...an Intern at Voith May 25, 2005 08:49:48 PM
I started a new job this summer, no BlockHouse or kmart this time. I’m working at Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, the same plant as my dad. They engineer, design, build, and install hydro turbines for electrical generation in dams.
Like every summer, I have to work to make money for the rest of the year, and usually I bust my balls doing it. But this summer is different. Finally I was hired as an engineering intern, not just some low-level under paid factory floor grunt worker.
Though my title may be intern and not full fledged electrical engineer, I’m already seeing the differences. I’ve even been able to draw a conclusion based on my personal experiences thus far, blue color work sucks!
As a white color employee, working in the same offices as the engineers, I am treated literally a million times better than how any of my last jobs treated me. Like I’ve been given all these privileges. Though I’m on a clock in/out system, I can just write my own times on the card. I don’t have to be at the plant at any given time, I can just show up any time between 6 and 8. Also, my lunch can be as long as I want it, when ever I want it, and I never have to report my departures to anyone. So long as I get my 8 hours of work time in a day, they don’t worry about me. This treatment isn’t for everyone, however. My dad tells me that if the floor workers are so much as a minute late, they get reamed out and are threatened with dismissal. And their lunches are only 20 min!
Even the work is better, no manual labor and no getting your hands all busted up every day. It’s mostly a desk job so I’m in my cubical in front of a computer most of the time doing my own thing working at my own pace. And so far, I’ve not been assigned more than writing up an outline, making some flow charts, and doing rounds periodically to assess the progress of the welders on the plant floor. The rest of the time is my time. But most importantly, I’m actually allowed to sit!
Hell, I’m getting paid the most I’ve ever been paid before, yet I’m working the least hardest I’ve ever worked before. Now granted I’m finally allowed to think on the job site and am even allowed to form opinions, I still almost feel bad for writing this entry while on the clock. But one fact still remains; they’re still “The Man”.
From all of this I was able to establish a very important inverse proportion. The less a worker is paid, the more hard physical work he must do.
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