.

Not all the jobs are clipping though, after my first day the next 4 straight days of work i was put on the assembly floor where my job was to put labels on little plastic light up cosmetics shelves and then put them into a plastic bag and then put them into a box. It was very stressful the first time, the second time I actually changed to the job at that station that was "babysitting the stupid useless robot arm". Seriously the babysitting job was literally to take a cosmetic shelf that had already been made, set it down on a table in front of the robot arm and then watch the robot arm pick it up and rotate and place it on the table right next to the table you placed the shelf on, like thats literally all it does and it couldnt even do that well at some point it started dropping every other part. Very "we bought this and now we gotta find a use for it."

One job required having to screw in metal inserts into a metal ring and then placing that in the machine for the machine to cover in plastic and then to hand that over to the other person so they can cut the runners, take out the metal inserts, and package them. This one sucked because I had to screw in the metal inserts by hand, my thumb and index were hurting after work that day and I'm thankful I thought to use my left hand since it's my non-dominant. the thing that sucks too is that the other person gets a drill to take them out, apparently both sides used to have drills but I guess people were drilling into the sides of the part or something so they got rid of the drill on my side of the table what the fuck!

A couple more miscellaneous jobs is putting together plastic parts and then sticking a pin in and then pushing the pin in with a press, putting caps on fiberglass rods which I wish someone had told me they were fiberglass before I started but hey the hammer was fun I totally didn't imagine the parts I was hammering to be emo twink thighs, and like putting labels on things.

I don't mind the work I do but oh boy do I mind having to work an 8 hour shift. The first thing I realized when working is how much less free time I have now, a 3rd of my day is now dedicated to work, that's a 3rd of my life to making 50 cents above minimum wage. I realized pretty fast that like I cannot imagine doing this for the rest of my life much less the rest of my 20s, combined with the quarter life crisis I've been happening as stated in the August 1st 2025 blog, the amount of time I'm losing to work is something I'm extremely aware of and fills me with dread. I think about how much time I could've been working on my art, yknow the thing I'm actually passionate about and if I was unable to do I would undergo ego death. Genuinely one night when I had also forgotten my phone so I couldn't use it at work I had a moment of "I can't fucking do this for everyday of the rest of my life" This is why I'm actually for once considering that I might have to take commissions like, my first dream is the end of capitalism and installing 4 hour work days, my slightly more personally realistic dream is to make it as an artist so I can quit my job.

Also I have to stand for 8 hours a day straight which many people also have to do and it sucks because while some of the machine jobs I get why they want us standing, others I'm like "i am literally standing in place I could have a chair right now and I'd be able to work more consistently because I'm not thinking about how much my feet hurt and I wanna go home by the end of the day." I have to take ibuprofen like twice to get through most work days.

And that leads into me complaining even more about the job itself. For starters I'm not a permanent hire, I can get hired on permanently but right now I'm just a temp and I got hired on cause I went to a company that puts workers into factory jobs, however before I had actually applied to this job without going through this third company and I got ignored. Guy I work with says he thinks it's cause if I go through the third company I'm on that company's health insurance rather than the factory's. Cool.

Second of all the points penalty system. You get penalty points for different things, If I come into work and then leave early I get 1 point (unless they just dont have work for me then I get none), if I call off of work I get 2 points, if I just don't show up I get 3. According to my uncle who also works there as a temp I have a limit of 6 penalty points and then I'm gone, that means I can only call off of work like twice, per year. What the fuck. I asked about PTO which I said Paid Time Off and my Uncle said Personal Time Off so it might not even be paid and he said that you gain PTO by working and that it can take like a month to accumulate a days worth of PTO. What the fuck. Talked to my friends and they agreed that this definitely feels like it's skirting around some kind of labor law. Did I mention my work place doesn't have a union according to my uncle.

Also working at a plastic factory makes you very aware of how much fucking plastic waste we make, I'm not anti-plastic I think it has it's uses but does the world really need that many fucking little light up cosmestics shelves?? And do they really need to be individually wrapped in plastic bags??? Obviously big companies are to blame for the environmental issues and while individual action is good it's impact is minimal, but oh boy does it make me more aware than ever of my own plastic usage and environmental impact. I can't just quit my fucking job I need the money we live in capitalism, but god I can at least buy things in person rather than shipping them over and like use more reusable shit. I've always been a "use things until its broken beyond repair" kind of guy and even then, my headphones literally fall apart if I'm not wearing them and I'm still using them and the idea of buying a new pair creates a sense of guilt even before this job lol, like "I could be donating this money to people in need and I'm thinking about using it to buy headphones when my pair works perfectly fine they just fall apart? Many such cases.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll work here, not in a "I might quit" sense but in a "the company didn't turn a profit last month and if that continues lay offs with happen and as a temp I am probably the first to go". Despite my complaints I'd like to not get fired, most jobs around my area are factory jobs because I live in the rust belt and this is one of the easier ones, and it's nice to work with my uncle and also like one of the few trans people I have met in real life, because I live in a dinky town with a lot of trump supporters, is my supervisor and she's nice. What's funny is this morning (Sept-3-25) they held a meeting for the company's anniversary with a speech given by the CEOs son (nepo baby) and then they gave out service awards for time on the job, there were two awards, and they gave them both to the CEO. Giving a fucking service award to the owner of the fucking company is a joke, what fucking service? Sitting around all the way down in Florida while the rest of us actually fucking work. Also they promised "gifts" and I expected maybe a $5 gift card at best, they were fucking coasters.