(Originally posted on 5-26-2011)
Something happened to me at work that I am rather irritated by so I'm going to write it here.
Before I say what it was I would like to point something out about me. I am just shy of 5'6" and neither petite nor obese. I'm numerically overweight I'm sure but this is mostly the product of a large frame, prominent curves, and muscle combining into a high number; not the result of fat (which I have some, mostly on my thighs *grumble* but who doesn't?). Most people would say I look healthy. When I told people my doctor told me to lose weight, they were all confused and mostly replied with, "From where? Your boobs?" 'Course it was a new doctor so she didn't seem to understand my body chemistry (of course, my blood test results were perfect so yes, I'm healthy thank you); my old doctor hadn't told me to lose weight since I was like, 11.
The point is, I'm not a small girl nor am I a weak one or a blatantly out-of-shape one.
Here's what happened:
When I was finished with the job I was brought on to do, make-and-take bags, the guy who works under my boss assigned me to work on packing and stacking some boxes with two temps who were brought on specifically for that project (after they went through one temp on Monday who didn't return and one on Tuesday who also disappeared; apparently they have had a lot of unreliable temps which is why they like me).
Now this guy who showed me how to work things is technically not my supervisor. My supervisor is a nice enough hick-ish guy missing most teeth who now likes to test my memory for fun which I don't mind at all. I'm actually rather proud of my good memory and he seems amused by it too. This guy is, well, . . . remember that scene in "Idiocracy" with the floating IQ numbers? I can see his very clearly.
So this guy showed me how to use the tape machine while the two (male) temps were at lunch. After a while, I needed more boxes, which you use a difficult-to-maneuver hand jack thing for. Being that I hadn't used it before and was having trouble steering, one of the guys asked if I would like him to get it for me. I said sure even though I would always rather learn how to do something myself rather than have someone else do it for me but I let it slide. I didn't think anything of the request since I had been visibly struggling.
Later I needed more flyers. I definitely underestimated the weight of the box holding them but I managed just fine. Still, one of the guys asked me if I wanted help. I didn't reply since I had my headphones in and I was almost to my own table anyway.
A little later when nothing was happening, the other guy asked me if I needed help with anything. I shot him a confused look and said, "Um, no?" to which he replied, "He asked us to ask if you needed help every once in a while."
Wait.
EXCUSE ME?
I literally couldn't believe that. Can we please stereotype a little harder? I'm a girl so clearly I can't lift heavy things, right? I wanted to punch someone and be like, "Pretty strong for a chick, huh?!"
I mean, it would have been different if he had said to them, "if she looks like she needs help, help her," it's another thing to request that they perpetually ask me if I want assistance without provocation.
After this, that temp didn't ask if I wanted help anymore. The other temp did twice. When I needed more stacks and he asked I said, "I'd rather learn to do this myself" and he gave me instructions as I needed them. Unsurprisingly, other than the awkward steering, it's very easy to do.
There's a bit more. My machine ran out of tape and I didn't know how to replace it because I wasn't properly instructed so I asked the temp who told me what the guy said if he would show me how, thinking since he had been working with the machines longer, he would know how.
Wrong.
I was instructing him on how to put it in when I had never seen if before. Then he fucked up my machine and I told him to go away so I could fix it. He came back a minute later asking if I wanted help again. The only useful thing he did was take the razor out of my box cutter and use it to get a bit of the tape out.
I ended up having to fix it again after that since it was that fucked. Now it works but the cutting mechanism gets jammed a lot but that's probably a deeper internal problem.
Note to self: never ask for help with simple machines again. I can figure them out myself and always could so I should stop assuming other people might know what they're doing.
Later in the day my actual supervisor asked me if I wanted to continue the job tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday without the other guys since he said he would rather pay me for three days than pay three different people. It pays to be appreciated, I guess.
What was awkward though was the lie he fed the other temps. He said something about how since Monday is a holiday we don't usually work hard the day before so you don't have to come in and call the temp agency on Monday night/Tuesday morning to see if we need you after that. Not gonna lie; I felt bad for them in a way. Wouldn't it be better to say, "Thank you for all your help today. We won't need you tomorrow" and leave it there instead of giving them false hope? I would much prefer that to false hope and a transparent lie.
It's weird seeing the strings that control the system. It's really starting to look like you can't trust any potential employers. They believe False Hope > Honesty and that's a policy I just can't get behind.
It hard but not impossible to be polite and honest simultaneously.
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