Skill Set

These days a lot of people have lost their jobs. Millions of people around the world have suffered due to sudden economic collapse and we all know what’s behind this – The Pandemic.

How’s your working status so far? Are you one of the thousands of people who has been laid off from their job? How many times have you changed employers?

During the rise of the pandemic, a lot of business establishments were closed. Good thing that the company I am connected with, even just a small one, still manages to survive. Unfortunately, some clients shut down their businesses and almost half of the regular employees at the company were put to displaced status. But I was also put to skeletal workforce staffing while there was a total lockdown in Metro Manila.

Today I will be sharing my previous work before I decided to change my career. It was about working in an environment which was prone to health risk and one should have at least good physical condition.

I have mentioned in some of my previous posts that my working experiences are far from what I have finished in college. The first job I had was about printing. Publishing industry to be more specific. It was my first job and I was stuck there for a long time although I have had three different employers in the same field. It was my brother who introduced me to that kind of work. He was also my mentor and all things I know about printing should be credited to him. He is currently working overseas in Malaysia for the same type of job – Offset Printing Machine Operator.

See related post: How Important Is Unimportant

What is really about printing and publishing?

I guess it’s kind of self-explanatory. It’s about printing on paper like books, newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and any type of printing related works that used paper as printing material. Other types of printing business are Silk screen printing, Tarpaulin printing, Plastic printing and or Sublimation. These days digital printing is a more trending business.

Offset printing as the term is commonly used in publishing and Offset Operator are the people who operate these large printing machines. To give you an idea of how large it is, just imagine a bus not a minibus. With lots of ink rollers, big drum cylinders, lots of gears and cams inside.

Heidelberg is one of the leading manufacturers of offset printing machines. One type of such machine I have handled to operate was the Heidelberg Speedmaster. Machines like these cannot just be run by one person. Normally it needs three persons to make this machine run and print for mass production. A senior operator, junior operator and the helper.

I started as a helper which was the hardest part of the job because the word “helper” in such industries is of low rank. Although helpers are really of great help in any type of industrial work. I was in that position for several years but while I was a helper I started learning how to operate the machine particular or registration and mixing ink for special colors. Eventually I became a senior operator and I have the opportunity to work in the Middle East for the same type of work. Offset machine operators are in-demand abroad so I took my chance. Offset printing machines abroad are bigger than I have held here in PH, although there are large printing presses around Metro Manila that operate 24/7.

I have used to handle old machines and they were riskier to operate because some emergency switches do not function well. Your fingers or arms could be cut off at an instant if you are kind of careless. As time went by machines were being handled by so many operators and there are instances that some might have broken the machine. 

I have had my ring finger sandwich between two large cylinder where the sheets of paper run in between. Imagine the thin sheet of paper passing through two drum cylinders then your finger would be in between. It happened when I was on the third day as a helper. Not once but thrice has my fingernail been pulled out. The worst was in the photo where I was rushed to the East Ave Medical. I think there were five stitches on that scar.

The last similar accident I have witnessed in printing was my former co-worker. His ring finger ran through metal gear and it was skinned. He got several stitches on that finger but after a week it was decaying so the doctor’s advice was to just cut the finger. (forgive me if it sounds gross)

I have been in that industry for more than a decade including the time working overseas until finally I decided to change career when I returned home. I just finished the 2-year contract and did not come back. I just couldn’t imagine myself if I am still there in this current world wide chaos.

The time has come that I just feel tired of working in the printing press but sometimes I’m kind of nostalgic when I am reading a book, magazine or any similar printed materials. The smell of the paper and inks reminds me of how I became a better person and what I am right now.

Anyway I hope you have entertained reading this somehow and made you reminisce of your past working experience. We may have had hard times working with our jobs in the past but we must remember that it has a lot of importance in becoming a good employee in the future. Some of us might have been inspired by their old employer and started to build their own company even for a small business.

It is important that we should give credit to our old employers and bosses even if we have had bad relationships with them. Somehow they have been a part of our lives on how we evolve, of how we survive and to keep going.

Do you have similar working experience as mine? Share it in the comment. I would love to read it.

Thanks for reading. Ciao! 

Lead image source credits to Bruno Martins

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